USF 41 NCSU 10

USF traveled up to Raleigh NC to play NC State so we took the 2 hour trip over to watch our Bulls play. Dom realized the Bulls were coming up here about a week ago, and since we haven't been to a game in quite a while we decided to go. I thought it was a great idea and couldn't wait to see some football. Then when I realized it was a 7:30 game I started to worry. What would we do with Francesca? Of course we were planning on taking her with us, for 2 reasons, #1 it would be cheaper than paying a babysitter and #2 she is going through her separation anxiety pretty bad right now and breaks down when I leave her with strangers. I woke up in the middle of the night last week worrying about things. What would people think of me bringing my young baby to a late night game? What would we do if she fell asleep, just hold her? She does get pretty heavy.
Dom had no worries so off we went towards Raleigh. We left the house after she woke up from her nap. I wanted to make sure she got at least one good nap in. The drive over went well. We stopped about mid way at a Target to pick up a rain poncho. We got the last one, but it was nice to have later that night. Once we got to Raleigh we drove around the stadium and had no idea where to park. Dom wanted to meet up with his buddy from MedSchool and we had to meet the people with the tickets. We found the tickets on craigslist. I wanted to sit in the USF section so I put a want ad in the Tampa area and we luckily found some. After resting in a business park parking lot for a while and allowing Francesca to crawl around and be out of her seat we jumped back in the car and found our parking spot. Dom started cooking and I went walking towards the stadium to get the tickets. When I got back Francesca was pushing her toy around the parking lot with Dom following close behind. We tailgated for a little while and then started heading towards the stadium. Francesca wore her USF Bulls cheerleading outfit and was a hit with all the fans on our walk up. She was a in a great mood, smiling at everyone and loved all the people. We were able to meet Dom's friend Jason Kurecki and let them catch up.
Game time!! We went to find our seats and Francesca was so tired on the way into the stadium. I was hoping she would fall asleep, but there were too many people to look at. So we found our seats and watched the opening. Once the two teams came out, everyone started cheering and the fireworks went off she had the deer in the headlight look. I was hoping she wouldn't break bad on me, but she didn't. I thought that if I went back under bleachers where the consession stands were that she might fall asleep. Well after USF drove down and scored on the first drive and then NCSU got a field goal I figured she was not going to sleep. So we went back out to watch the game. After a few minutes it started raining. I thought we might be able to weather the storm but it started getting heavier and I knew she had no business getting wet. This is where it was nice to have the rain poncho. Dom stayed to watch the game while Francesca and I went back underneath with all the other fans. She did very well, but would not fall asleep. At one point I found a place to sit and started reading to her. I gave her a cookie to eat, hoping that would help her sleep. But then the winds changed and the rain started hitting us. We evenually moved. It rained and rained, part of the first quarter, all of the second, through half time, and into the third Dom called and told me it had stopped and we could come out and watch. A lot of the NCSU fans had left during the rain. It was already 27-10 when we got back out there. Dom took Francesca to give my back a break and within 5 mins the girl was out. She was finally getting her nap, over 2 hours after she was initially tired. She took a 30 min nap and was in a great mood for the rest of the game. She seemed to enjoy the crowd and all the cheering. She would smile and flirt with all the fans around us. The game ended 41-10. The walk back to the car everyone was surprise that she was still awake and said that she would fall asleep as soon as we got into the car. Well she didn't. Dom called it, he said that we were about 30 mins from the house she would fall asleep. And that is what she did. She was awake for over an hour in the car before she finally crashed.