Mandy's birthday con't and Ken sees an old Corps friend

After the extra girls left after the party, I had to have my girls take naps.  Taylor was coughing for the last few days, and now Mandy was starting.  They were getting warm, but we had already paid for the hockey tickets, and an old friend of Ken's was in town from out of state, so we weren't going to miss visiting.  


We went down to Ontario for a late lunch/early supper in order to see Chris Weiner.  He and Ken served together at 29 Palms, and I have heard a few stories of their escapades together.  Both are complete smart-asses, and it was great to see Ken go down memory lane with Chris. I was able to meet Chris' wife and the kids met, but they didn't mingle too well.  The girls were well behaved, and  we adults had a great time.

Chris was looking at Shelly

Ken was looking at me.

Sadly, there just wasn't enough time.  Chris and his wife, Shelly, are here to see Shelly's mom who is in a home, so we were only able to take up a couple hours of their time.  Ken would have liked to have more time, but the 4 of us said it's a priority to get time figured out for the men to stay in touch and enjoy the friendship.  Ken is trying to convince Chris to join them on the Bourbon Trail this year.


After leaving Chris and his family, Ken and I took the girls to Starbucks.  They were happy to have their handheld games to enjoy on the car ride, and as you can see, they loved having them with their Strawberries and Creme.

Notice that she's using her hands for her game - not to hold her drink

We were able to get to the Arena early, and we got settled into our seats.  Mandy was very bummed that I was not able to get her a ride on the Zamboni for her birthday, but she has no idea that I worked for three months trying to secure that ride.  (I was really ticked off during the first intermission to find that there was no one riding the Zambonis - apparently, she could have ridden!  UGH!)


Once we were in our seats, I tried to get pictures of Mandy for her birthday book. However, Mandy initially said that she was trying to focus on watching for the Zambonis, but she was surly throughout the entire game.  The total irony here is that Mandy is the one who asked if we were going to attend the games this hockey season, and she has not enjoyed herself at one game.  Mandy actually slept through the 2nd period!  

This was Mandy's face throughout the game.  AWESOME!

The rest of us had a great time.  This was the best game we've attended, and the Reign actually won the game without having to go to a shoot-out.  There were a few really great fights, and as usual, the reffing sucked ass for the Reign.  I am surprised that I retained my voice after the game - I really thought I was going to lose it with all of the shouting.  Ken and I were excited that the Reign took the game 4 - 3.  We headed home and everyone got into bed right away. 

Warming up

The Dark Knight prior to the start of the game.