Mizzou-Texas A&M

Over a year ago my dad asked me if Ben & I would be interested in going down to College Station to watch Mizzou play Texas A&M.  Of course I said something along the lines of, "Sure! Yeah!" as I'm always on the lookout for the next good road trip or vacation...

For those of you NOT familiar with the vastness of Texas, College Station is a good 540 miles/9.5 hour drive from Amarillo.

My dad bought the tickets, 2011 sped by and suddenly Ben & I found ourselves pointed east on 287 at the end of October with me almost 8 months pregnant and a 2-year-old in the back seat.  Luckily the drive didn't seem that bad as we spend the night to/from in the Dallas-Fort Worth area with Ben's aunt Deann.

EARLY Saturday morning we joined up with dad and drove the remaining ~3 hours to College Station to make the 11:00 a.m. game. 

 Walking up to Kyle Field

 Ben was a good sport and posed under the Missouri banner.

 View from our cheering section

 Oddly enough the fans do NOT leave while the band plays at 1/2 time.

Seriously, there were close to 87,000 fans in attendance that day and it didn't look like anyone moved as the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band took the field.

(As a band nerd, I thought this was pretty cool.)

After a massive (way too tired) meltdown in the middle of the 1st quarter, Kaden passed out on my lap until 1/2 time.  After that he did fantastic with us up in the stands, eating kettle corn and wanting grandpa Cook to hold him.

 Kaden's favorite spot during the game.

 This was a fun game to attend (even with a 2-year-old). 

The tigers finally managed to pull out a win (38-31) in overtime.

 We were all in agreement that the A&M fans are the best that we have encountered. 

All of the fans we talked to in and out of the stadium were SUPER nice!

 Another neat thing about this stadium was that everyone was welcome to walk out onto the field as soon as the game ended.  Kids were running around playing football, people were hanging out & talking until the crowd finally dispursed.

 Checking out the grass, and what NICE grass it was!

A house divided.

In the past few years Ben has become a Missouri fan... that is, when Mizzou isn't playing A&M. 

 Mr. Benjamin Dow

As much as I'd love for Kaden to be a TIGER, I am now more open to the fact that he could look into College Station (and save us a little out-of-state tuition money).

But that's a good 16 years down the road...

Kaden, true to form, running around without shoes!

The clincher for attending this game actually came several months ago when there was talk about A&M joining the SEC.  None of us had ever been to College Station to see a game and it was looking like this would be the last time that these two teams would meet... 

This coupled with the fact that Kyle Field is supposed to be a "bucket list" venue for college football.  Suddenly it's looking like Missouri will be joining the SEC as well. 

Oh well, it was a perfect day to watch a football game, and Kyle Field lived up to all of our expectations.