Two New Hockey Fans????

On Friday, at 5:30 p.m., we were offered two free tickets to a UND Hockey game. The only catch was that the game started at 7:30, meaning we had to be on the road quickly if we wanted to make it. After finding out that Miss Mouse (being under 2) would be free, we loaded up the small car and took off! We were fairly sure we wouldn't be able to stay for much of the game since Miss Mouse would be getting tired, but we thought it would be an adventure anyway.

Well, it turned out that our little Mouse is quite the hockey fan! She was fascinated! She sat like a perfect little lady on my lap - intently watching the players, the puck, the other fans, the mini-blimps during the period breaks, and the zambonis. She made lots of friends around us by waving to everyone, too. We ended up staying for all but four minutes of the game! We got out just in time to have a quick diaper-change-stop in the bathroom before the main crowd rolled out.

Mr. Mouse went to get the car - intending to pull up as close as possible to the Ralph's door to pick us up. My instructions were to wait three minutes and then start walking toward where we had parked just in case he was not able to get right up to the door. Not only was he not able to get up to the door, he wasn't able to get any closer than where we had parked originally (several blocks from the arena)! So, Miss Mouse and I had a late-evening run to the car which, thankfully, was warmed up and ready to go for us when we got there. Poor Mouse was not happy that she had to have her head covered for the entire run with one of the blankets we brought with. She was even less thrilled when a lady walking behind us helped me entirely cover her hands.

Mr. and Ms. Mouse had not had supper (I packed Miss Mouse a supper of her own, of course) and had no cash left after paying for parking, so after a quick McDonald's drive-through (that's how desperate we were for food!), we headed home. Miss Mouse fell asleep and stayed asleep the rest of the night, even getting into the house. So, it was a marvelous time, and though I think two new hockey fans were born (of college hockey, anyway), much of the fun for us came from watching the little Mouse enjoy the game.

One highlight I should not leave out is that as we were waiting our three minutes before heading out to the car, I took Miss Mouse over to a mirror to entertain her. She noticed the very large statue of Ralph Englestad (sp?); she looked at it, looked at me, looked at it, looked at me; then she said very emphatically, "Daaa"! I informed her that it was not, in fact, her Dad, but that it was a man which her Dad is also. She nodded and again said "Daaa". There's no arguing with a Mouse.