I'd Better End Up in a Really Nice Nursing Home

February is usually a quieter work month for me. Every other month, I'm kind of slammed and so starting last week, things should have calmed down a little bit. They didn't. Therefore, I haven't posted.

So there's my excuse for being an absentee blogger.

Last Saturday, Finn's hockey team was invited to play in between periods at the Colorado Avalanche game (NHL hockey). How fun would that be to be 7 or 8 years old and play on NHL ice in front of thousands of people? Of course we were going.

And of course, we woke up to snow.

Although the rest of you are getting hammered this winter and even though the ski resorts are swimming in snow, in our town, we have not had snow other than a random dusting here and there. Not even enough to get the snowplows out. It has been very, very unusual.

But since we had to drive to Denver and be there at a specific time, of course, it snowed. A lot.

Normally, the drive to the Pepsi Center would take right around 2 hours. The journey there took about 3 1/2 hours. The journey home took about 4 1/2 hours. Possibly more. I think I blacked out for much of the drive. And by drive, I mean driving about 1 mph for several hours. No lie.

And that wasn't even the longest amount of time it has taken me to get home from Denver. Dec. 30, 2006, holds that record at 6 hours. It's a record I hope I never break.

Anyway, we made it, the kids skated, and it was very cool. I hope they appreciate it when they're older because other than one family, I think the whole team made it.

A few pics. I realize the kids look like aemoebas down there. We were literally in the top row of the Pepsi Center. Top row. The nose-bleediest seats you can get. Great for watching hockey, not great for taking pictures. If you click on the pictures, you'll see bigger versions. I think.


Finn is in a gray jersey and is wearing white socks with two small blue stripes on either side of a bigger red stripe (thank goodness for those Columbus Blue Jackets socks--they have helped me ID my kids from afar many times). In this pictures, he's right by the "R" in Pepsi CenteR.


In this one, he's right next to the rectangle that says Chipotle.


Here his left skate is nearly on the circle.


He's about to cross the blue line...


The boys in our top row seats.

Long, fun day. I didn't get to eat at Smashburger on the way home though. I guess we can't have it all.