On Friday of the second week of school we had planned a trip to my parents’. The reason for the trip was for John and I to go to the A&M vs. Florida game with some friends of ours. It is a wonderful Saturday spent with good friends, no kids, and in my favorite places! John is a OSU Cowboy thru and thru, but he married into the Aggie Family and is supportive of Aggie football. Since it was also Ian’s birthday on Saturday we decided to head out early, so we could celebrate his birthday that evening with the family.
Friday morning Caleb and Noah went to school to try and see if they would be able to take their first round of spelling tests before we had to leave. As we were getting ready I decided that I needed to paint Makaela’s toes. I laid out all the colors of fingernail polish we had and let her pick. John and her decided she needed sparkly blue. I painted her toes and then she wanted her fingernails done as well. She picked out a light sparkly pink. After her fingers I needed to go back and touch her toes. She decided she didn’t want me to do put any more blue on her toes. After some fussing and me trying to figure out what was wrong we had removed the blue polish and started again with some glittery orange. She was happy and I called her done. This incident with her made me think of a friend’s daughter’s melt down because she didn’t get her nails painted the correct color. I think the daughter was 18 mos. at the time and I didn’t have a girl. I remember thinking, “I don’t think I can handle a girl.” Now, I’ve got one and man are they picky about those nails!
We got everything packed and everyone loaded into the car then drove to the school to pick up the boys. We were going to grab lunch and be on our way. My sister Bridgette had a volleyball game at 5:30 that we were trying to make it to. I drove which is really unusual for us on a trip. We made it without John giving me too any driving tips! :)
We made it to Bridgette’s game. I took a few pictures, including one of her cheering squad. Yes, our one family took up a large spot on the bleachers. It was my parents, David, Rachel, Ethan, and all of us. After I had already taken the picture before the stands were a little more crowded, my aunt and cousin Luke showed up and my sister Mary. This kind of family turn out doesn’t happen very often. Bridgette did very well, despite the distraction of us all being there. Well, not a distraction for her, but for her team mates!
We played some family volleyball at home later that evening. I was involved in the game so I didn’t get any pictures. My Dad videoed the game and the kids playing on the trampoline, so I got some pictures from that. We had the “Gallanders” vs. the “Allens”. My own siblings kicked me off their team and told me I had to play with the Allens. It was a lot of fun and the boys learned a new sport. Noah now wants a volleyball net in the backyard!
Saturday morning John and I headed to College Station. We met up with our friends for lunch and then to walk around before the game. We went into the MSC, which was the first time I had been in there since they opened it back up. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but the funny thing was- the flag room still smelled like the flag room. Memories of being a student were brought back with just that smell. It looks great! I showed John were I used to hide to study and the area was still there. Again, guess I thought the place would look totally different. We just made a quick circle of the first floor so I didn’t see it all, it was updated, but still looked like the MSC. It was nice. Then it was game time. I was so nervous about the game. I love my Aggies and I was so worried about how the game was going to play out. This was our first SEC game and I wanted us to make a good showing, but it was also our first game of the season. New coach, new quarterback, new conference! I really don’t care what the sports analysis think, the Aggies did great. I know we still had our second half issue, but we made a good showing for our first SEC game. I love going to the games with John. We never really got to experience too many game days at Kyle Field in college, when we were yelling for the same team. It’s nice to have those experiences now. Even more now since we are not even in the same conference any more.
Sunday, started like any other day when we are leaving. We got up, picked up, dressed for church, packed up some stuff, and then headed to church. After church we stopped and ate lunch. Then back to pick up Lady and the rest of our stuff before we headed home. On the way back to my parents’, John was driving and noticed the suburban acting funny. It wasn’t major so we didn’t think anything of it. We loaded up, said our good-byes and headed out. I was driving and noticed the truck was acting weird. It wasn’t shifting into the next gear like it should. As I got on to 35 and drove a little ways, telling John I was concerned, we decided to pull over and switch. When I stopped the car and put it in park it died. I started it and it did start, but we thought it was very weird. John got in the drivers seat and put in drive and it died. It did that a few times and then didn’t. John looked under the hood for ideas on the problem. We decided it would be best to head back to my parents’. We called them and when we got to the house they had my mom’s car filled up and cleaned out for us to borrow. I’m glad my parents have so many kids, there is no way we would have fit in a normal family car! We emptied our car and loaded up my mom’s. She has a smaller cargo area so not all our stuff fit, so we left the no essentials like the stroller at her house. We got back home later than we wanted too, but we got home safely. I kept trying to stay positive about the car breaking down. No one was hurt, we didn’t get too far away from help, we were able to borrow a car, and our truck was still under warranty.
The weekend had gone great until late Sunday afternoon. Still I’m happy for the good memories we had that weekend. Now, I guess we need to start thinking about what our next family vehicle will be.