Puck Drop 2015

I know, I write a lot about the Blackhawks on this blog, but I'll tell you why: because the good times dad and I have at these games will literally last a lifetime. And we had another one a week or so ago.

In case anyone of you don't know, it's been absolutely beautiful here in Chicago lately, so instead of the bus or a cab, we jumped on our bikes after dinner and headed for the barn (that's what people that go to Blackhawks games a lot call the United Center, where they play). The route that we took to the game there is really no traffic at all so I got to ride almost all the way there in the middle of the street.

We got there, locked up our bikes and went to our seats.

Then came a really cool moment. Tommy Hawk, the Blackhawks mascot, was in our section about ten rows ahead of us.  These old guys behind us kept telling me to go up and talk to him but I didn't really want to.

He headed downstairs onto the concourse and that's when Dad and I made a race for it. We ran down the stairs and onto the concourse and, lo and behold, he was standing right there. So we called to him and he turned around and gave me a huge high-five, and then we snapped this photo.  I was really excited, so much so that I printed it out and brought it to show Ms. Lozan, my teacher, the next morning because she's a huge Hawks fan, too.

When we got back to our seats the old guys asked me if I saw him and we showed them the pictures and they got really rowdy and excited and were giving me high fives and fist bumps too.

A great game, Hawks were up big, and so since it was a school night we headed for the door. Here is how we parked our bikes. It took Dad about 15 minutes to figure out how to lock them together and, honestly, I had to finally help him and show him how to do it. He has since been calling me Big Toe. He explains it that if you didn't have your big toe, you'd just fall over; and he said I'm like his Big Toe  - if he didn't have me, he'd be pretty much worthless.

All in all, yet another amazing Blackhawks game. Next one is not until January because Uncle Jim is coming to town next week and he stole my ticket... UNCLE JIM!!!

Mae's First Hawks Game

So it was time to introduce Mae to the old barn (the United Center) where the Blackhawks play. She had seen me walk out the door plenty of times and this time she was coming with us.

To get in without a ticket you have to be less than 36" tall. Mae is about 37.5" and yes, the lady at the door was very strict about her getting measured. What she wasn't strict about was the way Dad "measured" Mae up against the built-in tape measurer on the wall. Success!

We headed to our seats where Mae was actually way more into the game than I thought she would be. We got lucky because the two seats next to us were empty so Mae got her own seat and watched the entire first period of the game.

Then we went down onto the concourse during intermission looking for Tommy Hawk. He's the guy dressed in a black hawk outfit, like a bird, who bangs on the drum and everyone screams "LET'S GO HAWKS!!" No success. We didn't find him, but we found a cool Blackhawks necklace that we both loved so kind of success. You don't have to tell me, I know I kind of look like a gangster with the head tilt.

Had to show you my Patrick Kane shirt from the back. Mae had to show you... I don't know... just the back of her shirt.

As if the game wasn't fun enough, we headed for the door after the second period looking for a rickshaw. We couldn't seem to find one but as we were walking down the sidewalk a white stretch limo pulled up and offered us a ride for $20.

Where it got a little hairy was the fact that we were not buckled in and our driver was going about 50mph down Damen, very concerned that the cops saw him pick us up (limos are not allowed to scoot around the city acting like taxi cabs, big no no).

So Mae and I rolled around the back of the limo giggling like crazy and having ourselves a hoot of a time.

Mae's first Blackhawks game? Success.