USA! USA! USA!!!

 Public Service Announcement:  Next summer, the US men's soccer team will be competing in the World Cup in Brazil.  In case you didn't already know!

They actually qualified about two months ago in a 2-0 win over Mexico in Columbus, Ohio.  But, that didn't damper our enthusiasm to watch them play in Kansas City.  Check our Uncle Robert's make-up job!

Eric's brother, Brian, and sister, Megan, came to KC for the event as well.  We had all separately decided to go to the game so it worked out as a nice reunion.

Uncle Stephen was also in attendance.  And he may just be the biggest fan of all.  Check out his hat!

Getting tickets to the game was an event in and of itself.  First, you could only buy 4 tickets.  We had 8 people who wanted to sit together.  Second, we knew that it would sell out pretty quickly, so we had to be on top of it.  Robert and I ended up being the point people on the purchase because we had special codes to buy them early.  Luckily, we were able to finally get seats in the same row.  My blood pressure was only slightly elevated as a result.

The game was a lot of fun to watch.  The two goals scored by the US came pretty late, but that just made it all the more exciting when we won. 

The US ended the group play at the top of their hex (group of six teams).  I was a little nervous that since we'd already qualified, many of the big names would not be playing.  However, except for Michael Bradley and Clint Dempsey who had injuries, all of the the star players were there.  It was really exciting for the KC crowd to watch Matt Besler and Graham Zusi compete as they play for Sporting KC.

We spent the next day recuperating from the excitement of Dom's birthday and the World Cup.  We watched Rose and Mary Ann play soccer, played Trivial Pursuit, went to Mass, and ate at Oklahoma Joe's where Dom and I realized that we don't just like any ribs.  We love Kansas City ribs.  Next time, we'll get two racks to split between the kids and me.  And by kids, I mean Dom, Mary Ann, Rose, and Peter.  I think Will just ate bread and fries.  Molly enjoyed her barbecue also.

Our drive back was pretty straightforward.  We stopped in St. Louis and visited with my Oma and Uncle Rocky and Aunt Jane.  My cousin Hannah also was there which was a nice surprise.  Nana and Li'l Opa happened to be there also which gave us a little bonus time with them.  Nashville was our overnight stop and we got home in the middle of the afternoon on Monday.  All and all a great trip.  We recovered within a few days and immediately started to plan for our next one.  Typical.

Just one small anecdote I want to remember so I will tell you.  One of the snacks we bring along with us is peanut M&Ms.  This is mainly for Eric, but Will and Molly will generally request them.  I gave each of them 5 or so and planned on that being all (they do have their own special snacks afterall).  But, I had to give in when Molly started requesting:  "Yum! Yum!s" in that sweet voice of hers.  I sort of prefer that name for them, don't you?

Oh, and you can see some other pictures of the soccer match weekend at my sister-in-law's blog: 

http://megascoob.blogspot.com/2013/11/osu-vs-jamaica.html