Monster Jam

I guess it all started with an episode of 'Mater's Tall Tales'... where Mater from the animated movie, Cars, dreams he's a big monster (tow) truck and becomes this super awesome and popular wrestling truck who defeats all of his opponents in the ring! Despite the outrageous storyline, Allen immediately fell in love with Mater Tales, Mater himself, but more importantly... with monster trucks!

And then came Allen's favorite Christmas present this past year... a package of five replica monster trucks (1/64 scale of course!), all from the wrestling episode of Mater's Tall Tales that he loves so much. Fast forward about a month or so after Christmas when I heard on the radio that "Monster Jam" was coming to San Diego... and I knew that there was no way I could let Allen miss seeing all those huge, loud, and really cool monster trucks in person!

After telling Jei about the event and how badly I wanted Allen to see it, she of course shared my excitement and agreed that it would be a great idea to take him and that he would absolutely love it... and then she immediately followed that up with, "You take Allen, and Jack and I will stay home."

It certainly didn't surprise me that her excitement was strictly for Allen and I, and not herself! And I most certainly didn't beg her & Jack to tag along. It was going to be a father-son event... and we were both very much content with that!

We made it to downtown San Diego that afternoon in plenty of time to see all the monster trucks on display at the pit-party right outside Petco Park. And one of the first trucks we got up close & personal with was one of Allen's favorite... the pirate truck! 

If there was a truck running at the event... then it was there at the pits. And if there was a truck at the pits... then Allen & I saw it!

Not sure Allen knew who Scooby-Doo was...

but at least he could tell the truck was some sort of a dog.

Just to get up close and see all the trucks and how big they really are was definitely worth the price of admission... but on top of that, we were treated to an amazing freestyle motocross show right there in the pits. And as you can imagine... Allen was not disappointed!

I had actually never been to a Monster Jam event before... so I think I was just as excited as Allen was. Of course like Allen, I wasn't familiar with or recognize any of the trucks that were there... except for one of course! 

After the pits closed we anxiously made our way into the stadium and found ourselves some delicious BBQ to stuff our faces with! And as we ate our BBQ chicken sandwiches outside overlooking downtown, we got rained on a little and then a beautiful rainbow appeared... during which Allen made sure everyone around us knew all the colors that were represented. 

Not sure if one seat was better than the next...

but we certainly didn't complain!

Downtown... big stadium... lights... dirt...

jumps... loud engines... and big trucks.

I just kept waiting for Allen's head to explode!

Two very happy & excited boys!

Allen gave the ole thumbs-up to let all the trucks

know that it was time to start the action!

And the action certainly didn't disappoint!

I knew the trucks got crazy... but seeing them launch into the air as high as they did in person was truly amazing and something else!

During the intermission between the racing and freestyle events, there was a fun demolition derby held... for which we put up our feet and thoroughly enjoyed! 

Sitting there watching all of those trucks defy gravity and launch themselves into the air was spectacular... and we truly couldn't get enough of it. But there's only so much punishment that these trucks could take, so inevitably most of them broke or crashed...  which was just as much fun to see!

Allen's favorite out on the course was probably the Scooby-Doo truck... only because it looked like a dog and he (Allen) would bark like one every time it jumped into the air. 

There was definitely a good chill in the air that night... so hooded sweatshirts, a blanket, and some snuggling kept us nice & warm while we enjoyed all the action. 

You could put Allen in a dumpster filled with dirty diapers and he would still smile for you if you were taking a picture of him. With that being said, I knew unequivocally that Allen was having a good time and loved seeing all the monster trucks... after he tapped me on the shoulder as we both sat there watching, and as I turned and looked down to see what he wanted, he just simply looked at me with the biggest smile in the world! (And then my heart completely melted!)  

Mater's Tall Tales DVD:    $13.25

Package of 5 monster trucks from Mater's Tall Tales:    $19.99

Two Monster Jam tickets:    $100

Spending the day with my son watching motorcycles & monster trucks fly through the air:    PRICELESS!!! 

Professionally Cold

For Jack's first birthday, we knew we wanted to do the same with him as we did with Allen on his first birthday... hire a professional photographer to capture a few good family pics, as well as of course, a bunch of the birthday boy himself!

As you can imagine, there weren't too many professional photographers to choose from... but we got lucky in finding one we really liked, but more importantly, who was available to shoot on Jack's birthday.

Don't let our clothes or lack thereof fool you... for it was mega cold that afternoon and wearing 14 layers with huge puffy jackets and ski masks just wasn't exactly the look we were going for in our family pictures! 

So although we were all freezing and uncomfortable... we followed the birthday boy's lead and were all happy little (cold) campers! 

Standing in the snow without snow gear on was cold enough... but add in some bone chilling wind and it was darn right miserable! Of course the wind didn't help much either with Jack's birthday balloons.   

With all the snow, mountains, pine trees, rivers, cool old buildings and beautiful scenery around town, it wasn't hard finding several great places to snap away.

Jack was actually feeling a tad under the weather, so we were a bit worried (among other things) about him cooperating with the whole photo shoot process in the snow... but much to our delight he was good to go, as long as he didn't touch the snow... but of course it was only a matter of time until he did, and then he quickly realized just how cold & miserable it really was! 

Props to Aunt Moo for finding and eventually bringing a blanket to the shoot! Sitting on a blanket rather than in the snow made all the difference in the world.

Not only did Moo help with the blanket... but she also helped with all the balloon wrangling for each shoot, which with the wind made it quite the task. Fortunately she had Hamp & Sam to lend a hand too. 

With both boys getting tired of smiling for the camera and enduring all the snow and cold conditions, their patience was wearing thin... and our window for capturing a cute pic of them together was quickly coming to an end.

In the end, despite the freezing cold (by the way, the Hightower boys were wearing even less clothes & layers than we were and thought we were really lame complaining of how cold it was!) everything worked out better than we expected and we got exactly what we wanted!

Happy 1st Birthday Jack Jefferson Etheridge!

We may have tortured you in the cold snow...

but that's only because we love you so very much!

Palm Trees & Snow

After finally getting back to Southern California, just about everyone we knew all said the same thing, "Oh my gosh... y'all missed all the snow!!!"

Apparently, a big storm hit while we were away... and it dumped a good four to five inches of the white stuff all over SoCal!

It had only snowed once before since I've been living here, like eight years ago, but it was just a light dusting that definitely didn't stick... and certainly didn't cover the ground and houses like this!

It was definitely hard to believe, so all these pictures our neighbors took and sent us made it a little easier, but it was still unbelievable and certainly strange to see palm trees and snow in the same picture! 

We were truly amazed and kind of disappointed we missed it... but like we told all of our neighbors & friends, "No... we really didn't miss it (all the snow in SoCal), for we played, walked, ran, drove, sledded, skied, shoveled and enjoyed all the snow we could handle during our trip to Colorado!"