Puppy Lovin' Reflections: Fun Weekend

We had a really fun weekend. Shall we start at the beginning?

We got off work on Friday and the first thing we did is take the kids to the dog park. Get the wiggles out of them. Cute but very fuzzy action shot of the two of them running towards me. They see me whip out the camera and the hogs come a'racin'. They love to have their pictures made.

Saturday was a big day in my family. Although no one in my immediate family has gone to UCLA my parents are huge supporters of the football program and the school. They've been season ticket holders since the 1970's. In fact, they started back when USC and UCLA shared a field at the Colisium. Over the years they became bigger donors and therefore got better seats. I was raised in the late 80's early 90's. Well, the 90's was the decade of dominance for the UCLA football Bruins. We beat SC for 9 years in a row, they have yet to do the same...(close though!). I'm a die hard Bruin.

Anyways, Saturday was spring practice. We were really looking forward to this until we found out that the 2 starting quarterbacks are both out for the season. UGH!!! We have a new coach this season too, Rick Neuheisel. He is promising but so was Dorrell. The special thing about Saturday was this was the first time ever that they allowed the season ticket holders/donors to come into the stadium and see what new tickets were available (people who pulled out of their tickets) We've put in requests for upgrades for YEARS but never was able to. So finally we had our chance.

The whole experience was pretty cool. We got to go into the visitor's locker room where they told us how the whole thing was going to play out. We would have 10 minutes to get to our seats and then another 10 minutes to decide whether to switch or not. It was very intense. My family and I developed a strategy and decided how we were going to play our cards once we got out onto the field. They led us onto the field, brand new sod....gorgeous and then the time started.

**Note, there are two sides to the Rose Bowl. Press box side and then the Team Side. We sit on the press box side and I wouldn't trade it for the world. During day games, we get the shade about 1 hour into the game, the other side sometimes never sees shade....not worth it.**

So as soon as we got out there, we realized that there was going to be no improvement. I have to say we have amazing tickets already. We are about 1 yard from the 50 and 44 rows up. But we are in the middle of an aisle and it's just a pain sometimes. Plus we wanted to add two more seats to our group of 6 already. It just wasn't going to happen. So sad.

The whole thing was worth it though to be able to walk around the field. I've walked on it before during the 4Th of July and other events like that. But when it was decked out with the UCLA in the middle and the goal posts blue and gold, it was special for us.

We were also celebrating my dad's birthday so after the scrimmage we went to dinner with him. Nothing fancy, not worth mentioning except that he loved his gifts from us.

Sunday was so hot. We decided to take one of the boats out for a ride but for the first time, we were going to bring the pups. At first they weren't sure about the whole thing, then Tess realized it was water on the outside and then I could barely keep her in. We had to zip up the windows. Good thing we took out the electric boat out. But it was fun and so relaxing.