The Vikings Game, but first. . .

My heart is heavy and I HATE this feeling! First, the pastor at the church where we have been going (the one where Chris and I were married, Taite was baptised and has an excellent Sunday school program) has had to take a medical leave of absence for depression. I felt terrible when I first heard this because what an awful time to feel depressed! The world is full of hope and happiness. . . There is now a group in the congregation who want to have a petition passed to get rid of this pastor. To paraphrase what Steph heard today "he just isn't quite perfect". Show me one human who is!!!! These are the same "Christians" who are very active in the Church, however, that does NOT give them permission to play the part of God. I am praying nightly for Pastor Dave and his wife who is devastated by this treatment of some members.

The second thing that is weighing on my heart is the boys on the bus are picking on kids more than ever. Taite is called "stupid, dumb and fat" (he has tears in his eyes as he talks about this). Not only does this weigh on my heart, it makes me very ANGRY! This kid may possibly be bigger than me, but I'm pretty sure my adrenaline would make up for that difference if I "met up with him". The scary thing is that next year Taite will be in the same school as this kid because he is in 6th grade this year and next year Taite will be in the middle school. I am not looking forward to it. . . Chris is going to go to the school tomorrow and discuss the bus' problem (it is not just Taite he picks on ~ he listed many other kids and some of who are kindergartners!!). I have looked up the kids name, ph. #, address and mom's email address, yet I sit here typing when I would like nothing better then to march up to their house and tell them to do their job and be a parent. We are hoping he gets kicked off the bus (right now Conner, the name caller, and Payton, his accomplice, have to be split on the bus, so Payton sits in the front and Conner in the very back ~ NOPE, doesn't make sense to me either!) so his parents have to step up and take responsibility for his actions. My first reaction is to drive the boys to and from school, but that doesn't help all the other kids on the bus who are being picked on. The frustrating part is that the school preaches no bullying, but they don't want to take the actions to back that up. . .

Okay, so for the big Game! Taite kept repeating "I can't believe we are at an actual Vikings Game!" He was ready to go again next week, but it isn't home and it's not cheap, so this will have to tide him over for awhile. We didn't bring ear plugs and Brayton wanted some. We tried a balled up Kleenex, but they kept falling out and Brayton said they didn't help at all. Then, before the game even started, Taite's new camera was smashed in his seat when he stood up to let people by. I wasn't concerned because I had purchased the ext. warranty that covered anything that happened to the "screen", but when I called, they said that wasn't covered. Only normal wear and tear. . . UGH! We are going to take back the camera, 2 DS games and 2 DS's to say we don't want that if that's all the better their warranty is (Chris said this will increase our bargaining power, but I hope they don't just say "okay" and take back the DS's. . .).

I forgot to upload the pictures backwards, so you'll just have to look at them this way.
This was one of the touchdowns on our end zone and it was perfect, except mom's hand was in the way :~) We lucked out that the people around us (well, with the exception of one elderly gentleman in front of mom who had an odor problem) weren't drunks and enjoyed the game. We gave high-5's all around to everyone when they scored a touchdown and gave them grief when they returned with food or beer and didn't bring us one. They were all good sports and it was really enjoyable!

Actually, this is the picture of the touchdown, the prev was after ~ the celebrating. You can see Peterson in the left lower corner in the end zone.

I believe this was the line-up (correct term?) for the scoring play.

This is a picture of a guy who'd come over to talk to his buddy who was seated next to Taite. He took recycling to a whole new level. . . Brayton asked him where he found purple Duct Tape and he said "Target! I know! I went in looking for paint and I found purple Duct Tape!" It was so funny!

This the game kick-off. My camera takes crappy pictures unless you are a certain distance from the photo subject.

The National Guard swore in some new members at the game.

The Vikes running out onto the field.

Pyrotechnics were used a lot in the beginning ceremony. Brayton, of course, had his ears plugged the whole time.

Ragnar coming out of the huge inflatable Viking "ship".

The boys :~) I caught Taite off guard, so it was the only time he wasn't smiling I think! I bought the Yearbook and Game Book so they could look at them. I know they will keep them to use as references for many years (Brayton is constantly fine-tuning his Fantasy Team ~ I have no idea how he knows about those, but I don't think he knows any of the rules).

We got to the Dome about 2 hours before the game, so we had time to find our seats (16 rows up from the end zone) and the boys were able to go down to the edge of the seating area to watch some players warm up. Sydney Rice was out there for a long time. As was Tavaris Jackson. They said that Percy Harvin would normally be out there too, but because of his migraines all week, he didn't play.

The players all seemed to know the ESPN sportscaster. . .

Oh yeah, did I mention that Chris got me an early Christmas present??? A Jared Jersey! I LOVE IT!!!