Super Bowl Champions...Again!!

I forgot how good this feeling was...to be World Champions!  The Patriots took on the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX (which stands for 49...the L stands for 50 and the X is 10 but when you put the X in front of the L, it makes it 40 rather than 60...I looked it up because I might need to know it for Trivia Crack!) on Sunday, February 1 in Phoenix, Arizona.  This was the same venue where they lost to the Giants in the 2007 season.

It was kind of hard for me to get too excited about the game because of the Deflategate saga going on. Did Brady have someone deflate the footballs?  Did Belichick know anything about it?  We knew very little hard facts but to try to defend the Pats made one look like such a homer and just desperate to have them be innocent.  It really wasn't a good feeling.  Now with all that has come out (only one ball was deflated significantly and it was the one turned over from the Colts possession) it seems like the story was all a bunch of hot air but again, I will hold judgement until all the facts come out...if they do.  Of course, everyone will just call them cheaters no matter what but hey, that's what happens when you're good I guess!

Anywho, the most exciting thing for me was getting to watch the game with a bunch of family that just happened to be coming down this way.  All told we had 22 people here for the game and it was a grand time.  It was us, Ron and Elaine, Uncle Terry and Aunt Toni, Uncle Charlie and Aunt Lori, Kelly (Steve had to work on Monday and left in the afternoon), Caleb, Rad (Jen had a stomach bug and didn't come), the Hazens, Bruce McDougall, and Megan.  It's been a while since I watched a big game with Rad and I forgot how intense he is.  All the more fun!  I wanted to get all the food preparation out of the way first so we had subs and then people could just munch on snacks during the game.

There is nothing like watching the game with family and friends when you're all rooting for the same team!

Rad and I.  The oldest and youngest of the 10 cousins.  If you want to be polite, please ask which is which.

This cracked me up.  Rad wearing a Gostkowski jersey.  You don't often see people sporting the kicker's jersey.  Aunt Lori had called Rad and excitedly told him that she had found a Gronkoswki jersey at a yard sale.  This was it.  A few letters off, Aunt Lori!

What a game!  The first half I had to deal with Colby but he was actually pretty good and didn't distract me too much.  When your team is in it though, you don't want to miss a single play, a single second.  It's all so crucial.  We were feeling good pretty much the whole half until the Seahawks tied it up going into half time.  Not good especially since Rad and I may or may not have had a friendly wager on the score at the end of the half.  If the score ended with a 4 for the AFC and a 7 for the NFC, well, things were looking rosy for us.  And that was what it was with 33 seconds left (14 - 7 Patriots).  But then, those stinking Seahawks had to score a touchdown and it was a double whammy.

Things went downhill pretty quickly in the second half and the Seahawks went up by 10.  We had our usual texting marathon going on with Rick, Shawn, Rad, David, and myself.  I won't lie..there was a lot of negativity going on in those texts although I am proud to say it wasn't coming from me.  I had to remind them that the game wasn't over.  And sure enough, it wasn't.  Brady became the stud that he is and put up too very impressive drives and the Pats went ahead by four points.  It was right before then that I texted Ricky and said "Didn't you tell me that in the Madden Super Bowl simulation game that the Patriots won 28 - 24 after coming from behind and Edelman scored the winning touchdown?" Indeed that was the case.  Honestly, this was one of the most eerie things ever.  The passing yards for Brady were almost exactly on.  It correctly predicted two interceptions for Brady.  It predicted the correct final score and the correct person scoring the winning touchdown.  Anyway, after Ricky confirmed that, I was feeling pretty good.  Because if Madden predicted it, it must be true!

Not sure what Uncle Terry was doing here.  I think he had to get up and pace and then couldn't see clearly from the kitchen.

In the third quarter, Duncan got too nervous and went outside with the kids to start a fire.  He ended up watching the game through the window when someone opened the blind.  He finally came in once the Pats went ahead.

But then the Seahawks went on their drive with a little over two minutes left and then we all let out a collective gasp or utter dismay  - - no, terror - - when Kearse made that amazing catch.  It honestly felt like the 2007 Giants game again.  How could this happen again???  I think we all thought at that point that are chances were very dim.  The Seahawks had the ball on like the five yard line and had plenty of time to score the go ahead touchdown.  On their first down they made it to the one and with 50 seconds left, most of us were expecting Belichick to call a time out to conserve the clock except he didn't.  What was going on??!!  It all happened so fast.  I don't think some people realized what even happened right away but I did.  INTERCEPTION!!!  The crowd was going crazy.  We were all jumping on couches and dislocating peoples' shoulders with the high fives.  Calaubra was still up and they had been sitting there and they were like "What the heck is going on?" Everyone was hugging each other even if they just met that night.  It was insane but so insanely good.  I have probably seen the replay of Malcolm Butler intercepting that ball like a hundred times now and I could keep watching it over and over again.  One of the top moments in my life as a Boston sports fan, for sure.

Shortly after the interception.  I'm hugging Rad, people are bonkers! Not sure who Aunt Lori is texting as the most important people are in the room.  Photo courtesy of Leslie Hazen who had the foresight to take one.

Watching the replay again.  Calleigh is holding on to Aunt Toni.

YES!!!

