Out with 200,000 of our closest friends!

Feeding into my sense of adventure (or maybe I'm just plain crazy), I talked Dusty into going downtown with me last night for one last taste of the Super Bowl action.  I gave Aaron the option of going or staying at home with a pizza and 2 liter of Mountain Dew.  He choose to stay home and babysit his sister.  Good choice for us, because I'm not sure maneuvering kids through the crowd would have been good.  Our 1st stop was the ESPN broadcast on the Pan Am Plaza.  Got right up on the barrier and watched as they broadcast on ESPN2.  Called by brother-in-law Joel (who's a huge sports fan) multiple times to tell him I was on TV right by Trey Wingo's elbow.  After soaking up our 15 minutes of teeny-tiny fame we moved on.

The streets were packed!  I mean shuffle along with the crowd, no elbow room, gotta go with the flow because you can't do anything else packed.  We made our way to Monument Circle and found some breathing room behind the roman numerals up on the monument.  This was the scene down Meridian St.  It was like this all over downtown.  The news helicopters were flying overhead and the broadcasts were saying that they had never seen anything like it in the history of the city.  They were estimating 150,000 - 200,000 people were downtown.  Police were forced to close off even more streets because of the sheer numbers.

While moving back toward Georgia Street we got into the middle of a crowd outside the Conrad hotel.  Since it's one of the most expensive hotels in the city I figured we were waiting for a celebrity to come out. I asked someone who they were waiting for.  They shrugged and said, "I don't know."  A few minutes later someone asked me the same question.  The response, "Who knows?"  Police and security insisted that no one was coming out and repeatedly stated that Madonna was not there! :)  Didn't diminish the fun.  Every so often some regular Joe guest of the hotel would come out and the crowd would cheer for the fun of it. :)  Celebrity rumors were everywhere....Johnny Depp's at St. Elmo's steakhouse....Madonna's at the Conrad....Ryan Gosling is over one the corner of Georgia and Illinois streets.  So we had our laughs with that and moved on after a few minutes.

So to recap here's the lessons learned

• If your going to rub elbows with 200,000 people...leave the kids at home
• Madonna is NOT staying at the Conrad
• If you skip dinner to get downtown in a timely manner, Cinnabon is an acceptable substitute
• Be grateful for the man who directed you to the LAST parking spot by the stadium
• The trouble to get there is worth it so you can call your brother-in-law and tell him that at that very moment you are on ESPN
• If you are from Los Angeles and I offer to help take your family's pic with the stadium in the background, I'll turn the flash off on your point and shoot camera to get a semi-decent photo

Party time in Indy

The Rock and Worship Roadshow was stopping in Indy yesterday. 7 bands, $10 a ticket, plus all the Super Bowl activities going on downtown.....family day! We bundled up and loaded up and headed into the action. I'll have to admit that parking was my major concern, but we had no problem parking in the Fieldhouse garage. We spent the next 4 hours trekking all over the downtown area. We weaved our way through the Super Bowl village (aka Georgia St.), waved at the people enjoying the zipline, and took advantage of plenty of photo ops.

That's right...we're Colts fans.  We cheer for the Colts and whoever plays the Patriots!

Indy cars lined up down the street.  One for each team decked out in the team colors.

....and this is as close as we'll be getting to the Super Bowl!

Dusty hoists the Lombardi trophy

After all that fun it was back to Bankers Life Fieldhouse   the stadium formerly known as Conseco Fieldhouse for the concert.  The roadshow is a lot of fun because of the mix of bands.  A mash up of different styles and types of music.  It was Rachel's 1st concert and she was excited.

After 3 1/2 hours of music it was back to the garage and home we go.  But not after a quick trip through the McD's drive thru for a 10:00 PM snack.  A day full of "super" family fun makes a person hungry!

Paging the Tooth Fairy!

So the tooth fairy had to take a detour last night and make and unexpected visit to our home.  Rachel managed to trip over the pillow she was carrying, slide in her sock-feet, and wipe out on the kitchen floor.  Immediately she looked up at me and said, "I'm OK!"  The words were not even quite out of her mouth when her top tooth fell out and bounced on the floor.  "Whoa!  Your tooth!"  Those words were not quite out of my mouth when the wailing began.  She had a bloody mouth and a bit of a swollen lip.  But she's $1 richer! :)

And tonight since there may be sleet and ice, we're staying in.  Take the following ingredients and you have the Hackney Family Pizza & Movie night

2 pizzas from Papa Murphys

2 - 2 liters from Kroger

Bag of chips

4 movies from Family Video (probably won't get to all of them tonight)

and 3 varieties of baked goods from Delish Cakes...Yea for Preston!

Happy Weekend!

I hate cancer

Cancer stinks and I hate it!  There's no graceful way to say that.  Usually this blog is dedicated to photos, goofy stuff my family and I happen to do, and updates for the grandparents.  So if you will permit me a serious moment I'd like to ask that you pray for Heather, one of the best friends that a girl could ever hope to have.  She's having surgery tomorrow as a result of being diagnosed with breast cancer.  It's stage 0...it was caught extremely early...the prognosis is great!  Pray for a quick recovery and that the cancer is removed...totally eradicated, never to return.  Heather was vigilant and it was caught early.  So to be delicate...do whatever you need to do to keep track of your health!  OK, since I really don't try to be to deep on this blog I'll stop here.

Note to self:  The photo was when I was about 30 lbs heavier than I am now.....need to start eating better or I'll end up back there! 

We've got Eagle Pride

Rachel was selected by her teacher as an Eagle MVP student this quarter.  Which according to her certificate that she received at the ceremony today means she is Safe, Polite, On-task, Responsible, and Truthful.  :)  We all agree...and are proud of our Eagle Pride student.  Way to go Rachel!

Wii Party Night

Friday night game night with Wii Party.  Let's just say by the end of the night Aaron and I thought someone had slipped something funny into Dusty's root beer.  I have a photo, but it's a little too disturbing for public viewing.  Needless to say my side still hurts a bit from all the laughing.

Aaron shows off some fancy Wii manuevers

Dusty celebrates a good game with the "Bernie".....or at least his version of it. :)

I was the round #1 victor and Aaron took round #2

....and in 2nd place...

Just to be goofy...