The Grave Digger

For those of you who read the title of this particular blog and thought of the man who digs the hole a coffin goes in are about to get schooled in the world of Monster Jam. Tonight we participated in an annual Curtis family tradition--Monster Jam. That was of course AFTER 2 basket ball games, one pick up from a sleepover, one play date, one trip to the Skybox (AWESOME--more to come tomorrow about the Skybox) and one award ceremony...oh, and a few melt downs (one that included some one yelling "mother F'er" right as the parking attendant asked if we could pay the parking fee and move along--as if our 10 year old screaming the F word about his sister not sharing her fries with him wasn't amusing to her. I attended Monster Jam tonight with my kids and two of my favorite men--one was my husband (and college boyfriend) and the other a college friend who was possibly hoping to become my husband. Now, I might be reading more into this but we'll let him correct me if it's just my ego getting the better of me. I do know however that my mom wanted me to marry him--in fact, I believe my mom once said at a dinner party he came to many years after I had been married "Oh Charles, I always hoped Cassie would marry you". It was awkward to say the least. I don't know who felt more uncomfortable, me, Charles or Ryan (oh..yes, he was standing right there). Anyway, bless her heart as the saying goes, without my darling mother who would I have to provide me with such an abundance of comedic material, right mom?
So, Ryan and Charles and I headed out to Monster Jam with our 5 kids in tow--4 boys and Ava Grace-who, by the way, wore a beautiful pink and black rockabilly dress with a huge baby pink bow in her hair, she looked like an absolute rock star. We arrived at Monster Jam and quickly realized our seats were in the nose bleed section. Of course, I suggested we blow off our purchased seats and sit in one of the thousands of empty seats in the lower bowl. So...I proceeded to walk in to the lower bowl just as cool as a cucumber (with all 5 kids might I add) and relocate. Meanwhile, Ryan and Charles choked under the excruciating pressure put on by the 80 year old seating attendant and sent me a text that said "Cassie...we got busted" so the attendant had to let one of them in the not-quite-as-shitty section of seats to retrieve the rest of their party and move to the terribly-shitty-seats in the upper bowl. I had to ask myself "Why the hell do they care if we move when there are literally 1000's of empty seats?"
Anyway...we bought some overpriced popcorn to go with all the drinks we smuggled in. That was an interesting experience trying to teach the kids how to pack in contraband without looking obvious, or gravely injured--Devin put his drink in his pant leg and looked like he was suffering a major groin pull for about a 1/2 mile until, in plain view, 10 yards before the check point he pulled out his drink and said "Here mom...you sneak my drink in for me." So I added it to my spandex pants (mandatory attire at Monster Jam) alongside my orange flavored Rockstar, Ava's Sprite and Ryans Mt. Dew.
We watched the show uninterrupted for the most part, of course there where the usual questions and complaints "Can I get some food? I need to go to the bathroom, so and so is touching me, how much longer til it starts, how much longer til it's over, ect. ect. you get the idea. Ryan and Charles and I cheered louder then any of our kids and louder in fact then most of the dirthead Monster Jammers sitting along side us. It lasted slightly longer than we expected with the climatic moment being the "freestyle round" where the monster trucks jumped off incredibly large mounds of dirt to music that if you heard it on the radio you would immediately turn it off...however, tonight, it was just right. The last spectacle of the evening, besides the 300lb lady and her 95lb husband sporting a fantastically awesome mullet, was the moment that the Grave Digger (every bodies favorite monster truck) lept off the jump and after several dramatic seconds of teetering--would he make it and stick the landing or would he put on a show for the crowd-crashed right down on his backside. As soon as he hit the ground the crowd went wild, Ryan and Charles and I being no exception, we spilled into thunderous applause for a show worth waiting...2 hours for.