FRIENDS! It’s HERE! The BIG DAY of our trip…FINALLY!
On Wednesday, January 1st, my alarm went off super early. And I do mean super. We boarded our bus at 5:55 a.m! Remember me telling you the Rose Bowl spoiled the families? Well, this is the perfect example-we had a big bus with police escorts take us to the Rose Bowl parade.
This was us…up super early, super excited, and without a clue on what we should be expecting.
Our seats were amazing and were on the very first little turn of the parade.
We arrived in our seats about an hour before the parade began. Someone, I’m not even sure who, brought donuts and passed those out to keep us entertained.
Can you spot the lady in the pink coat?
It’s HODA!
Do you remember the first time I saw Hoda? Here’s a clue…
At the parade, Hoda popped out of The Today Show area just to greet people and mingle with the crowd, which was so super sweet. My other celeb sighting of the day was Bob Guiney. He happened to be walking right across our bleachers and someone in the crowd yelled, “It’s Bob from the Bachelor! HI BOB!!!, with as much enthusiasm as all my exclamation points. 😉
A view of The Today Show, where Al and Hoda were hanging, from my seat.
These two…besties.
A few people took pictures of our crew so the first five rows of this set of bleachers were all officials’ families and guests.
Our big group for the day…can you spy us back there?
This was SUCH a cool experience!!! We’ve watched this parade on television for years but seeing it in person was super cool.
As soon as the parade was over our group split and if I’m being honest, it was chaos making our way back to the bus. At one point, I asked a fellow officials’ daughter if she’d keep up with Bowen so I could carry Britt. Spoiler alert-somehow we ALL managed to make it to the bus. #winning
The bus took us directly to the VIP Tailgating Party…
There was a huge indoor tent with two big lines of food, two big spots with desserts, lots of televisions, a big bar area, and lots of fun decor.
Burgers? Hot dogs? Dessert?
Yes, please!
There was additional seating outside complete with a band and team representation from Oregon and Wisconsin.
It was a bit chilly inside the tent so we grabbed a table outside on the sun.
Sprites all around made these four super happy.
We found a few seats inside to catch a little bit of this game before walking over to the Rose Bowl.
On our way to the stadium, I HAD to take this picture. Remember this?
Halloween 2018…where these two should have been driving around in that doggy van.
Please note…we all dressed in our black/white for the day!
FIVE BIG SMILES from us.
We made it to our seats about an hour before kickoff and we spotted Tab down on the field!
We had great seats right near the 40 yard line.
Look who got a bunch of air time during kickoff!
I received lots of texts, messages, and videos from you guys and threw some into a collage. THANK YOU for being excited for us!
The weather was absolutely amazing! The vibe in the stadium was great!
I stole this collage from Marla’s Facebook, but this was something really cool about The Rose Bowl. Twenty-four years ago Tab’s dad, Gary, officiated this same game and eighth-grade-Tab watched from the sidelines. {Yes, the sidelines! My, oh my, how the times have changed.} Needless to say, this game was super cool on many levels for our family.
Such a COOL experience!! I’m so thankful we got to be a part of it. This day represented a whole lot of work finally paying off. This was a dream come true, bucket list item, and goal was met-kind-of-day for our family. All six of us sacrifice a lot throughout the year in order to make this side gig of college football officiating work. Tab has clinics, practices, spring games, tests, film, as well as the regular season where he’s gone and I’m solo parenting, the kids miss him being at things, and Tab misses those moments as well. So, this event was a big accomplishment for all six of us. We ALL celebrated BIG!
And to be honest…we made it back to the bus, which dropped us off at our hotel around 6:00 p.m…just twelve hours after we’d been picked up for the parade. There was a fun little post-party with food, drinks, and tvs set up and then we were OUT!
Whew! What a DAY!
And to recap our other days of the trip…
Remember, Mix and Match Travel Agency doesn’t book this exact trip quite yet, but we can help you with a Walt Disney World trip, cruises, or any international trip. Just e-mail us at mixandmatchtravelagency@yahoo.com to learn more!
Happy Monday, Everyone!
XO
The pics and posts just keep getting more and more exciting!! I know our family sure did love watching the Rose Bowl this year!
What an incredible experience for your family!!! And Tab's dad officiated the Rose Bowl too? I hadn't heard that! SO COOL!
This is so much fun!! What a cool experience!
What an amazing day and fun adventure! We always watch on TV, it must be so awesome to watch in person! Thanks for sharing!
Ellibelle's Corner
I LOVE Ebby Lee's homemade visor 🙂 what a fun cool experience and how awesome that Tab's dad officiated the Rose Bowl too… I can't imagine all the sacrificing you all make throughout the year but what special memories you all are making that the kiddos will have forever!!
How fun!!! The state I live in the college band was in it and the state I moved to their high school band was in it!!!
http://www.keldeniseblogs.com/
I love the Rose Bowl! I have been two times with my team, but your experience looks top notch! Awesome for your family.
I had an idea for a post. With your time at college games and exposure I would love to see a post about options for purses/bags that fit the stadium rules for clear and size etc. I know our college team (a Big Ten team) follows the rules. I just thought that would be fun for us who go to games but are not as aware of all the clear bag options.
Thanks!
So fun! Do you have a link to your clear crossbody? I need one for events! THANKS
I LOVE your purse. It's so hard to find something clear and cute. Where did you get it?