Welcome to Miami!

You can imagine how excited we all were to go to Miami to play for the National Championship. Knowing me, you can also imagine how many pictures I took! I put way too many in this post, but I just couldn't wrap up a whole week of fun without lots of shots of the memories along the way. You will notice that I did not take my camera to all of the fancy "mommy and daddy parties" (as Makenna calls them). A big camera just does not go with my dresses and heels..... We did have some wonderful evenings of pampering and incredible food, though. Hopefully one of the other coaches' wives will have some snapshots to share of those evenings, and I can post them later.
The Smiths put their feet in the sand....ahhh! finally here!

All of the coaches' kiddos were pumped up. Here is a picture on the plane. Makenna sat by her "big girl friends." She thought she was pretty big stuff. They all went upstairs in the 2-Story Plane! and visited the players.

When we arrived in Miami, it was like those scenes you see of people coming down off of a plane onto the tarmac in Hawaii....where there is a welcome line on both sides. It was the Orange Bowl Committee, all wearing their orange blazers and handing us oranges, welcome bags, etc. I was holding a baby carrier, two carry-ons, and trying not to topple over a sauntering Makenna in her long tutu, while people were slinging welcome bags onto me and handing me oranges. That is why I didn't get a picture.....ha!

It was so cool to look across and see our buses waiting for us. There was no doubt who was traveling in those buses all week!

A picture with the Orange Bowl mascot.....

We were a little spoiled traveling with OU. They sent a truck ahead a few days with items that we needed but wouldn't fit onto the plane. Thank you OU!!! the Exersaucer!!! YEA!!! Oh, and yes, I sent along some Dr. Pepper, thankfully! It was very hard to come by in Miami!

The first few days, we really worried about Titus. He stayed with Makenna's friend Bella. My friend Kristy sent me this picture from her phone to put our minds at ease that Titus was doing just fine. Before the week was over, Kristy was asking me what we would take for Titus....Bella slept in her bed by herself for the first time with Titus by her side!

Quite a few of the coaches' kids on the beach. This staff has LOTS of kids!

Besides the fact that we were staying at a beautiful resort on the beach with a pool area any resort would covet and a coaches' kids hospitality room with drinks and snacks all day, not to mention being on what a kid would describe as a vacation with tons of friends, the Orange Bowl Committe arranged for activities just for the kids.

Here are a couple of pics in the kids' hospitality room. Our sweet babysitter from Texas, Amanda, flew to Miami to help us with the kiddos. The coaches all bring sitters for their kids because there are so many events that kids cannot attend. Makenna LOVED having Amanda there with us.

One of the kids' activities was the Miami Seaquarium. They gave all of the coaches' kids from both OU and Florida matching BCS Championship t-shirts and took them in their respective school's buses to the seaquarium. The older kids got to swim with the dolphins. Amanda and Makenna went while Micah and I went shopping with some friends. I was sad to have Makenna go without me, but I couldn't leave the little man that long. Makenna had tons of fun watching the dolphin show.

Another day, the Orange Bowl Committe hosted a party by the pool for the kids. Makenna had her face painted and sat very still for her caricature drawing.

It was cute because they had this fancy spread of food....kid food....grilled cheese, hot dogs, etc. I didn't know kid food could look so fancy. Ha!

A sand castle artist created the logo and an OU helmet in the sand in front of our hotel. It was more amazing in person!

There was plenty of time at the pool and the beach with friends...

We would leave Amanda to get ready every morning and have family time during breakfast. It was so beautiful having breakfast by the beach. We liked strolling along the boardwalk, too.

Coach V's boys are always so sweet with Makenna.

Here they are playing Wii in the Players' Hospitality Room...

More fun at the pool....

My sweet little guy....

The coaches didn't get much free time. It was a work week for them! This is Mark after practice one day. He ran down to see Makenna at the beach before going to break down the practice film.

I love this pic of Coach V's boys plotting how to flip the mat....

Seriously....when could we ever go on vacation with this many of Makenna's friends? It was so much fun!

Baby Hannah....all the little girls just dote on her!

The boardwalk....

Another day when Mark slipped down for a second after practice to see us at the pool.....

Championship Morning! I bought Micah special pajamas just for the occassion!

This is Christina. She is a trainer that looks after Makenna sometimes when she is up at practice with Daddy.

These circle windows covered the front of the hotel...

She calls this her "Kath and Kim" pose. You should see the walk! It is hilarious!

What a diva! She was right at home with all the pampering!

Daddy got one hour with the kids in the pool, and he loved every minute of it!

With the Jelly Fish and cold waters, this was the only second any of our group got into the ocean.

Now for the reason we all went to Miami....THE BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME!

Julie and I were so nervous and excited!

Our hubbies during warm-ups....

Coin toss....

Well, the rest is history. There was a giant plane of disappointed people going back to Norman. I snapped a quick pic of the plane to show the double decker. It was HUGE!

My two babies....Makenna told Daddy that she was sorry he lost. She said, "The Sooners just needed to play better than that." She stayed up and watched the whole game with Amanda.