A tale of a frozen family

Is everyone wearing green???? I guess that is the one thing about never leaving my home to work… I don’t have to worry about the whole office “oh geez.. did I remember to wear green today?” hooplah. Which works out great for me, because I don’t own very much green at all! So it’s always been a tremendous challenge for me. Now, the fact that I rarely leave the house (which is a whole other post in itself) turns out to be a plus in this situation.

We helped the boys and girls club this weekend with their “St. Pat’s in the Mats” celebration. It’s an annual event for them, in which they have bands, games, food, entertainment, etc. open to the public to let them know about the facility and what it offers for the community.

My Mad Scientist hubby donated a show for the kids. Teaching them about air pressures, gasses, and a few other tricks he had up his sleeve.

The kids ALWAYS love the Mad Science, and there is never a shortage on Volunteers.

Air pressure is such a great thing to teach the kids. The oooooos and aaaaahhhh’s over a simple ball being held in the air with nothing more than pressure.

A crowd always gathers at these events. You see, adults think Mad Science is pretty dang cool too!!!!

One of the best parts of this show is to teach the children about Bernoulli’s principal of flight and lift. And what better way to display this, with a simple roll of toilet paper, a volunteer and the unsuspecting outreach director for the Boys and Girls club!

Poor Seth… he never stood a chance!

The day was a blast. The kids had a fantastic time, the music was great, the food was great (I helped cook it, so it HAD to be good… right??? ) we all had fun. Did I mention this was the first time that I have ever eaten corned beef and cabbage???? I know.. I know… FWIW, I HAVE downed quite a few Guinness in my time though!

Most parents of 4 year old girls are far too aware of all things barbie, or princess or ballerina. These are things of which we’ve not a clue. Our girl loves Power Rangers, and bull riding, and Hockey. She LOVES her some Hockey!

We made a very big mistake originally. Her very first hockey game was an NHL game, between the Montreal Canadians and the Ottawa Senators. AMAZING game… on Montreal’s home turf. The crowd was electric. The game was fantastic. She was HOOKED!

We have a minor league team here in our area, which is owned by the St. Louis Blues. We always talk about going, but the stadium is 60 miles from our house and they are always in the evenings and it just never works out.

Saturday night however…. the stars aligned. Our errands ran late, we were already in town… they had a game that night, so we went.

Em had the time of her life! It really does warm your heart to watch a child absorb the world around them. I love just watching her light up. She had such an amazing time. And of course, I can’t give you a story without a photo montage…. from that bad boy camera that I’m still trying to figure out.

Soooooooo… without further ado!

When we first arrived, the players were warming up. She was immediately infatuated and ran to the closest area to the ice she could get. She stayed there until they left the ice to get ready for the game.

Hmmmm… that big screen up there is really interesting!

I have no idea what she was doing when I snapped this picture, but it still makes me giggle!

OOOOHHHH MAN! The game is getting ready to start! Wow… these guys go all out for a pre-game production!

Pure craziness I tell you!

Now… we had REALLY good seats. But they just weren’t good enough. You see…. we couldn’t physically touch the glass where we were sitting. Thankfully it was a very slow night for attendance (well, that and we were on the dry side of the arena…. and evidently not many people want to watch hockey sober) so Em was able to con daddy into joining her down in the front so she could get a better look.

She was even able to go over to the side lines and get a few high fives from the guys as they left the ice. She was over the moon!

The game was neck and neck all night.

It ended up going into over time and THEN a shoot out. Our team won! WOO HOO

And at the end of the evening, she got to meet #24, Ed Hill. He was a very sweet guy, who humored her with a hug. There were many “grown up” girls that were VERY jealous of the lovin my kiddo was getting LOL.

It’s been three days since the hockey game and she’s STILL talking about every aspect of it. All I can hope is that she doesn’t actually still want to PLAY hockey when she comes of age, because I have no desire to be up at 6am on weekends so my kiddo can get ice time. Nor is she a morning person. I will hope she will keep her enthusiasm at a spectator level

Sorry I’ve been MIA for a few days.   We’ve had a lot going on around here, and I’ve not had much time to get here and say howdy! 

Our company co-sponsored a wine tasting event last night.  It was called “a night in Venice” and it was FABULOUS!  It was an amazing 5 course meal (with yummies like prosciutto wrapped prawns, seafood stuffed crepes… I gained 20 pounds last night I’m certain!) with 5 amazing wines… it was just an amazing night overall.  

Here’s a few snapshots of the evening!

This is the limo driver, learning the very valuable lesson that one should not wash the limousine at below zero temperatures, RIGHT before you pick up your clients.  It tends to freeze the doors shut! LOL  We were able to get one door open, and that is all that matters

And the face only a mother could love……

Now, for all of you wondering “what on earth are they doing, taking a kid to a wine tasting?????”  don’t fret.  It just so happens that Em’s best friends parents were invited along with us, so the sitter was waiting to watch both girls at their house.   We are nuts… but we aren’t CRAZY!

These are our awesome neighbors Rod and Dawn… we lurve them lots!

And here’s Ron and Rita (the parents of Em’s best friend Grace )

Hi honey!  look at him waaaaayyyyy down there!

And here they are… with the vino induced happiness flowing!

And the drive home…. Did I mention Emma really likes limos?  And the pathetic thing, the kid has ridden in them I think a total of 6 times now.  I didn’t take my first limo ride until I was in my 20s.  Kids these days!

The other thing I noticed last night.  We you buy a new bad boy camera… nobody wants to touch it to take pictures for you.  Which means I have ZERO pictures of me last night… and I looked purty!  I even had on makeup.   Oh well… I will survive.  No permanent damage done!