Duck Fan Day 2012

To kick off football season that starts next weekend, we attended Oregon's Fan Day today and had a blast!

 Couldn't pass up a photo op with the Duck Truck - the bed of the truck was the stage for unveiling the new Spirit Shirts.....

 The winner of the design contest was a couple from Vancouver...what the heck, not even a TRUE Oregonian.  They won a $200 gift certificate to the Duck Shop and

  SEASON TICKETS!  And it wasn't even very creative, just a play on words from the "I'm Sexy" song....we sooo need to enter the contest next year.

 We got there at 10:30 and the gate didn't open until 12:00, talk about a LONG wait with two VERY impatient kids.  When the flood gates finally opened we got to walk the tunnel onto the field just like the players!

 The cheerleaders were lined up as we exited the tunnel, so Ashlyn didn't miss an opportunity to run and Hi-5 them all down the row.

 Once we made it onto the field they had all kinds of tables set up with a handful of players at each.  The big name players were mapped out, everybody else was just scattered.

The kids had a ton of fun running in between tables and waiting in line to get to meet the players and get their things autographed.  The guys were really cool and chatted with the kids....here's Blake chatting with Arik Armstead #9, while Christian French #82 signed his pennant.

 Ashlyn got ALL kinds of attention from this table of players, especially Derrick Malone #22!

It had to be 1,000 times (at least) that they announced the players couldn't take them time to pose for pictures to speed the line along, which we totally understood.  However, when Ashlyn got to #50 Ryan Hagen, he asked her if she wanted a picture...she reluctantly looked at me for approval since we explained that was against the rules before we even got through the front gate.  He got up, came around the table to posed for a picture with her. (Sorry to those in line behind us for holding it up).  She was pretty excited until....

 ...she FINALLY found a cheerleader walking around to ask for a picture with.  Boy did it make her day!

 All the girls were walking around and then at specified times would do some of their dances...Ashlyn was in heaven watching them.  During the unveiling of the Spirit Shirts they said our cheerleaders are the ONLY ones in the Pac-12 that travel to ALL away games because of the funds raised by the shirts.

 Then there were random games set up around too that the kids had fun passing the time with while we waited in line.  Ashlyn was sad she didn't make any of the football in, since she won sunglasses at the Rose Bowl for making it in....

 ...and Blake was happy to report that he made it all the way through this drill without stopping or falling on his face!

We had a GREAT time today, thanks Oregon Football program...the kids are already talking about next year.  (So not gonna happen since we'll be in Washington, which means a longer drive to get there.)  Blake ended up with 31 autographs and Ashlyn with a few less than that - I'd say the day was a success!  Now we're gonna have a hard time waiting for 7:30 next Saturday.....

GO DUCKS!!!