Grave Digger Diggers

The Benefield men just joined the world of Monster Truck fans. We drove to Baltimore for Monster Jam and had a great time. I thought we should show a couple hours early, but that was not the best idea. They didn't open the gates until an hour before the event for normal tickets. We were not getting in the arena before then without a special pass, UNLESS....
Since we were so early, we hit the local eating establishments. First, I treated the boys to Dunkin Donuts, their favorite! Then we moved on to McDonald's for a lunch-like treat. To give you an idea of how rough this McDonald's was, they had crime scene tape in the supply closet. There was a drug dealer distributing pills from a prescription bottle and I had to act like I didn't notice so as not to get stabbed. I did get noticed pretending not to notice, though, and the buyer started watching me. He stood up when I stood up and he followed us out. There was another dad in the McDonald's and I planned my exit with his just in case of such an event. As we all walked toward the arena, I prepared to hand my boys to the dad beside us and refresh my hand to hand skills on the streets of Baltimore. Luckily, the buyer decided to turn off. I mean, good gravy, we wanted to see Monster trucks, not a street fight!
The arena was still not open for Monster Jam, but they did have a boy scout event a couple of hours early that allowed the scouts and parents to meet all the drivers and see the trucks before the show. I managed to infiltrate behind a line of boy scouts and act like I was looking for my troop leader (who was holding the passes). When asked if I was with the Boy Scouts, I simply said, "Absolutely, all the way," and I was honest about not not having any passes, but the lady assumed one of my boys must be a scout and that our troop leader had our passes. We had a great time walking around with the scouts looking at the trucks and will continue to give Boy Scouts our full support in the future! I am also thankful that I got to refresh my infiltration skills and not my hand to hand skills, which is what I fear would have happened if we had been kicked back outside with the drug buyer from McDonald's.
The Monster Jam show was very well done. I enjoyed it immensely and the boys were just blown away. The trucks and bikes and motorcycles were all awesome performances. We spent our entire souvenir and snack allowance before the show, but the boys have gravedigger hats and banners and cotton candy to show for it.
There was a dad near me who was about to get into a fight with an obnoxious mom in front of us who kept blocking our view (no, it was not me- he was sitting by me), but the usher sat her down and threatened her sufficiently after she gave my neighbor dad the hand. I hadn't seen that kind of display in person in a long time, so I just counted that as a bonus to the show!
We are officially Grave Digger fans, now, without a doubt. I would say we really "dig" Grave Digger(thus the catchy title of my blog). I can't claim much interest in Monster Trucks before the show, but the show won me over. I am also proud of my boys for being so well behaved. Believe it or not, James went to sleep in the loudest part of the show, but I am not complaining. I did have to carry him a mile back to the van in my arms, but I think most dads would agree that its nice to still have little ones that you can tote. This was definitely a top boys' night out memory for us.
Next, the whole family goes to see the Globetrotters Wednesday night!