{ Our Nashville Trip Day 2-Men’s Soccer Olympic Qualifying Game }

I can’t believe I forgot to write about this funny thing that happened on our way out of town. We had set our GPS for the stadium in Nashville, and started driving out of Atlanta going North. We were busy talking and looking around at the beautiful houses and scenery in this part of Atlanta we hardly ever get to see, and only partly paying attention to where we were going. We kept seeing signs for the interstate, but then the GPS would take us a different way. We thought, “Well, GPS knows best”, and kept chatting away, After about the 4th or 5th time of this happening we were beginning to not trust our sorely outdated/nonupdated GPS. We finally just turned at the next chance we saw the interstate and decided if our English accented lady wanted to “recalculate us” she could. After getting on the interstate, Aaron suddenly had a brainstorm and starts flicking all kinds of buttons on the GPS. He had been using it in on his trip in Las Vegas, but on PEDESTRIAN mode! What?! So if we ever wanted to walk for about 4 days to get to Nashville…we totally know the way! It was so funny!

As we were coming into Nashville we kept skirting around some dark and nasty looking clouds. We had been avoiding rain the whole trip, but just about 10 minutes out of town it started pouring! I mean, cats and dogs pouring! We were a bit early for the game, so we decided we should maybe stop by the stadium and see what the plan was for the game-rescheduled?,cancelled? We weren’t exactly sure what protocol is for a big soccer event like this. As we pull into the parking lot we see a lot of other people paying for parking and heading into the stadium. We try to ask a couple different parking assistants, but they all had no idea. We paid for parking, parked the car, and just looking at each other and started laughing. It was going to totally be an adventure for sure. Luckily, I had grabbed an umbrella on my way out the door from home, and Aaron had a bunch of extra clothes and an extra jacket for me to wear. We bundled up, and tried to take a few pictures under the umbrella.

We get to the gate, and this guy says, sorry no umbrellas and no bags. What? It was pouring out! We kind of look at each other, shrug and head back to the car. We ditch the umbrella, and sadly leave my camera behind. Without my camera bag, I wasn’t about to take it out in the pouring rain. An iPhone camera will have to do. I seriously have the worst luck with taking pictures when Aaron and I go out. I either forget my camera, it gets lost, it’s raining. As we head back to the gate, he kindly tells us no water bottles either. Of course. We should have known. We ditch the water, to try to save ourselves some time out in the pouring rain.

Inside this nice lady offered to take some pictures of the both of us with Aaron’s phone.

The field was SO green. I couldn’t believe it. We hung out under the eaves until it was time for the first game to start-El Salvador vs. Cuba. Aaron was smart enough to sneak in his garment hanging bag that we could sit on because everything was soaked. By the time the game was about to start the rain had stopped for the most part. We loaded up with a huge thing of popcorn and some Gatorade-I only mention this because of the funny thing that happened with the Gatorade. We go to the concession stand and the lady hands us the Gatorade after she opens it and takes off the cap. We think, this is kind of odd. Maybe they want to show that you really bought it here?.., but that didn’t really make sense either. We question the lady about it and she says that the official soccer rules are that all caps must be taken off so that the spectators don’t throw the caps at the players. My third “WHAT?” for the day. So crazy-people really throw caps at the players? Evidently so.

The first game was great. El Salvador was running circles around Cuba and ended up winning 4-0. The Cuba players were so much taller than the short El Salvador players, it was kind of comical when they played. Aaron thinks that those Central and South American players are just born with quick feet. After watching this game I had to agree-it was such a fun game to watch.

The second game was the one that we were really excited to see because we got to watch the US Men’s team play Canada. By then the sun was out and the clouds were gone. It went from cold to hot, and I wished I had my camera. We went to see if we could go out and use our ticket to get back in, but no we couldn’t. We, and a whole slue of others, were bummed we couldn’t go out. So more iPhone pictures instead.

The teams were warming up before the game and it was so fun to watch them do all these tricks. It was suppose to be “our” weekend, but we were constantly saying how much the kids would have loved to see this or that. Aaron tried to video a few of them doing their tricks. When both teams came out to sing their National anthems and show their flags, I almost cried, I do every time I hear our National anthem. Love it.

 

 

This game was so much more evenly matched than the first, and so intense. It was great to see the sportsmanship that both teams had for each other, but by the end of the game emotions were high. We were seeing the wisdom in the “no cap” rule. I felt kind of bad for the players, they really were just trying their best. Every time someone would get hurt, they spectators were brutal with their “faker” comments. The score was back and forth, but the US ended losing to Canada 0-2.

We headed out to a late dinner, which our GPS did us wrong again and we drove around for over an hour looking for a place. We finally settled on Longhorn Steakhouse, and I had the most amazing chicken. I think I need to take a cooking class, because my chicken NEVER tastes like that. We told the waiter and he brought the chef out for us to tell that to. It was a really nice thing to do, and he really deserved the compliment. It was great. We called and checked in on the kids after Austin texted us about one of the neighbors alarms going off-there have been robberies in the neighborhood next to ours. We freaked out a bit, and made sure the kids knew how to set the alarm. They all ended up having their soccer games that day too-Brianna’s team lost, and Austin’s won, and Erika’s game..well that one didn’t get made too. We dread 9am games, and with soundly sleeping kids, I so don’t blame our babysitter for letting them sleep and skipping it. I totally would have done the same thing.

It was great to check in and hear their voices, but nice to have one more day together too. Our weekend wasn’t quite done-I got to have one Sunday to actually sit with Aaron at church in the pew, not with him up front, and without any crying kids. I can’t wait.