Football

I've watched a lot of football in my time.

Okay.  Let me rephrase that.

Our Dads watched a lot of football when we were kids.

So, that meant that we watched a lot of football.

I say "we" 'cause I'm including Huzbend.

I either watched football at my house or at his house (starting in the teenage years).

Once we got out of college, got married and found that there were other things to do on Sundays besides sit in front of the television, our football watching became bare minimum.

Bare minimum meaning maybe a playoff game or two and the Super Bowl.

Kinda like C&E Catholics.  You can look that one up.....

Anyways, my point is that out of all the football games that I have ever watched, the ONLY ones that I remember are ones that I watched with fans at a party.

And there are only three.

Super Bowl XXV - Giants vs. Bills - 1991

We watched this one in our friend Dave's basement.

We were in high school.  Our friend Brian was a die-hard Giants fan.

I'm not quite sure how many of us were packed into that basement rec room.  Maybe 7 or 8 of us.

We had pizza and chips (Doritos) and soda (Pepsi and Mtn. Dew) (Oh, we call it soda back east).

The game came down to the last seconds.  The Giants were up 20-19.

Jim Kelly marched the Bills down the field and within range of a field goal.

The kick went up and the words, "WIDE RIGHT!" went into the history books.

They missed.  Giants won.

Fantastic.

Super Bowl XXXVI - Pats vs. Rams - 2002

We watched this one at a friends house.

We were living in New Hampshire at the time and Patriots fever was on fire.

The house was packed.  30 + (mostly drunk) people crammed around an old-school rear-projected tv in an oddly sized tv room.  They were sitting on the sofa, on the back of the sofa, on the end tables, on the coffee table, all over the floor....packed.

I'd say out of those 30 some-odd people, 28 of them were life-long Pats fans.

I have never experienced people screaming so loudly or so passionately at a game.

There was 1 minute and 30 seconds left.

Without any timeouts, Tom Brady threw the ball down the field completing 5 passes to reach the Rams' 30 and spiked the ball, stopping the clock, with seconds remaining.

It was a 48-yard field goal attempt.

Adam Vinatieri made it.

Patriots won.

I think I became partially deaf that day.

Crazy.

Although it was nice to watch the Seahawks trounce the Bronco's last year, it wasn't really memorable.

There were some moments of joyful celebration at the beginning of the game by the resident fans, but that quickly became a pity-party for the Broncos who got totally and completely steam-rolled.

I guess I remember it because, well, it was only last year and because the ubiquitous 12th Man won't let me forget.  Super Bowl XLVIII Champs stuff is everywhere.  Has been since last February.

But, one more game has officially made my list.

That was yesterdays Seahawks vs. Green Bay play-off game.

If I wasn't deaf before, I think I am now.

And it wasn't just adults screaming, it was the kids too.  You know how high pitched they get......

The fourth quarter was coming to a close.  It was 19-7, Packers leading.  There was yet another Seahawks turn-over and then there were only 5 minutes left to play.  Just about everyone in the room looked at each other and claimed, "Game Over".

One life-long fan was not willing to give up and suggested that we leave the room for an attitude adjustment.  Seriously.  She did offer a weak smile after she said it.

And then came a Seahawks touchdown, an on-side kick that actually WORKED, another Hawk touchdown and a 2 point conversion.  WHAT?!?!?!

Packers tied it up with a field goal sending it into overtime.

All in FIVE MINUTES!!!!

Seahawks WON the coin toss for overtime and scored on the first drive, winning the game.

28-22.

UNBELIEVABLE!

Completely and utterly unbelievable.

What a great game.

Okay.  Well, the last 5 minutes were great.

Before that, it was kinda depressing.

There was a lot of nervous eating.

And, now, I get to look forward to a Clash of the Coasts.

Our new home, the PNW, vs. our old home, the Northeast.

Will this one be added to my list?  We'll have to wait two weeks......

Christmas Time 2014

I totally forgot some stuff that happened.....

Back in November, Ralph became an "AKC Star Puppy".

Always one to advocate for our peppy puppy, Katie just reminded me that we didn't take his picture and put it on the blog.

So, we got 'er done.

He got a fancy certificate and a medal

(which the kids had him wear to the bus stop to show off).

Next he can go for "Canine Good Citizen."

And I can safely say that we won't be getting that designation for a LOOOOOOONNNNNG time.

Now, the next thing I forgot.

I forgot to post a video of our Christmas tree hunting trip.

Here you go.....

And last but not least, I got to go on a date for my birthday.

An ALL DAY DATE.  "The Day of Dating."

We dropped the kids off at gymnastics camp.

We dropped the dog off at doggie day camp.

We spent three hours watching The Hobbit: Battle of Five Armies

and then had a yummy lunch at a fancy restaurant.

Huzbend enjoyed a lamb burger.

He said it was good.

I did not try it because the thought of lamb makes me want to puke.

I had mac n' cheese.

Um.  Yeah.

I did.

But, it was FANCY mac n' cheese.

Okay.

Moving on to Christmas now.

Because of the addition of Ralph, The Dog Who Eats All (rocks, dirt, moss, rabbit poop...), we had to have our Christmas tree downstairs.

I liked the fact that the kids couldn't see the presents under the tree when they woke in the morning. 

We've always had our tree in the living room and because of the layout of our house, all the kids had to do was look out their doors and they could see the tree.

Here's Mikey's reaction:

And the unwrapping began......

Kindles.....

 .....the Bat Cave....

....and Smaug!  Oh my!

The wrapping paper flew about the room and, then, just like that, it was over.

The Flash would've been proud.

"Huh?"

To All: Thanks for all the wonderful gifts!!!!!

Then everyone got sick.

The flu.

I'm totally not kidding.

We spent the good majority of our Winter Break sick.

Us parents even downed some Nyquil.

Unheard of!

So, we spent the whole vacation sitting at home sniffling, coughing, having rolling waves of nausea, not eating very much, napping, playing video games, zombie-shuffling the dog through horrifically long walks, building legos and watching the MythBusters TV marathon.

Katie, Mikey and I had recovered enough to join some of our friends for a New Years party.

(Huzbend stayed home and helped himself to the previously mentioned Nyquil)

All the kids made it to midnight - Mikey's first time ever - with the help of Jello Jigglers (yes, non-alcoholic), Fruity Pebble Treats (yes, marijuana free) and the Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone movie.

A good time was had by all, but especially by the grown ups who played

Cards Against Humanity while the kiddies were engaged in the wizarding world upstairs.

Tee-hee.

It was finally, on the last Saturday of the break, that all of us were well enough to actually get out and do something.

And that something was rock climbing.

To be more specific, bouldering.

The kids LOVED it.

They climbed and climbed and climbed some more.

Eventually, they wanted to try some "non-kid stuff".

They went upstairs to a section that you could climb up and over and down the other side.

Both Katie and Mikey made it up to the top and down.

It was impressive.

They can't wait to go back.

Annnnnd, vacation over.

That was it.

Back to school.  Back to work.  Back to, uh, the house.

(that's where I hang out)

Huzbend's first day back to work and back to biking brought warm temps in the 50's.

Which meant the end of "The Hair".

 Merry Late Christmas to me!