A Trip Every Boy Should Take...

...especially if he's a fan of Tennessee football. Yesterday Allison and I took Cooper on his first trip to Neyland Stadium. We made the day trip to Knoxville for the annual Orange and White game. We went with a guy Allison works with, Jeff, his wife, Amy, and their son William. We had a great time and the boys actually did much better than we expected.

We left yesterday morning at about 8:30 and arrived in Knoxville at about 12:30 local time. We found a place to park and walked down to see the Vol Walk that started at about 1:30. As we made our way toward the stadium I was amazed at how many people were there to see "practice." After the Vol Walk Jeff, Cooper, and I walked over to get tickets and then met the girls and William back at the Campus Deli where we picked up burgers for lunch. We ate our burgers back at the car before going back to the stadium to watch the game.

We arrived at the game just after it started, and because we waited we had to sit in the upper deck. As it turned out, this was a great place for us to sit. We were in the shade, and if we weren't I don't think the kids would have made it as long as they did. We sat in our seats for the entire first half and Cooper really seemed to have fun. When we first sat down he seem mesmerized by the number of people as well as by what was happening on the field. He asked many times what they were doing as well as pointing out Smokey several times. Just after halftime Cooper started to get a little restless. He and I walked down and stood by the rail. He really seemed to like it there because we were a little closer and he could stand on the rail to watch. After standing there for a while we walked back up the stairs and it appeared that William had had all he could take so we headed back to the car. When we told Cooper we were leaving he said "No, I want to watch the football game." Reluctantly he complied, and we headed back to the car and made the trip back.

While Cooper is definitely too young for a regular season game, I was encouraged by the fact that he seemed to have a goo time. Who knows, maybe we will make it a family tradition to make the journey to Knoxville every year for the Orange and White game.

I don't know if it was the game of how high we were, but Cooper was mesmerized when we first got in the stadium

There were tons of people waiting for the Vol Walk

We were high up, but the shade was great

Me and my boy taking in the game

Allison and I were both delighted to see Cooper's excitement and the fact that he was singing "Rocky Top" on the way to the stadium.

"On the rail" was Cooper's favorite seat

Cooper and Mommy doing a little tailgating before the game

Me and Cooper watching the players and coaches during the Vol Walk