Navy Defeats North Texas 74-62!

Last Friday morning (after Jason got home from being on call at the hospital), we packed the car and headed up to Jason's Aunt Shelley and Uncle Jim's house up in Dallas. They're only 5 hours North of us, so if Jason ever gets a 3 day weekend (which is very rare) - we go up to Dallas to spend time with our extended Capra Clan. It's always a party at Aunt Shelley and Uncle Jim's! Not only do they both work and run around with their kids to all of their sporting events and activities, but they also throw in a party/BBQ here and there on a regular basis. They've got entertainment skills - that's for sure!
Anyways - last Saturday, they just so happened to be going to a Navy vs UNT football game, so they invited us to come along. Of course no football game would be complete (as far as Uncle Jim and Aunt Shelley are concerned) without a tailgate party! It was the first time Jason and I had ever been to a football game. It was also our first tailgating experience! I never understood what all of the hoopla surrounding tailgating was all about. Now I know! It was a lot of fun!
One of Jason's many brothers, Michael, also came down from Oklahoma to join in on the fun. We got up early on Saturday morning to enjoy a yummy breakfast with the family and a few of Jim and Shelley's friends who had stopped by. A couple hours later, we were off to meet Uncle Jim at UNT (he had of course left earlier to set up his tent, grill, coolers and chairs). He also picked up some beads for all of us girls to wear to show our support for the Navy team. ;)

Jason, Me and Katie, Aunt Shelley and Cousin Rissy


Aunt Shelley, Rissy, Me and Becky


Becky, Me and Rissy


Uncle Jim and Aunt Shelley


Uncle Jim made hotdogs, sausages, wings and cheeseburgers on the grill. And what party would be complete without chips, dip, beer and soda?! So we ate, talked, cackled, played, took pictures and ate some more for a good 4 hours. All the while Aunt Shelley was on the lookout for any Navy fans who might walk by now and then. She'd yell out different variations of, "Woo Navy! Go Navy!" She finally rubbed off on the rest of us and we all started to join in with her. She's so silly!

Mike and Jason


Becky


Aunt Shelley


Katie enjoying her first cheeto


Jason and Aunt Shelley even paid tribute to Jason's brother, James (who's stationed in Germany), by reinacting a risqué move that James and his friend made up and are now somewhat famous for on youtube. Here's the clip of Jason and Aunt Shelley's tribute. It won't make any sense to those of you who haven't seen James' video on youtube. If you haven't seen it, you can find it by clicking on my link for "Jason's movies on Youtube." James' movie is called "Fruth."



Finally it was time to head over to the stadium. On our way over, someone spotted a pull-up bar. The Marines had a recruiting booth set up by the stadium entrance - complete with pull-up bar. It didn't take much persuasion to get Jason to go over and challenge one of the Marines to a pull-up bar competition. Surprise surprise - Jason loves attention! ;) Here's the clip of Jason. I'm sure he could have done more - if he hadn't gotten a kink in his neck halfway through his "show." Poor Jason - he couldn't look to his left or right for 3 days...



The Marine didn't accept the challenge though. He said he was too weak from doing pull-ups all day long. Sure... A likely story. ;) We also saw some Naval cadets wearing cowboy hats! Supposedly they were allowed to wear them at the game as long as Texas was their Home of Record. I tried to take this picture without them noticing, but judging by all of their smiles - I think they spotted my camera. I guess I'm not very good at being inconspicuous... ;)



So the tailgating party was a lot of fun, but I was still unsure as to how this whole football game thing was going to work out. I've always preferred watching games in person rather than on TV (I love watching baseball and basketball games in person). But I had never sat through a whole football game on TV (let alone watch one in person), so I was nervous about how the girls were going to handle such a long game in such cramped seating arrangements. But both of the girls were great! And the game was so much more fun to watch than I would have ever imagined! It was so much fun, I didn't even realize that we had been sitting there for 4+ hours! I don't think Jason and I would have had as much fun at just any game though. I think this game was more interesting because we were rooting for a military team. Yeah - Jason's in the Air Force, but we would support any of the military teams...unless of course that military team was playing against the Air Force team! Aunt Shelley and Uncle Jim's son, Doug, is a cadet at the Naval Academy and Uncle Jim used to be in the Navy, so we had a lot of reasons to root for the Navy team!

Here's to you Doug! :)


Me and Jason




We enjoyed watching Navy's mascot - a very enthusiastic and entertaining goat. I liked how his costume had built-in muscles. I guess a weak-looking goat wouldn't be a very good representation of a military team, so the muscles gave him that extra umph! ;) He reminded me of Jason for some reason... ;)



This game ended up setting a major-college record. The teams combined to score 94 points in the first half and 63 in the second quarter to set two bowl subdivision records. Both teams finished with a combined score of 136 points. Navy defeated North Texas 74-62. A week before this game, Navy had beat Notre Dame 46-44. In this game, Navy and UNT had more points than that by only halftime, when UNT led 49-45. It was an intense game! What a great game to watch for our first football game experience!

After the game was won, the band played the Navy song. It was funny to see all of the football players, cheerleaders and their goat mascot standing at attention during the Navy song. But that's what you're supposed do when you're in the military! ;)



After the game ended, the school put on a great fireworks display. It was even better than the fireworks we had here for 4th of July! It lasted forever! After a while, I started hoping it would come to an end, so I could bolt to the bathroom!! Afterwards, we went back to Aunt Shelley and Uncle Jim's house to relax and visit before dropping into bed. It was a long day!!

Sometime after breakfast the next morning, we had an intense soccer game in the front yard complete with ipod music playing in the background. It was me, Jason, Becky and Micah against Michael, Mark, Rissy and Big Blue (I don't know his name - he was a friend of Micah's). The wager: Losers buy McDonalds. It was a close game, but much to my disappointment - we lost to Michael's team 11-10. Rrrrr...there were a lot of bad calls - that's all I have to say about that!! ;) So off to McDonalds I went. Sniff sniff. :(
We headed back to San Antonio an hour later. We stopped at Ikea along the way to pick up a couple of little things for the house...and eat some of their infamous meatballs for dinner! Yum!. I don't think we ever go into Ikea without getting meatballs. Mmmm...with little red potatoes and yummy lingonberry sauce on the side. I love that place! Mostly because of their meatballs...if they didn't have meatballs, Jason would probably never take me there! I miss having an Ikea 15 minutes away (like we had when we lived in Maryland). It's probably better that there isn't one close by though. Who knows what damage I might do??!! ;)