Miami Beach Bowl.... Day 1

Last Thursday, we were off with the University of Tulsa for the Miami Beach Bowl! 

Our team won 9 games in regular season, and when you win 6, you're considered bowl eligible! We found out in early December, that we would be off to South Beach for the bowl trip! 

Thursday morning we were up bright and early to meet at the stadium. We were on the early flight, and took some selfies while we were waiting on the bus to finish loading. 

We arrived at the airport, went through security, and then we were on the chartered plane. 

DJ and I decided to divide and conquer on the flight. Megan and Adalyn together would have been a nightmare, so I kept Gretchen and Adalyn, while he sat across from us with Megan. 

The girls were excited to be on the plane! And they did great! I hit up the Dollar Tree before we left and let each of them pick out two activities. And then they each brought an American Girl doll, their tablets, and we brought two iPads downloaded with movies to help keep them occupied on the flight. 

While they were coloring, reading, or watching, I was reading The Magnolia Story.

This book was so good and it was an easy read. I almost finished it on the flight, and had I been flying solo, i'm sure I would have finished it. It takes a look at how they met, and their story and adventures up to starting their show on HGTV. 

Once we arrived in Miami, we hurried to the bus and had lunch. We were waiting on the football team to arrive. There were so many of us that we had to take two planes and each plane had to leave an hour apart. We also met DJ's mom there! She had flown in from Indiana to spend the trip with us! 

When the team arrived, and all of the buses were loaded, we made our way to our hotel. We had just enough time to settle in, and take a look at our view. 

Well, the pictures were horrible with the back lighting, so you can't actually see our view! But, it was a gorgeous view overlooking the ocean! 

We ended up having adjoining rooms. The girls room had a balcony, while ours did not. They thought it was pretty cool that they had the better view! 

DJ set off to work on setting up meeting rooms, and we headed off to the team welcome dinner ath Marlins stadium. 

These girls felt like movie stars.... there was a red carpet and then a photo backdrop that they thought was pretty spectacular! 

We were able to catch a glimpse of the field. 

And then we spotted the trophy! We were all excited that the trophy could be coming home to Tulsa!

We had dinner and listened to a few speakers and then each of the coaches. 

Addy P listening hamming it up at dinner time. 

After dinner, the girls did some dancing, ate some churros, and then we took in the view of Miami at night. 

DJ wasn't quite finished setting up, but he stole away for a few minutes so we could take the girls down to the beach.

This was their first experience seeing the ocean and I didn't want him to miss it. 

So we went, and got in, clothes and all. 

The girls were in love. They had so much fun, running and having the waves splash on to them. 

And I was so thankful that DJ could steal some time away to be with us. 

By the time we were done playing in the ocean, we were all soaked! 

And, a quick look back at our hotel from the ocean. 

After playing in the water for a bit, we went back up to shower and go to bed! It was a busy traveling day and we were exhausted!