 Calleigh seemed to be the kid most excited about it all...I'm sure because she's older.  She knows a lot of the players now and I noticed that towards the end of the game Lindsey asked her if she wanted to go upstairs and play American Girl dolls and Calleigh said no because she wanted to watch. The next morning, she came up to me and in a quiet voice says "I know why the Patriots won." I was thinking maybe she had some insight like "They intercepted the ball." Instead, she says, "Because I prayed." Oh boy!

Other stuff did happen last week.  On Monday our new piano teacher, Ethan, came over to meet the girls and go over how things work.  He seems very nice and talked about how much he loves teaching piano.  Interestingly enough, while he is not an SDA, he is a PK and was home schooled all the way through high school.  He also has a son who is 15-months old so we seem to have quite a bit in common.  It looks like the lessons will be on Wednesday mornings starting this week.  I'm excited to see how it goes!

On Wednesday we did a field trip to the Florida Living History Festival which was in Christmas.  Did you know we had a town here with that name?  The kids didn't and got a big kick out of it.  It's clear across town past even our old stomping grounds but it was less than 45 minutes because you just take the highway most of the way out.  We went with Vasti and her boys and Jennifer, Evan, Addison, and London.  The subtitle was "Experience the 1400's - 1800's" and they had 15 different stations set up.  You went to a station for 15 minutes and they had people dressed in appropriate garb acting like people from that time period.  We saw a pirate, English soldiers, Indians, Spanish fighters, a cannon firing, etc.  It was really, really impressive and I was even more impressed that the girls stayed engaged the whole time and in fact, didn't want to leave.  My only regret was that I had the boys too so I couldn't pay attention the entire time myself.  It was only $6 to get in and apparently this was the 10th annual so we will be back for sure next year.  A great time and so educational.

First station was an Indian.

Some kind of animal pelt.

The Spanish fighters.  They were very entertaining.

This is what the boys were more interested in doing.

Had to get this picture with some English soldiers to show Grandma.

A Black Seminole Indian

This guy showed how he skinned animals and made different stuff with the animal parts.

A lady making soap.  You could actually buy some for $4 but I had no cash and I suppose if they whipped out a credit card machine it would take away from the authenticity!

Jonathan made some "weapons" for Brady who was thrilled to carry them around in his pockets.

In other news, I've had a few busy nights over the weekend.  Colby came down with a fever on Friday night which caused him to wake up in the middle of the night each night since then.  My guess has been teething since he had no other symptoms but who knows.  All I know is that I've been forced to sleep in the guest room with him (under normal conditions I would let him cry it out but I have some mercy because of the fever) which is torturous.  Last night was particularly bad because he kept throwing his binky between the end of the bed and the headboard.  I would have to turn the light on and crawl under the bed trying to find it (I didn't know where others were).  So frustrating.  The night before that had also been incredibly tiring...so much so that I actually went to bed last night at 8:00 pm which is unheard of for me.  Even when I have a headache it isn't usually that early. Then this morning I couldn't find my glasses when I was trying to look for something or other.  I finally found them, took a shower, came out and went to put my contacts in only to discover they weren't in the case.  Yup, that's right.  They were already in.  I have no idea how I was wearing glasses and contacts at the same time but apparently it was so.  Geesh.  The good news is that there was no fever today so I better not be getting a 2:00 am wake up call again.  Party is over, fella.

This was him taking a nap yesterday morning in my bed.  Notice his hand in my hair.  He is so obsessed with my hair...even in his sleep he has his hand in it.

I will let the pictures below fill you in on the rest of what we were up to for the week.

Went to family game night for the Adventurers on Saturday night 1/31 at the church.  This was some sort of game.

They had this little machine where you use a claw to get toys out and the girls were obsessed.

Passing around a musical toy.  If it stopped on you, you were out.

Aubree ended up winning!

Calleigh having a go.

Colby probably "played" this game for 20 minutes straight.  Just kept putting the marbles down the path over and over again.

The girls on Sabbath morning, 1/31.

My crew.  Bowties courtesy of Aunt Camille.  Dresses courtesy of Grandma.

Aubree reading to Jen (the Case clan came over for Sabbath lunch, 1/31).

 

Stopped over the Escobar's house for a house warming get together last week.  They recently moved...one town over.

Boys taking a nap before the big game.

Kelly and Caleb stayed over on Sunday night so Caleb could be in bed during the Super Bowl.  They were supposed to leave on Monday but stayed until Tuesday (although not at our place) because of all the snow back in MA.

Aubree pretending to cut Brady's hair.

The kids have really been into building forts this week.

It's evolved every day.  They are seriously probably outside playing for at least three hours, if not more, each day.  Love it!

Daddy took the kids to JoJo's for frozen yogurt on Friday afternoon.  I couldn't argue with the dessert before supper thing since I had a quiet house to clean.

Hanging out at World Market.

Saw this car at a yard sale on Friday.  I'm sure $60 was a good deal but we weren't in the market.

Had time on Friday to make a run to Trader Joe's to stock up on some Indian food.

A sight no one ever thought they would see again...Duncan reading an actual newspaper.  This is the West Orange Times (our local paper).

Movie night at the church on Saturday night.  Duncan stayed home with Colby (due to the fever he didn't go to church either) while I took Calaubra.

Got a membership at the zoo again and we went yesterday afternoon.  We can tell it's been awhile because they now have giraffes.

Saw the caretaker scratching this monkey's back which we thought was pretty humerous.

No post is complete without a shot of my boy sleeping.  This was tonight.  Duncan gave him a much shorter haircut a couple of days ago.