Purdue Football Weekend

We didn't plan ahead very well, and waited until about a week ago to figure out if there was a football game that we thought we should try to catch this year.  It turned out that the upcoming weekend was the only one that fit our schedule, so we quickly threw together a weekend trip.  Friends had some tickets they weren't able to use, and I found a hotel not too far away, so we could go over on Friday afternoon.  Malcolm had a half day of school on Friday, so I picked Dorothy up a little early from her school after getting her brother.  The only major snag was that a tree fell on Thursday evening, and it blocked the garage.  Dorothy happens to go to school with a little girl whose parents own a tree service business, so I called them first thing Friday morning, and they came right over and got our driveway cleared so we could get the van out and go on our trip.  Many thanks to Tree Guyz for their quick work!

We made  it to West Lafayette in time to catch the very end of the marching band rehearsal.  Kevin dropped the kids and me off at the practice field and he went to park the car.  We only got to see a tiny bit of pregame, but the kids liked what they saw. 

 Dorothy played with her baton on the sidelines while the band huddled.

 

 We walked back with the band from the practice field to the Hall of Music.  During the tuba breakdown, Dorothy went and talked to the feature twirlers.  She was a little shy and wasn't sure what to say to them.

 

 They were nice enough to pose for a quick picture with her.

 Malcolm, watching the band march up the street.  He had to stand up and move back to the sidewalk shortly after this.  As the drum line passed, one of the drummers (a snare, I think) tossed a drumstick at his feet.  I tried to have him return it, but they said it was for him to keep.

 After dismissal, this twirler, Erin, stopped and talked to Dorothy for a long while.  Dorothy showed her her finger twirls and they talked about being at Nationals at Notre Dame this past summer.  Dorothy was a little quiet, but she really enjoyed having one of the twirls spend so much time with her.

 Dorothy needed to use the restroom, but there was a bit of a wait until the band cleared out a little.  Kevin and Malcolm went for a walk around campus, and Dorothy and I waited outside the Hall of Music for them.  While we waited, I took a few pictures.  I suggested posing the the Band Key.

 Then she wanted me to take pictures of her with the two busts out front.  Al's nose made a great handle for her to pull herself up with.  Sorry, Al.

 She also used Spots' nose to climb up, but this time she let go of it once she was up there.

 Kevin and Malcolm returned from their walk.  Malcolm has his drumstick over his shoulder.

 Dorothy then insisted that I take her picture again because now she had her baton.

 On our way to dinner at Lafayette Brewing Company (which was no where near as good as it used to be), we stopped by Riehle Plaza, where Kevin and I got married.  There was a fence around the train station, so we could only be on the front steps.  (Photo courtesy of Malcolm.)

Dorothy wanted to take our picture too, so we went with a silly pose and Malcolm jumped it.  I actually kind of like this picture of us.

 We hadn't planned to catch the morning rehearsal on game day, but we happened to be walking by after parking, so we stopped to watch.  I went around front with Dorothy so that she could see the twirlers while Kevin and Malcolm stayed at the back of the band.

 The drum major happened to stop right in front of where Dorothy was sitting.

 With the Big Bass Drum.  It was cold, so Dorothy has on her jacket, but her shirt underneath has the drum on it.  The jacket has the drum on the back.  Either way, you can't see it here, which is too bad.

 One of the crew members offered to take a picture with all four of us, so Kevin and I jumped in too.

The same crew member offered to let the kids hit the drum.  Malcolm felt too embarrassed to take a turn, but Dorothy took a whack at it.

Dorothy and I once again went inside the Hall of Music to use the restroom.  On our way out, the auxiliary director offered her a signed poster of all the twirlers.  The first thing she asked was if we could put it up on her wall.  We didn't want to drag the poster around all day (and it would get very wrinkled in my purse), so Kevin took it back to the car while I walked with the kids toward the stadium. 

 The Extra Special went past us and I asked if they would pose for a picture.  They were nice enough to stop, then they offered the kids block P tattoos.  Thanks, Reamers!

 They had fun walking in the moon walk footprints outside the Neil Armstrong building.

 Malcolm wanted his picture with Neil Armstrong.

 Dorothy didn't want to have her picture taken until after her brother did it.

 We even stopped at the Purdue sing on our way to get some lunch.

 Dancing inside Mackey Arena where the band now does their pregame concert.

 Dorothy and I walked around to the side so she could have a better view. 

 After the concert, she got to go down on the floor and take pictures with the twirlers.  She was a little shy to go out there by herself, but a couple of the twirlers held her hand to walk her out on the floor.

 With the twirling line.

 With the solo twirlers.  I love that the baton they gave her to hold is almost as big as she is.

 It was family day at Purdue, so they had a free kids' area set up.  We had some time to kill, so we checked it out. The kids "won" a ton of tattoos as prizes.

 Malcolm rode the mechanical bull.  Dorothy sat on it, but wouldn't let go of me, so I had to take her off.

 The Indianapolis Colts had a booth set up.  Malcolm is throwing the football through a hole.  Dorothy wasn't tall enough, so she threw the ball while sitting on Kevin's shoulders.  I don't have a picture, but Dorothy also met two of the Colts Cheerleaders and is now the very proud owner of a singed Colts Cheerleaders poster.  One of the cheerleaders she met was a former Goldduster with the band.  She saw the drum on Dorothy's shirt and asked if she liked the band.

 The tennis club had a very low net set up and the kids could hit balls back and forth with them.  Malcolm loved this, but was really bad at it.

 Game time!  At this point, Purdue was doing too terribly, so we were still fairly enthusiastic.

 Dorothy really got into yelling, "Go Boilers!" but she mostly did it once everyone else was quiet.  Luckily, most of the people around us found it funny.  Probably because her "loud" voice wasn't overly loud.

 Malcolm was very please with his foam finger he had picked up at the kids' area.

 By the end of the game, they were tuckering out.  The stands cleared out a lot but the end of the game, so we let the kids move around a fair amount.  I need to figure out how to get videos downloaded because I have a few of them dancing away in the stands.

 This photo pretty much sums up Purdue football fans everywhere.

We stayed for the band concert at Slayter, and then had a long walk back to our car.  It was late when we got home and both kids were out hard about ten minutes into the drive.  It was a vert time and both kids have been asking when we can go back again.  Maybe we will try for another women's basket ball game.