Tailgating

This is our set-up. We try to be at the same spot every game day.

Ah, game day at The Swamp.  Kickoff might be at 7 p.m. but if you want your regular tailgating spot at Norman Field, you’d better be there by 9 a.m.

sleepy tailGator–one year later he became our son-in-law

Since it’s a 2 hour drive to  Gainesville, that makes for an early start to a very long day.    And a lot of food–three full meals for as many as 75 hungry Gator fans.

We pass the day visiting with neighboring tailGators, watching football coverage on a  tv that plugs into a special connection in the car and just getting ready for the game.

our daughter Rebecca’s fan artistry

All  the students from our hometown know they are welcome.  They heard it through the grapevine, and they heard it right.

Crystal

Among  the four families who join efforts for Super Saturday tailgates, we’ve always had at least one UF student in the clan.  Their dorm mates, fraternity brothers and sorority sisters are all welcome and show up in droves.  We love visiting with and feeding these fun, smart and starved-for-home-cookin’ kids.

Crystal, one of our regular student attendees and greatest helpers,  suggested that we needed aprons.  She played a critical role in our tailgating by arriving early to stake out our place and then securing an area large enough for our tent, chairs and 6-8 vehicles.  She was a force to be reckoned with!

One morning, Crystal remarked that she had given up wearing  white Gator shirts on game day because she always got dirty from setting up, cooking or cleaning up.  By game time, she always needed a clean shirt.  That was all the encouragement I needed.

With 8 royal blue aprons lined up, marked and ready to embroider, I went looking for a design.  I was really surprised when I went to one of my favorite machine embroidery design sites, Embroidery Library and found the absolute perfect design. Of course, I had to add the text and the F on the Gator apron.  But could there be anything better for a TailGator?

 

two of our Gator cooks

All the major chefs got an apron, as did our student helpers.  What a great time we have at Norman Field.

By the way, our Gator Girl Crystal graduated from UF in 3 years and is now the manager of a major department store in Texas.  We are so proud of her.

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