The look on Caden's face when Louis referred to our night out as "date night" was priceless. I had to include it in the title; if, for nothing else, the giggle-factor. Poor guy, makes me laugh even when it's not intended! Why date night? Because Claire was sick today, Cole has a day off to veg, Chloe was grounded and expected to clean her room (ha!) and Louis had (surprise) a meeting. It was me and Caden.
We are very fortunate to be in the possession of a number of tickets to some Maple Leaf games. If you don't know, the Maple Leafs are the professional hockey organization associated with Toronto. Much like the Chicago Cubs of baseball lore, they have not won in a very long time. This does not seem to matter since tickets are almost impossible to find! The laws of economics do not apply to the phenomenon known as the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was to this atmosphere I brought my youngest. He has only recently been converted from a Dallas Stars fan (I know, huh?) to a Montreal Canadiens fan (in the footsteps and overpriced spirit-wear of his father and older brother). I brought him to a game featuring the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New York Islanders. Why the Islanders? A local boy plays on the team. Proof that you can produce an NHL player in a system that has 3500+ players each year. Yeah. I know. Great odds, eh?
Off to Toronto to see John Tavares, thankfully deemed well enough to play after a concussion scare.
A date with mama must include a bit of an adventure. We found ourselves here:
The Oakville GO station - just as everyone was returning home from Toronto at 6:15PM, we were leaving to head Eastbound.
Right before that photo was taken I apologised to Caden (it's a Canadian thing) that I had forgotten my camera. *GASP* and would not be able to take photos of our adventure. He gave me a puzzled look and reminded me, in his oh-so-ten-year-old-way that I had a camera on my BlackBerry. Er. Um. Okay. I know that. So all photos in this post are taken with my BB. Wow, who knew? Oh yeah. Everyone :)
Nice he puts up with me, eh?
Nice he puts up with me, eh? Part deux :)
Finally the GO train arrives. Can you hear my son sighing? Or is he leaping for joy?
At this point he is regretting reminding me I have a camera on the BlackBerry. And, perhaps, so are you, kind reader. But hey, I use this blog for scrapbooking purposes and I'm going to have to force you to deal with crummy photos and my adventure!
How cool is this? Straight from Union Station into the ACC? No outside? No weather? No reason to complain? So civilized. It has been years since I've been to a professional hockey game. This is no Maple Leaf Gardens, people!
Indeed. This place has flashing lights and loud music. Hockey is nothing without a good dose of Green Day and AC/DC!
Yeah, I know. Cotton Candy + School Night = Probably not a good decision. But hey. It was night out with mama, and I had already said "no" a couple of times. He wore me down. I don't drink beer. I certainly don't drink beer at $9.25 a pop!
Of the 18,800 seats available, I have no doubt that 90% were full. On a Monday night. At an average of $125 per ticket. Over $2M per game! And, as I was sitting at the end of the aisle, I realized that the people sitting beside us were the most active people in the WHOLE PLACE! See the sweet blonde baby? Twice he had to leave for a full change of clothes! Out with dad and big brother. Thinking I should have mentioned babies don't drink beer :)
Middle of the third period. Disputed goal. The SECOND one called back. Those referees have to have some pretty thick skin. Between the one finger salutes and the vulgar shouts I'm thinking I'll be packing earplugs the next game. I realized tonight that minor hockey is very tame. I also realized that the last time I sat that close to the rink was sometime in the late '70s and if my father had ever heard an F-Bomb dropped he'd had flipped. This night he'd have been flipping, flipping and flipping. It takes a lot to shock me, I was.
Bad, eh? One reason I'll not be using the BB for many events. It is a digi camera until it doesn't want to be. I never use a flash on my camera. Clearly it is required for the BB!
We left before the endof the game. The reversal of the 2nd goal changed the mood of the building and I figured it was best to make the 9:43PM train than miss it! Caden used the BlackBerry to find the final score - 2-1 in overtime. Apparently the BlackBerry is more than just a phone and e-mail machine.
And with that the Mama date was done.
Next time, I get to choose the venue. And maybe I can get him to pay?
Kidding aside, I always enjoy one-on-one time I get to spend with each of my kids. A few minutes or a whole evening, it's all good! What special time do you spend with your kids? Is it as structured as "date night" or a casual popcorn-and-rented-movie night. What works best for you? Share! I need ideas. I don't know that I want to do this again :)
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