Our First USC Football Game #gogamecocks

Am I the only one that sometimes wants coffee in the middle of the day, but doesn’t want to make a whole pot?? Man, what to do?!

Coffee or no coffee? Be sleepy or not be sleepy? Drink water instead…?

These are the times when I sure do miss my Keurig!! May she RIP, sadly.

Today, coffee won. As usual. 🙂

Coffee! Today is a good day.

Last weekend we all went to Columbia to visit Bradley and to watch the home football game, as you may have noticed from my social media. We had SO much fun!! I’m so glad we were able to go. And, boy was it a memorable game!! We decided to go to that game in particular because it was family weekend. So, that means there were lots of parents and families on campus. Bradley wasn’t the only student with his family following him around like little puppy dogs, I’m sure he was glad about that. When I found about family weekend several weeks ago I immediately looked it up. After finding out how expensive tickets were (for 4 people plus his at a discounted rate) we decided to just go to the game. Because, #imcheap! Also because, we could practically take a family vacation for that much $$$! Instead, we went to the game (which that in itself was pretty pricey) and hung out in Columbia for the weekend.

We got in town on Saturday around 11:30ish, had a quick lunch on campus at Chick Fil A, then caught the shuttle over to the stadium. On the way over to the stadium Bradley warned me about what all I might see…in particular, how the college girls dress. He told me nothing surprises him anymore. Lol Once we were dropped off from the shuttle we began the long walk into the stadium then up to our seats. We arrived late (I know, The Dotson’s running late..imagine that?!) 😉 so we had to squeeze through other people in our row to get seated. That’s always fun. I was absolutely amazed how big that stadium is!! It’s really very cool to see! We sat there for the first half dripping in sweat, it was SO SO SO HOT! The sun was shinning fiercely with very little breeze and we were packed in there like sardines. Then, half time started so some of the people cleared out. That was nice! We watched the marching band performance which was very entertaining, they did a fantastic job!

On the shuttle over to the game
Impressive!
In the stands. Sweating!!
Bradley and I. Again, we were so hot in the SC sun!
These two love some football!!
The band says, “Thank You.”

Then the second half started…and so did the rain. After a few drops of rain hit me, I got up and walked out to the covered area. Joe and the boys stayed in the stadium telling me it was going to blow over. A good hour later or maybe an hour and a half later, the first round did blow over. HA! Needless to say, they were soaked!!! At one point Addison brought me his phone asking me to hold it with a big grin on his face. He had the best time out in the rain, dripping wet, and watching football with his Dad and Damian. Bradley joined me under the awning for most of the time. *See my pic of him on Instagram and FB,* he’s such a great young man!!!

My boy, see my social media for this description.
Look at all that rain.
During the rain…they were loving it
Before the heat and rain…
After.
Brotherly love.
Proud USC parents with the boy.

It finally stopped raining so Bradley and I went back out to the stadium to watch the game, he had been watching it on his phone. A lot of people had left so there was plenty of sitting room at that point, which was nice. We sat there and watched the game and then when there was about 2 minutes left (and a very close game!!) they delayed the game for 30 minutes due to lightening being 8 miles away! 2 minutes left and lightening was 8 miles away!!!! We decided to wait it out. Thirty minutes later, it was delayed again. So, after getting soaked and I do mean soaked (not me though…remember I was under the awning ;)), we decided to leave. And then, it started raining again. Once again, we waited under the awning. Finally, the rain cleared out and we walked back to the shuttle. While on the bus back to campus, the game finally started back up. Bradley, Joe and some others on the bus all had the game streaming on their phones. I’m glad to tell you, after a super close ending, The Gamecocks won! PTL!! 😉

Gotta watch the game!

Rainbow after the rain.

Like I said, it was a very memorable game!! 🙂 And, I’m so thankful we were able to go and take the boys. I think they enjoyed it tons! I even enjoyed it, there was lots of great people watching!! Ha!

