Learning to Cast ... Off The Deck

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what did you catch Owen?

a Daddy!

Today

I'm not good with dates; I often don't remember the exact day events occurred. And I'm a little embarrassed to admit that the significance of today's date hadn't even started to resonate in my brain before my wonderful mother-in-law posted a sweet reminder on Facebook, and my very special friend Susan Cole sent an e-card (which I was a little late in opening!).

Today is the day known in the adoption community as our "Gotcha Day". The long awaited, long anticipated day when a judge we'd never before met listened to our rehearsed answers, and much more importantly, our overflowing hearts, and officially declared Owen our forever son. We are forever grateful to Kazakhstan, to our adoption agency, and to Owen's birth mother.

I knew Owen was meant for us the moment I looked into his big brown eyes; I've always felt that God had planned all along for him to be part of our family. And perhaps that's why in the hustle and joy of everyday life I lose track of the actual date; but make no mistake, I am so thankful for today - and all the days with Owen.

We love you Butter!

Purple Reign

Four years ago I got a Friday night phone call from an on-the-road Bob, asking if it was OK for him to go to the Super Bowl with his brother. Todd had secured some last minute tickets to go to Tampa to see his beloved Steelers play. The amazing and generous wife I am (smile), I said of course - as long as Bob took me to see the Ravens when it was their turn.

I was half-joking, but turns out Bob wasn't, and about 30 minutes after our boys in purple had demolished the Patriots, my truly amazing and generous husband was giving me the go ahead to purchase five tickets to the 47th Super Bowl in New Orleans!

I'm not sure I can accurately put into words the incredible experience we had watching the Ravens become world champions, but I can say without a doubt it was unforgettable and completely wonderful! Here, in words and pictures, is a glimpse into our memory making trip.

Our travel partners and forever friends Sean and Maureen Powers live in Houston, and happily responded to our request to visit with a Texas sized "come on down!". We flew in Friday night, and after a bumpy flight and 45 minute delay sitting on the tarmac, gratefully arrived at their beautiful home to a yummy Tex-Mex dinner complete with King Cake flavored ice cream for dessert, an assortment of Russian beer, and cherry juice and vodka toasts.

Sean and Maureen are some of the nicest, funniest, greatest people we know, and it was such a kick to spend time with them again. So much fun to watch Owen and his birthday buddy and fellow Kokshetau hamster James reunited, and to see them - joined by little brother Michael - happily playing monster trucks and dancing to "Gangnam Style" together.

Na zdorovye!

Sweet Maureen even wore purple scrubs to
work that day in honor of the Ravens!

Then ...

and now!

Saturday morning we hit the road for our journey to the Big Easy. Owen reported he was "really enjoying" his new booster seat - complete with cup and chip holder - as we passed mile after mile of bayou country.

We arrived in town mid-afternoon and hoofed it to Harrah's hotel, and finally had our Super Bowl tickets in hand! We purchased our tickets online from Vivid Seats and everything went off without a hitch. Highly recommend them if you are looking for tickets for sporting events, concerts, etc. (unfortunately, no, I am not being compensated for that plug). 

Then it was time to do a little exploring!

Bourbon Street just makes me sad, but I do enjoy the rest of New Orleans - the French Quarter, the Garden District, Jackson Square. There's a special golden light that bounces off all those wrought iron balconies and pastel colored shot gun houses. And I love me some zydeco music and beignets. The people of New Orleans are so welcoming too, generous with smiles and spirit. I'm not just saying that because 98% of the locals we talked to were routing for the Ravens either. Why, they were even nice enough to deck out the whole town in purple (and we didn't mind one bit that it was really meant for Mardi Gras)!!

Look closely, footballs in the fountain

Bourbon Street

Jackson Square

After a long day we hit Mulate's for some Cajun cooking, and learned from a fellow Ravens fan that WR Anquan Boldin was in the restaurant too! Our table was right next to the door, and as Anquan was leaving, Bob pointed at his bicep and said "200 - better than Denver" (a reference to a Boldin quote before that playoff game). Anquan smiled and gave Bob a fist bump before heading into the night. The picture is a little blurry but you can see his big ol' grin, surpassed only by the smiles on our faces from seeing one of our favorite players!

Best Mojito ever

We were all still smiling the next morning as we once again donned our purple and headed for the Super Dome. A roof top band played some wonderful NOLA jazz as we joined the parade into the stadium, excitement growing by the minute.

