Penguins game

We went to our final Penguins game (for the foreseen future anyways) and were able to take Neil because it was a day game. I was feeling very sentimental and am having a hard time with the fact that we are leaving this area. It's for a good reason and maybe pregnancy hormones play in as well but I am definitely feeling a lot of emotions.

Anyway, so this was our last Penguins game. We took Neil. Start time was at 12:30pm, which is also when he usually starts his nap. He napped in the car on the way. Then pre-game we let him run around in the kids area. We got him food hoping that would keep him occupied in the seats for the 1st period (knowing being tired would make him more cranky and touchy). He had a hot dog and popcorn for the first time. That did work to some extent, plus he seemed really tired and was leaning on me a lot of the 1st period. We spend the break and 2nd period in the kids area again, and went back to our seats for the 3rd period.  The people next to us had left so Neil was able to sit in his own seat and he repeated some of what was shouted including "Get the puck" and "Shoot it". He was definitely tired though and after some fussiness fell asleep in the car after we left.

Penguins Hockey

Neil, Dave, and I went to an evening Penguins game December 2nd. We weren't sure Neil would handle it but he did okay. We didn't last the entire game. The game started at 7pm, and that's when we start his bedtime routine normally (with him actually in his crib between 7:30pm and 8:00pm).

Neil fell asleep on the way, but it was a very short nap. I'm not sure it affected how he handled things at all.

At the bar (of course) before the game (in Consol Energy Center)

They have a great kids' area on the lower level that we spent a lot of time in. Neil kept standing in line to take his turn playing hockey. Playing hockey for him meant dragging the stick around and watching the other kids play. That area allows kids 10 and under, and Neil was in there with some pretty big kids. (Some of them were 10 year olds.) He got knocked over a few times but didn't seem upset about it and was still excited to go back in. We also tried to coach him to keep the stick down and go after the ball.

We watched the 1st period of play from our seats. The people in the seats next to us didn't show up until close to the end of the 1st period- just when we decided to move over and let Neil sit in his own seat. Go figure. I did get a few pictures of him in the seat during the break between the 1st and 2nd periods. Neil really seemed to watch what was going on, on the ice, but I'm not sure if he really understood what was going on.

We watched the 2nd period from the kids' area. In some of the shots you can see that there's a big screen behind the hockey area.

We also went to let Neil try to shoot the puck himself, into "Sidney Crosby's dryer"

And Neil kept playing hockey.

We left at the end of the 2nd period, because we didn't think Neil would sit in the seats and unlike last season he doesn't just fall asleep anywhere anymore. If there are distractions or noise he doesn't want to be sleeping but gets cranky. Dave also put a montage of his pictures and some videos together, that was really cute! Here it is. (And you can see better what his idea of playing hockey is in some of the video clips.)

Pittsburgh Penguins

I was being superstitious and held off on this post until the Pens were out of the playoffs. It seems like every time I post about going to a game or something, I somehow jinx them.

We got a brand new camera in Delaware at the Outlets in Rehoboth Beach. We went to the first home playoff game against the Flyers (which we lost) and got some pretty nice pictures with our new camera, playing with settings to see what it can do.

Pens vs. Flyers 4/7

Dave and I went to the last regular season home game on Saturday. The Pens clinched the 4th seed in the playoffs and we knew that the first round was going to be Pens vs. Flyers with the Flyers being the 5th seed. So we weren't expecting a huge game. It turned out pretty well though! We saw Malkin score his 50th goal this season, and the Pens won. There was only one fight and things were calmer than they usually would be when we play the Flyers. It's a big rivalry with a lot of animosity, for both the players and the fans.

The first round of the playoffs makes me nervous. The Flyers are tough this year.

Bye bye, Mellon Arena. :(

Dave before the game

Geno's parents- his mom is in the striped sweater and his dad is to the left of her

With some Flyers fans before the game

There were a lot of Flyers fans at the game. The Phillies were also in town to play the Pirates and a lot of people from Philadephia seemed to take advantage of that. When these guys showed up behind us, Dave told me not to turn around. (He didn't want me to say anything to the other fans haha.) I said, oh I should get my picture with them! And Dave said he would if I was serious. I hadn't been but I decided, why not? So I asked them for a picture and of course they immediately said what are you going to do to the picture. LOL! I promised nothing (although thanks, guys, what a good idea). They were pretty nice and admitted that their fans are pretty bad to opposing players fans. I told them I will never go to a game in Philadelphia because of that. (They told me if we ever did to sit in the lower level.) And I was probably the nicest Pens fan they saw all day. As they walked away we heard people booing them. Dave posted this picture on Facebook and surprisingly I didn't really get much crap about it. Just from a few people over text because Dave also texted it to our friends. We thought it was funny. And you can see in my face the, "Am I really doing this??" and trying not to just laugh.

Pens vs. Jets 3/27

I haven't been a good blogger recently (especially related to topics other than running).  I think I whined a bit in a previous post about work. I feel like I'm just burned out a little bit right now and when I get home I just don't want to do anything!

This past Tuesday Dave and I went to another Penguins game.  Boy, are they on fire lately!  Just last night they clinched a spot in the playoffs and they've won something like 12 of the last 13 or maybe even better than that!  And even the loss was in OT so we got 1 point for it.

We saw the Pens beat Winnipeg, 8-4, with a Neal hat trick.  We were close to seeing a Malkin hat trick and/or a Kennedy hat trick in addition!  They both scored two goals as well.  Wouldn't 3 hat tricks in one game just be amazing???

We usually eat somewhere around the arena or downtown beforehand and we tried out a new place this time- Tailgaters.  I think I'd go back to Pizza Milano before going to Tailgaters again.  Tailgaters was recommended for sandwiches, but we got pizza (maybe our first bad decision).  It was pretty small and very smoky outside, so we stuck around inside.  The waitress ended up giving us some free beer, so the beer price would have probably been the same at Pizza Milano vs. Tailgaters (but better choice for the $ at Pizza Milano).  The pizza, though... WAY better at Pizza Milano.  So if we do go back to Tailgaters, remind me to try a sandwich instead of the pizza.

At Tailgaters

On the way to the arena we were just looking at poor Mellon Arena, almost all the way down.  I know there's a lot of controversy about even tearing it down and after tearing it down what should go in its place.  Which makes me really want to go to the wall that's left of Forbes Field.  I still haven't been there and don't know where it is.

Anyway, here are some pictures we took on our way to the game.  Because I think pictures are a lot more interesting than rambling on and on in words.

Pens vs. Toronto

We split season tickets for the Pittsburgh Penguins with some former coworkers and had tickets to Tuesday night's game against Toronto.  It turned out to be an awesome game!  In the 3rd period, the Pens were down 4-1 and they came back to tie it and eventually win in a shoot out.  (Shoot outs are ALWAYS exciting to watch live.)  Malkin scored the 4th goal with 6.6 seconds left in the 3rd period.  What an awesome game!

Our friends Mandy and Sarah were at the game as well and happened to be sitting in our section.  We met Mandy beforehand at Pizza Milano (Sarah had to work).  Pizza Milano has good prices on pitchers of beer (a pitcher of domestic is about the same as the price of one beer in the arena) and really good pizza.

Dave and me at Pizza Milano

Our section and row also won free hot dogs!  They always have a giveaway type thing like this at the game and I've said to Dave before that the chances of us ever being in the right seats are none, but they called our section and row, as well as the row in front of us.

Sarah and Mandy eating their free hot dogs

Dave, Mandy, and me posing for a picture