Bucket List Item: Our first NFL game!

      Best. Weekend. Ever!

I have loved football for as long as I can remember.  I remember being very young and watching my Papaw pull for his Redskins.  Then I remember when my Mom married my Dad (technically my stepdad but this man raised me, so he's my Daddy) I became a die-hard Cowboys fan.  In 1995, NC got our first home team, so I pulled for the Cowboys and simultaneously the Panthers.  I married a Panthers fan and we have spent years watching games together!

   My son was born and when he was about three he decided he loved the Miami Dolphins.  I've never seen such a die-hard fan as Hudson.  He adores is team, and it is purely his own, he never copied anyone, he loved them from the start.  His devotion has created a Dolphins fan in me as well.  So when we found out that for the first time in YEARS they were coming to Bank of America Stadium, we were sooooooo excited!!!

    Charlotte is about 4 hours from here, so we drove down Saturday to spend the night!  I haven't been to Charlotte in years, since my daughter visited the American Girl store probably six years ago, so I didn't know that the hotel I booked was across from the Carolina Place Mall.  Honestly I didn't, lol.  

   I was a little apprehensive of my boy wearing his gear in the hometown of the team they were playing, but we actually ran into a few other Dolphins fans!  

   We did really enjoy our time in Charlotte!  The mall was really great!  I'm not the biggest fans of our malls locally- the one in Rocky Mount has several stores that are closed, and the Greenville mall is okay, but I did like the Carolina Place mall a lot!  We found Hudson some jeans, had some really great Japanese food, and of course- Cinnabon!

On Sunday morning, the breakfast at the hotel was actually pretty good!  Which worked out

good so we didn't have to drive around and find somewhere for breakfast since Chic-Fil-A is not open on Sundays.  We hung out in the hotel until about 10:30, then drove into town to find our parking spot.  

Once we got to the parking area close to Bank of America Stadium, there were plenty of other Dolphins fans!  As we were walking to the stadium an older lady with her Panthers jersey on rolled her window down and hissed at us playfully.  It was so fun, there were just as many teal jerseys as there were black and blue!  But there was no nasty words or fighting, it was just playful fan banter, and that was wonderful!  We laughed so hard!  Sawyer even spotted a few Commanders fans!  

A disclaimer that I have to throw out there before sharing our pics...

My husband is indeed a Panthers fan, always has been lol....

but since this was Hudson's first NFL game (ours too!) We told him we would support his Dolphins!  Even my other kiddos (Sawyer is a die-hard Commanders fan and Callie likes the Panthers as well) Supported Miami!  You can see my hubby a little uneasy in his Miami shirt hahaha!  He's such a good dad, and such a great sport!  

We hung out for awhile waiting on my Dad.  Charlotte is far closer to his side of the state than it is mine, so he drove from home.  He got there around 12:30, so we hurried in so we could get there in time for kickoff!  We did see Sir Purr while waiting outside, so that was a lot of fun!!!

It was very surreal going into the stadium, honestly kind of emotional knowing how excited my kids were, and how excited me and my husband were as well!  Hudson kept saying "I can't believe I'm here"...  good thing I had sunglasses on lol!

I remember many times when Stephen and I were younger we would drive by the stadium and take pics of it, never really taking the time to make it happen and go.  But I'm SO glad that we did!!!! 

Hudson had a BLAST!

And my sweet Daddy (all the way at the end lol) is the one who made this happen for us!

He got us tickets and said they were our Birthday and Christmas gifts for this year!  But him being there with us was my favorite :)  He has been to NFL games before and told us how much we would enjoy them, I'm glad that we went, we are for sure Hooked now!!!

The crowds didn't even bother us.  It was so fun to cheer with other Dolphins fans and even the energy of the fans of the other team!  It was just- so much fun!

This was a bucket list for me and my Hubby, even if he had on a Miami shirt lol!

At the end Carolina did win.  27-24!  We were missing one of our best players who was injured in 

Week 4 (Tyreek Hill) so I have to imagine that hurt a lot, but, if we have to lose to someone, its okay that it was the Panthers.  They will always have a special place in my heart, and honestly it didn't matter- we had the BEST time ever, and we can't wait to go back again!

Best. Day. Ever.