By the time all of that excitement was over with we were starving. We then went to the fav choice in Columbia…Red Robin. After dinner we dropped Bradley off at his dorm (I’m pretty sure he was done with us) then went to our hotel for the night.

Sunday morning, we picked up Bradley and went to Krispy Kreme Donut Factory. I meant to get a pic of the donut factory, it’s quite large and impressive, but I forgot the pic. Bummer! After driving around campus looking at a few things we went to the bookstore for more USC stuff. Apparently you can’t ever have enough University of South Carolina garb! 🙂 We then went to WalMart to get the poor college boy some snacks and body wash because that’s what any good parent does. 😉 By that time, it was time for (more) football. On Sunday we watch pro football, of course. We then went to Buffalo Wild Wings for football and wings. I’ll admit, not really my cup of tea, but I so much enjoyed watching all of my favorite guys hang out together!! Joe misses watching football with Bradley, so I know they enjoyed their time together.

YUMMY!!!

Always representing!

The building Bradley works in. If you are an USC alum, he’s going to be calling you! 😉
Happy boys eating some wings, despite how A looks.
They get so tired of me taking pics of them. I don’t care one little bit! They will smile and like it!!

After one set of games were over (because there were many screens, with many games going), we left. It was then time to drop Bradley off and for us to head back home, sadly.

As much as I miss him, I am so thankful he has the opportunity to attend his school of choice. He seems to be enjoying college life and I know he is growing (not just his hair! 😉 ) in so many ways.

Well, I hope y’all have a great weekend ahead!! Go do something fun… attend a football game, watch a football game on TV, or people watch. I prefer the latter 😉

Thank you for reading! xoxo, Susan

Our Columbia Fun

Welp, I did it.

I took the boys and myself on a little get away trip to the grand ol’ city of Columbia, South Carolina! Now, considering Columbia is only an hour and a half away our excursion wasn’t a huge deal, but we had a good time and that’s what matters most!

Bradley had to go to the University of South Carolina for orientation and since it’s 1.5 hours away and since all we’ve done this entire summer is clean our house (literally!) due to showing our house 9,763 times I decided we were going to have a little fun. We deserved it! Unfortunately, Joe couldn’t join us. He had to work… so that we could have a little fun. 😉

Bradley had to be at USC on Tuesday at 4 pm to take a foreign language placement test before orientation started the very next day. After him being in the testing room for approximately 5 minutes he returned to us and announced he was done! With a big grin on his face he told us he scored a 1/5. Only Bradley, our easy going boy, would find humor in such. Ha! To explain, he took sign language in high school as his “foreign” language and USC doesn’t offer sign language so he had to test on an actual foreign language, he chose Spanish. Looks like he has lots of learning to do in Spanish class! So, after our super quick time on campus we went to Red Robin for dinner because that’s what we always do when we’re in the vicinity of a RR since we don’t have one in the Charleston area.

Bradley on campus

While at Red Robin we all enjoyed yummy burgers and fries. So tasty!! Addison also chose to partake in the bottomless root beer float(s). Three root beer floats later he decided to call it quits. Oh to have the metabolism of a 14 year old again! After dinner, we walked around the mall. While at the mall we found a 2018 Volvo XC60. I REALLY want a VOLVO XC60 so I gave it a good look-over and we walked away. As we were walking away Damian ran up to me and asked, “Mom, if I win you that Volvo, can I have your Armada?” I told him “sure!” …I’m still waiting for him to win me that Volvo…only I’d like a white one, please. 😉

Root beer float #1
Red Robin…yum!
Root beer floats 1-3
My future car.
At the hotel room for the night.
The joys of sharing a hotel room with 3 boys. No one wanted to share a bed with Mom. Ha!

