The football game

Thursday started out great- Miss Caitlin was excited to go to the 1st MSU Bears football game of the season. She had her outfit picked out and placed on the bed ready for her when she got home from school.

The day seemed to drag on and I could not wait to get home and go to the game. Around 4:00 a sideways rainstorm arrived that lasted less than 5 minutes. I figured it would all just blow over. The game was supposed to start at 6 and since I didn't get off work until 5 (and had to go home to change clothes before going to the game) we arrived late- which always frustrates my Dad. He likes to be there a minimum of an hour prior to the game starting so we can eat at the tailgate and slowly get to our seats.  We finally got a parking spot and speed walked to the stadium just to find out that the game was postponed until 6:20. So, we sat down by the concessions stands and ate hot dogs- this way we wouldn't get wet by the sprinkles of rain coming down.

Before we knew it another rainstorm came through with lightening and thunder. Great- lightening. I can handle the rain but when there is lightening that means another delay of the game. They cannot play until there has been no sight of lightening for at least 30 minutes. I took this time to teach my dad how to use his iPhone4. He had not really experienced the "coolness" of his phone until then. I showed him how to check the radar- which he then made sure all his friends saw that he could do it. :)

We had several down pours while waiting for the game. The officials would not cancel it- they had hope just like my little cheerleader did.

In between the rain we would go to the stands and see what was happening.

It looked like the storm was finally clearing out.

We thought "Yeah!!! The game will happen- we just have to wait a little bit longer..."

We thought that until we walked back by the concession stands. Crap- another storm cloud.

This made Caitlin mad- she was sick of the game being delayed. (The adults were too)

By this time it was about 7:30- 1.5 hours after the game was supposed to originally begin. We were all getting anxious and kept debating if we should stay put or try to go to the car in between rains and hope the rain would hold off just long enough for us to stay dry.

I don't have any more pics (I was distracted and put my camera away)- I will just explain the rest. The sky got really calm and turned the most beautiful shade of pink. Yes- I said calm and pink. Eek!! We then started talking about where we would go because the tornado warnings were getting really close- we decided on the women's restroom right behind where we were sitting.

A few minutes later. The Sirens sounded. Then the panic started. The poor MSU employees were running around trying to get everyone down the ramps to the "storm shelter"---- they would not let us go into the bathroom they told us we had to go down!! I grabbed all our stuff and picked Caitlin up and started running. I was so scared I would slip and fall because we were all running down a wet concrete ramp. Caitlin was so scared and she kept telling me "I want to go home now, this isn't fun anymore". I tried to keep calm and I just kept telling her to hold on tight and everything would be fine. It felt like I told her that atleast 20 times but I didn't know what else to say.

Aparently, the sky was outragious and my Dad thought he saw a funnel but I didn't notice it at all. I barely noticed all the people- I was on a mission to get Caitlin out of the weather before the rain started back up.

We finally got down the ramps, ran through a lounge room, down a hallway and we were there. I put Caitlin down and could not get my hand to stop shaking for atleast a minute or two. I had been clenching onto the backpack, umbrellas, and seat cushions so tight and I was also carrying Caitlin with that same arm.

The water started coming in around our feet like a little stream where we were standing so I found took a seat on the concession stand stairs and Caitlin wasted no time crawling into my lap. She was so scared, I am sure the mass caios of all the people trying to fit into a small area did not help a bit. I sat with her and tried explaining to Caitlin that the sirens were just going off so everyone would know to go to a safe place and there was not an actual tornado "getting us".  She really didn't care about my explanations so I just sat there on the stairs holding her as tight as I could listeneing to her say over and over "I wish Daddy was here." It broke my heart a little. I am normally the parent that is in the tub with Caitlin and the dogs while Aaron is out in the living room (and sometimes the porch) keeping us updated on where the storm is. I Missed him!!

My stepmom was not very happy that we stayed at the stadium for so long but I was. I was so glad that I was not sitting at home and in the tub with the dogs and Caitlin without my "lookout". I would have been paniking if I were home. I loved the feeling of security that the massive concrete stadium had. I also felt better having my Dad and Stepmom there and not being all alone. We stayed in the shelter for about an hour- most of the people had cleared out but we just wanted to be sure it was all over. When everything was calm again we walked to the car. Once we got our seat belts on another downpour started.

Geez, what a night.

I just want to say THANK YOU to all my friends and family that were contacting me during the storm to make sure we were OK. Springfield was lucky enough to get very little damage- mainly just flooded basements. The surrounding towns had some wind damage and lots of flooding causing roads and businesses to be shut down.