The Music City Bowl- Go Big Red

Back in December we traveled to Nashville for the Music City Bowl. Nebraska was playing Tennessee. Mark had never been to a bowl game and of course he loves Nebraska football. Usually bowl games are some where warm and somewhere you have to fly too.  Innocently one morning Mark mentioned "tickets are only $35."  Wheels started turning and in no time I had the trip planned!

Let's just say....WE HAD SO MUCH FUN! 

We dropped Ginger off and then hit the road.  It is a little over 8 hours to Nashville, so easily a day trip.  We are planning a trip to Colorado this summer, so we told the girls it was practice for Summer vacation. 

After we got checked into our hotel we hit a local restaurant for dinner! 

Then we hit the hotel pool....which was freezing!  The girls swam for a short time!  Why do kids love a hotel pool so much? 

Then the fun began Friday morning.  Mark mentioned that he wanted to get to the pre game festivities early and I am so glad he did.  They were so much fun!  We started in the VIP Nebraska tent.
This tent included drinks, TV's, couches and chairs, and all kinds of Nebraska decor!

We took lots of selfies! 

There was a pre game pep rally complete with the Nebraska marching band and cheerleaders.  It was fun to be surrounded by Nebraska fans. 

Addison and I spent some time together walking along the river.  The stadium overlooked the river.  

Then it was time for lunch, which was basically the best part of the day in my opinion.  There was a huge street party with several streets blocked off for the events.  This particular food line was the longest....and the girls whined about it being so long.  But, all the food was free.  All of it.  There were burgers, ribs, chicken, duck, dumplings, vegetables, and more.  It all tasted amazing. 

We stood there in line and watched them cook everything.  The time passed very quickly.  Coke was a sponsor of the bowl game, so drinks were free as well!  Score.  Free lunch (drinks included) and an amazing lunch at that.  

We headed inside and found our seats and were ready for the game.  We ended up being in the shade the entire time, so when the sun went down, it was a little chilly! 

The game was not the greatest, but the half time performance was fun!  

Then we turned around the next morning and headed back home.  Addison was thrilled to see the Arch on the way to Tennessee and asked if we could stop on the way back through.  Sure! Why not?  So we did!  

We had fun taking lots of pictures and creating memories. 

Then we had to spend some time along the river skipping rocks and checking things out.  

We kenneled Ginger at a new place we found.  It is an in home kennel and we absolutely love it!  Ginger had a blast and we got several pictures of her while we were gone. 

Isn't Ginger beautiful? 

Ginger was so exhausted for days after we got home.  I know she had so much fun and so did we! 

Go Big Red

Saturday morning we headed up to Lincoln for the Husker football game.  It was the first game for the girls and a day Mark has been dreaming of for years.  Taking his girls to the Nebraska game.  We had so much fun.  We hit the pool at the hotel for a quick swim before heading out to dinner.  

We had dinner at Applebee's and then headed down to the stadium.  

We parked about 6 blocks away and walked to the campus.  We got there in plenty of time,  so we walked around outside for a little while before heading in. 

These fans (and football helmets) were a hit!  I could hardly get a picture of the girls without them after someone gave them to us.  

The girls insisted on sitting down instead of exploring.  They didn't want to miss the start of the 

game.  It was 68 minutes until game time...I think we had plenty of time.  The game didn't even start till 8:10 Saturday night.  It was a late night for sure. 

After a while they decided we could get up and check out the stadium.  

But, first we had to get more pictures with the football helmet.  

We watched the Huskers warm up for a while, until we got hit with a football...so them we moved!  It was only on our hand, but it got our attention for sure.  

When the girls and I were out exploring, we stumbled upon the players coming out of the locker room.  Super fun and exciting!

Our seats were amazing.  30 rows up in the end zone...where 3 touchdowns were scored in the 2nd quarter.  

The energy and excitement at Memorial Stadium is the best.  It is jam packed in that stadium and so loud and exciting.  

The pre game show was even fun to watch.  

Then it was time for the game and the tunnel run!  

Red balloons are handed out before the game and you hold onto them until Nebraska scores.  After they score, you let them go.  That was awesome. 

The girls and I walked around for a while in the 2nd quarter since they were getting a little restless in their seats.  

We  had the best seats though.  No one was in front of us.  So, the girls could stand up, lean against this rail if they wanted, and see everything.  

We enjoyed exploring the stadium.  We came back to our seats with pretzels and pizza.  Nothing like 2nd dinner at 9:30 at night!  We stayed for almost the entire game.  There was about 5 minutes left when we left our seats and about 1 minute left when we got out of the stadium.  At this point it was after 11:30 and Addison was tired.  Lauren did amazing the entire game, but poor Addison was so tried and kept saying "I want a bed to go to sleep in."  So, we left and got back to the hotel around 12:30 in the morning!  It was well worth it though.  

It was a great night and an amazing weekend.  We can't wait to do it again.