Bright and early the next day we dropped Bradley off on campus for his 2 day orientation. Then, Addison, Damian and myself went to the Waffle House for breakfast since it was only 8 am and we had some time to kill. Our original plan was to go to the Riverbanks Zoo, but once we looked at the radar we decided to come up with a plan B due to the high chances of rain that day. So, we decided to go to the South Carolina museum in Columbia since it was indoors. We absolutely loved that museum!! It was so nice with tons to see and do. We actually stayed there for about 3.5 hours. We were able to see so many cool things. Even my two teenage boys were impressed so that’s saying a lot! I’d definitely go back. If you’re ever in the Columbia, SC area give the SC Museum a visit.

Off to college orientation he goes!
South Carolina Museum
We learned about everything from SC habitats to SC history.
I notice all things alligator…even if this one was not real.
A replica of the first passenger train in the state.
1937 Dodge Pickup
“What in the world is this?!” 😉

Really amazing to see all of these very old tv’s.

Us in the Charleston scene at the museum. 🙂

After our museum adventure and lunch at Salsaritas we were all tired so we went back to the hotel and took a nap. It was glorious!! 🙂 That evening the boys wanted to hit up the Goodwill that they had already spotted. You see, several weeks ago I drug them to our local Goodwill with me and D found some  Nike LeBron 13 shoes that were his size. They were in good shape and only cost $5.50 so I bought them, of course. Now, they are hooked and always want to check out the Goodwill. Addison is bound and determined to score him a great deal. Ha! Unfortunately, we didn’t find a single thing on this trip. I told them sometimes you find good treasures and sometimes you don’t, that’s just part of the adventure. We then went to a really nice park with a walking trail along the river. We walked around and took some great pictures. Finally we headed back to the hotel, but not before stopping at Freddy’s Frozen Custard shop. The three of us had turtle sundaes. So, so good!!

Salsarita’s was SO good!!
But, we ate so much food. We were full the rest of the day…until it was time for ice cream.
That Goodwill was huge, unfortunately we didn’t snag any deals.
He’s determined! Ha!!
At the park.
Just wanted to document that I was on this little trip, too. 😉

                  

Turtle Sundae. Man, was it good!!

Thursday morning we slept in a little. Had some hotel coffee. Then, headed out for our big zoo adventure. The Riverbanks Zoo & Gardens was very nice!! I don’t know if it’s because I haven’t been to the zoo in a long time or what, but we had a great time! The Columbia zoo is quite large with lots of animals and different fun exhibits to see. Several hours later we wrapped up our time at the zoo just in time for Bradley to text me and tell me he was finished with orientation. Perfect timing!

SO stinkin’ cute!!!
These guys were very entertaining and quite boisterous!
Adorable…from a distance.

                                

                                

A little family.
Selfie time! In front of the zebras.
This one was real! And very large.
Pink Flamingos. They amaze me.
Damian on the obstacle course.
He loved it! Addison wasn’t having it.
We took this pic as we were leaving and we were all so hot and sweaty, but we had a great time!
The flower gardens were beautiful!!

We had such a great time in Columbia! I am thankful for the time I was able to share with all three of our boys. I wish Bradley would’ve been able to join us for more of the fun, but I think he grew in his adventure at USC. I can’t believe in less than a month he will leave for college!! Where in the world does the time go?!? I still look at him and see my baby boy. At the same time, I am so proud of the young man that he is and I know that he has a bright future ahead of him.

At the book store on campus. He had a 25% off coupon so he HAD to use it. Bought this hoodie. He says he’ll root for USC basketball EXCEPT for when they play KY.

As we wrapped up our trip and drove home I told Bradley that at least when we go to Columbia to visit him we will have some fun things to do, unlike going to Murray, KY to visit Caisey. We loved our visits with her, but there was just not much to see and do in that small Kentucky town.

Lastly, as an update from the Dotson household, our house is still for sale. No news to report. School starts in 3 weeks. If you could, please pray for clarity in the decisions that we need to make. Thanks so much!!

Thank you for reading! ~Love y’all, Susan

 

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