Monster Jam!

 Over Christmas Andy and I decided to buy tickets to Monster Jam in order to surprise our Monster Truck obsessed little boy with a big treat.  I had convinced myself that this would be a huge hit and that he would have his mind blown and that this would be the best thing we've ever done for him. Ever.  I was not wrong.

 We did not tell him until after he'd woken up from a short nap on Saturday afternoon (even though we'd had the tickets for weeks.)  I had videoed his reaction to initially telling him but it was kind of lackluster at first - then it dawned on me he was still pretty groggy and wasn't really putting two and two together.  Until we got there :)

 Andy and I decided to spring for the pit passes so that a couple hours before the show, Jack could walk around the floor of Thompson Boling Arena and actually touch some of the trucks and talk to the drivers.  Worth every penny.  His grin and excitement almost made me forget some of the interesting characters that were milling around down there with us :)  In case anyone was wondering, you meet ALL kinds of people at a Monster Truck show.  All kinds.

 This one was my personal favorite - a school bus called Higher Education.

 Jack really liked it too :)

There were 6 Monster Trucks in all - Full Boar, Ballistic, Higher Ed, Overkill Evolution (terrible name but probably the most fun to watch), Monster Mutt, & Black Stallion.  Although the arena was pretty small, they put on a pretty awesome show for all the little kids there (and not so little kids) :)

He was pumped about every, single, solitary, thing.  I love this boy's enthusiasm :)  

 Family selfie!  please ignore the mouthful of pizza.  We had planned on going the hour between the Pit Party and the actual show to grab some cheap food but unfortunately they won't let you leave and come back.  But it actually turned out ok.  Even though we had to buy overpriced pizzas and pretzels, the Monster Jam people made sure there was plenty of extra entertainment to keep us interested until Monster Jam began.   If you are wondering where the Goose was during all of this, she was having her own fun party at home with Widdi and Rachel.  I got some cute pictures from Rachel of Lucy covering her in stickers and when we came home at 10 pm that night, I walked into a deserted downstairs area.  I couldn't figure out where the two adults were - until I crept into Lucy's bedroom and found the Goose snuggled b/t the two of them on the bed.  All three were out for the count.  It was pretty hilarious - I wish I'd gotten a picture of that Adventures in Babysitting moment :)

 We decided to spring for one expensive souvenir and that was the $15 Monster Truck cup with unlimited refills on SnoCones (you can be sure we refilled that sucker as soon as we could.)

 Two things I love about this picture:  his expression and the fact that he has noise canceling headphones on.  My friend Valarie Cagle lent these to me and I'm so grateful she did - they had some on sale in the lobby of $20.  Andy and I wore ear plugs but it was still pretty darn loud.  I had a little family of 3 boys sitting next to me during the show and none of them had ear plugs or phones or anything.  People baffle me sometimes.

Evidence of the noise level with those things.  It was a cool show but at one point I turned to Andy and said, "Is it bad that I'm kind of bored?"  He reminded me that I'm not exactly the target audience they are going for.  Fair enough.  Jack loved it and that's all that matters :)

 A little snapshot of the side shows they had for us - lawn mower racing at its finest.

 Jack's favorite truck of the night - Monster Mutt!  We even have one coming in the mail as we speak.  He hasn't stopped talking about it since we left the arena so we figured it was worth it.  After all,the boy really doesn't have any toys at all.

Another snippet of the side entertainment.  At halftime they did two things that were kind of cool.  The first was shooting a lady out of a cannon. (Jack kept asking why she did that - I didn't really have a good reason to give him.)

 The other was this guy climbing into a box and then blowing the box up from the inside.  I really wish I'd gotten video of that b/c it was loud and actually a little impressive.  That he survived.  I told Jack later that's the only job people can get when they don't go to school.  He said, "That ok.  I'm gonna go to school.  And then become a monster truck driver."  Hmmm.... not what I was hoping with that warning.

Monster Jam 2015 was so much fun.  The best part, honestly, was getting some hang out time with this little man.  Very rarely does Jack get both Andy and me to himself and I was so glad we had the chance to do this with him.  It was so worth it :)