Spontaneity, Surprises and Vikings Training Camp

Some days just don't turn out the way you imagined they would.

Earlier this month, I decided we'd be spontaneous and drive up to St. Peter to play at their really cool "Tree-mendous Playground" next to the St. Peter library. It is one of the more amazing parks we've been to in Southern Minnesota, complete with a lot of tunnels underneath for extensive games of hide and seek or make-believe espionage.

It didn't matter that it was still in the 90-degree range.

With all the stops and starts of life, we finally got to St. Peter around 1 p.m. We headed first to the St. Peter Co-op for lunch since we'd never been there before, and I had read about their seriously yummy deli with homemade foods with all fresh ingredients and no preservatives. We picked up some organic spaghetti sauce for less than $3 (good deal!) for later on in addition to our lunch of homemade pizza, organic chips and salsa, organic fruit, and organic chocolate milk. Then, off to the park we went.

On our way back toward Mankato, we were passed by a very bright canary yellow Thunderbird filled with three male twenty-somethings in Vikings jerseys. Seeing an educational moment, I proceeded to proudly tell the girls that Minnesota Vikings training camp--which was going on now--was always held at Mankato State (which is a lot easier to say in a conversation than the new official name of "Minnesota State University-Mankato") and surmised that the guys in the bright yellow car were probably headed in that direction.

Annika then asked the million dollar question: Why can't we go? Oh, a girl after my own heart!

Well, why not? I called Information--otherwise known as my husband--for details on what time the team practices were. We still had time!

We arrived at MSU for our inaugural visit at about 4 p.m. The girls had a chance to bounce in the bounce-house football while I threw a junior football at a large blow-up Samsung phone with a picture of a wide receiver on it. I connected with the receiver on my first throw, thank you very much. (The other two throws? Let's just say I should have hung up my cleats while at the top of my game.)

As we watched the Vikings during their first full-pad practice, I could answer a few of the girls questions. It's been awhile since I've gotten to see the Vikings play much. For nine years we lived in Wisconsin and Chicago so we only got to see the Vikings play when they were playing the Green Bay Packers or the Bears. And, once we moved back to Minnesota, I got too emotional as my team continuously threw the game in the fourth quarter so I stopped watching. But, I still knew what the "orange thingy" did (kept track of yards as we progressed toward a first down) and that the guy in the red shirt was the quarterback. Surprisingly, the girls didn't ask me what a QB did.

Then there were the questions like "Who's number 26? Who's number 81? Who's number 7? Can we go home now?" to which I responded, "I have no idea, don't know, Christian Ponder, no." A nice gentleman from Truman (his Fairmont Medical Center water jug gave him away) offered us his umbrellas for a bit so that helped extend the girls' patience because, after practice, I really did want to go see the players up close and get a few autographs.

Which is just what we did. At 5:10 p.m., with many of our fellow bleacher-mates, we trooped down Stadium Road to stand by some blockades set up by the field house.

Fans, a lot of whom were pre-teen boys, were clamoring for autographs. We got as close as we could to one of the players when a tall gentleman said to us, "Did you want his autograph? I'll get it for you. That's my son." I was talking to the dad of Brandon Fusco, a rookie center in 2011 who only played in three games. Meeting his very proud dad was pretty cool! Brandon talked a bit to 4-year-old Megan who proudly spelled her name for him as he signed our training camp playbook. From there, the girls' enthusiasm for the experience and the team grew.

We ended up with six autographs (Fusco #63, Kicker Blair Walsh #3, Wide Receiver Jerome Simpson #81, Linebacker Solomon Elimimian #59, Running Back Toby Gerhart #32, Offensive Tackle Phil Loadholt #71) and some good stories and a lot more enthusiasm for the pre-season. Cost? Parking was $7, the Sharpie marker for autographs was $2.50, and a bottle of water was $2.50. Overall experience? Priceless.