We ventured into the NFL Fan Experience and enjoyed a quick bite and lots of people watching - seems the Niners fans had finally shown up after a day of barely seeing any of them around town. Ran into the Ball So Hard U guy and had to get a pic - we'd talked to him at the Houston playoff game last year! For you non-Raven fans reading, it's a reference to Suggs and his theme song.

Now see that stage in the center of the plaza? There was a band playing for a bit, and then the Saints cheerleaders and an announcer came on to play some interactive games with the crowd. They asked for a kid to join them ...

and look who it is!! I was getting ready to walk him up the stairs when he turned and said, "no, I'm good", then marched right to center stage and very calmly answered questions about his name, where he was from (although he did say "I don't know"!), and his favorite Raven, Ray Lewis! Won himself a cool Super Bowl jersey and lots of fans. See the cheerleaders beaming at him? So cute!!

Then it was time to head into the stadium and follow the Sherpa to our seats. During the first half I got dizzy a few times - from near constant cheering or the altitude, I'm not sure which - ha ha! We were in the end zone and actually had a really good view, just wish we were seated among more Ravens fans as our section was an awful lot of red.

I purposely missed Jennifer Hudson and the Sandy Hook choir; I knew I'd start bawling so I took a restroom trip. We could barely hear Alicia Keys singing the National Anthem, but absolutely heard the Baltimore "O"! I've always felt it's a bit disrespectful of fans to do that, but as Bob pointed out, we aren't changing the lyrics, and after all it was written in Baltimore! I loved that Coach Harbaugh said hearing it and knowing the fans were there was one of the most touching moments of the game for him. 

Finally ...kick-off! Here we go! 

The first half was wonderful, glorious, so much fun! The Ravens looked unbeatable. And we loved every minute of the zombie chant, "Reeeeeed", and generally screaming ourselves hoarse. Went into halftime feeling pretty darn confident - although I suspected at some point San Francisco would make some kind of come back (I'd seen that Falcons-Niners game).

Beyonce. Well, we liked that even the crowd participation lights were purple and "Crazy in Love" is my favorite song of hers, but honestly the show wasn't all that exciting to watch from our perch in the sky.

Owen did like his finger lights though!

Back to the action and what a way to start the second half - record setting play return by Jacoby Jones!! Once again our beloved defense is on the field teaching Kaepernick a lesson, and then ...

BLACKOUT!

Pretty weird huh? I had a fleeting moment of panic - is there something worse coming? - but everyone remained calm and the generators kicked in and light was very quickly back on in half the stadium. We were sitting at almost exactly the demarcation between lights and no lights, and the stadium really didn't feel dark at all - no where near as dark as it looked now that I've seen it on TV. We tried to get a chant of "free beer" going after about the fifth announcement that power would be restored shortly (figured it was the least the Super Dome could do) and the crowd eventually renewed that classic - the wave. Mostly it was just a bit boring.

I absolutely believe it interrupted and changed the momentum of the game though. Our offense didn't run a play for more than 80 minutes! That has to be tough. Plus the Niners got a chance to regroup and an emotional lift because they had similar experience in a home game that they ended up coming back to win after a black out. But, if you want to say you are champions, you have to handle any situation thrown at you - and of course ultimately the Ravens did.

At home I pace, and jump around, and make trips into the kitchen when a game gets to nail-biting stage. It was hard to to be confined to my seat for a lot of that second half! It was definitely tough to watch at times, and I admit, I got a bit worried that we weren't going to be able to hang on. But this really was a team of destiny - they believed it, the City of Baltimore believed, and now the world believes it. As Coach said, "It wasn't pretty, it wasn't perfect, but it was us".

With the exception of one guy in the row below us, the Niner's fans were a class act. They were pretty quiet most of the first half (hmmm, wonder why?) but rallies as their team did. Afterward several congratulated us; one gentleman even had his wife take a picture of him with Cearra and me (I practiced good sportsmanship myself and refrained from flashing the #1 sign for the pose).

The best part of the weekend for me was being able to experience it all as a family. People thought we were crazy for taking a 6 year old to the Super Bowl, but it never crossed our mind to leave him out. And Owen loved it - cheering and dancing (the squirrel!) just as much as the rest of us.

Yes, it was a lot of money; yes, it means I won't be getting a kitchen makeover anytime soon, and that my upcoming Valentine's, birthday and Mother's Day presents will be nothing more than a card, but I am more than OK with that. We will all be able to forever say we witnessed the Ravens make history and become champions of Super Bowl XLVII; we were there when Ray Lewis made his last tackle. We will forever remember this trip and take great joy in reliving it. And I'll take making memories with my family over material possessions any day!