Star Wars Night at the Griffins

So I finally got around to loading (I just can't seem to grasp when I'm up and when I'm down loading) pictures form my camera. I found pictures from several weeks ago that I never shared. It has definitely been a very busy few weeks with starting the new job, finishing up symphony for the season, and also continued school and scout activities.

One of the activities we enjoyed as a family a few weeks ago was the boys' first professional (minor league...but still) hockey game. It was supposed to be a promotional event for the symphony whose chorus I perform for, but that part of the evening turned into a bit of a bust. We prepared and performed, but the media coverage that was supposed scheduled did not show.

But the game itself was fun. The night was a special Family Night...Star Wars night. It was a fundraiser and the crowd was huge. I don't think either of the kids was hugely excited about the game when I talked about it the entire preceding week before. But that was fine. We got there early since I had to rehearse so when we came out of rehearsal, the very large number of Star Wars characters that were gearing up for their night were roaming the halls. Noah got excited when he saw a "Royal Guard" come out and I pulled out my camera for a picture. It was all fine and good until a voice came from the character, "Hi Kristi!". I completely freaked out. He then clarified that it was a guy I who works at the music store with me who does this as a side activity. We have been laughing about it since.

So having missed dinner because of the rehearsal and because we had been downtown all day for various activities (it was a very filled day), I decided to face the crowd to find some hot dogs to chow on. The crowd was crazy with kids everywhere trying to get pictures with the many many many storm troopers wandering around the arena so I stopped at the first food vendor I found and we all had...pizza. Everyone got their own little pizza and for some reason Noah finally decided that night that he likes pizza now :)

After a bite to eat, the boys were finally ready to explore some of the characters. Neither one of them was terribly gung ho about meeting the characters, which actually surprised me, but they (especially Noah) were happy to stop at the table where they could make signs for the game. Noah worked so hard on his and it turned out so cute. Aaron decided to make his "interactive" having one side say "yes' for when the griffins got a goal and "no" for when the other team did.




It was also bottle opener night and the boys were all happy because they were giving away free bottle openers that made noise like a goal score. Steve and I thought it was funny that EVERYONE was given these, including six year kids who have no business opening bottles, but it worked out well since we had a family gathering the next day and I was able to give the extras away. The boys had fun pushing the inside though and making the noise with it.

As a rule, these are my thoughts about sports spectating. I really enjoy watching football, I will watch baseball if it's a game I'm interested in, basketball is fun in real life but not very exciting on TV, and I'm not a real fan of hockey. But I still wanted to take advantage of discounted tickets so that the boys could actually go to a game. And I have to admit, we had a really fun time. All chorus members and their families were seated together right behind the goal so we could see everything and the Griffins scored three goals right in front of us, which the kids loved. They especially liked the fun activities between the periods, as well as watching Darth Vader let out the first puck.

So Star Wars Night at the Griffins was a fun family night. I am so glad that we went through with it and I couldn't possibly end this post without being a little corny, so...