No Pictures...

I didn't have my camera this weekend. When I'd realized that my small point and shoot "diaper bag" camera was in the diaper bag it was too late. The said diaper bag and "diaper bag" camera, and precious little girl who requires the diaper bag were on their way to spend the weekend with her Grammy & Pop. I knew there was no room in the car for our big camera. We had 8 people, a tailgating tent, 8 chairs, a cooler, 4 suitcases (there was a strict policy of ONE per couple mandated by master-packer, DW) and a few loose jackets packed in the suburban. To say the least, it was loaded down. I felt a little ill about going off to make memories without having anything to "capture" and "preserve" them, but I also felt a little free to just make memories without having to worry about capturing and preserving them.

We left around 4:00 Friday afternoon headed for Columbia for the Florida vs. South Carolina game.

For the past few years, we've tried to go to at least one away game every season, and every time we've been, we've had a great time...

If I had taken a camera this weekend, I would have taken a picture of these things:

- Adam & Lauren's suitcase. They won the award for lightest packers for sure...

- The massive pile of biscuits the waitress placed in front of me when we stopped at the Cracker Barrel for dinner. Who doesn't stop at the Cracker Barrel at least once on a trip? And who doesn't love biscuits?

- The top three finalists in our "See who can buy the best junk at the jiffy store" contest when we stopped for gas. Granted, we only had three people in our party that actually wasted money on buying something, but the three items were definitely treasures... They were:
1. A ceramic bell (with an animated peanut & peach on the front, asking the question, "Yall from Georgia?"
2. a miniature (as in 4 inches long) metal lunchbox, with a picture of the Wicked Witch of the West on it, yelling at To-To with the words, "I'll get you my pretty" printed on it
3. a small metal tray with the characters from Star Trek on it, that said, "Beam me up, Scotty"

- The view from our window when we got to the hotel. There aren't many choices when it comes to hotels in Columbia... but this hotel was definitely a FEW steps up from our rooms in Columbus, Georgia (where we stayed for the FL vs. Auburn game a few years ago)... We did all agree though, that rooms like those make for funny memories...

- The line at the women's bathroom when we got to the stadium. It was at that moment that I hated myself for being the person who cannot use a porta-potty and who'd gone ALL DAY LONG without tee-teeing. Miraculously I stood in line without having an "accident".... and I know what you're thinking---that bathroom was just as gross as a porta-potty. I know. I am sure it was...I have a major issue with public bathrooms... I only go when it's an EMERGENCY and I've never even seen the inside of a porta-potty. Although, I did hear that the porta-potties that were in the lot where we tailgated, were really clean and smelled like cinnamon. Nice.

- my seat and the number on it at the beginning of the game and at the end. Starting out, I was seat 12. By the end I was somewhere between 10 & 11. A lesson was learned. NEVER let Annie sit on the end and "hold the line"... DW sits on the end at home games and "holds the line"...We are still confused as to why we sat the way we did and the girls were on the outside and the guys were all on the inside... (we were 8 tickets, 2 rows of 4... so on the lower row it was girl, boy, boy, girl and the same on the bottom)... We won't do that again, since we were pretty much sitting on top of each other by the end of the game... ha...

- the "Victorious Gator" balloon animal that the balloon artist (?) what are balloon people called? made for Stephanie at Chili's... (for a tip, of course)...

Like always, it was a fun trip.... and like always, there's no place like home...ESPECIALLY when home includes a sweet 11 month old!

This afternoon, I went to grab a camera to take a picture of her, but both my camera batteries were dead. It's okay though, because moments like I was trying to get a picture of this afternoon don't require a camera to capture and preserve them... nope, moments like those are forever burned into our minds. Annabelle was in Cooper's room holding his wooden toy hammer, and trying to climb inside the grocery cart that she'd turned over on it's side. It's times like those, when she does something so much like him that I have to stop and catch my breath. She's very much her own precious little person, but genes are genes and I'm thankful for that...thankful for all the little ways she's like her big brother...and also thankful for memories that don't require a picture to be recalled...
~amw~