The Pariseaus: Sunday Night Football

The Packers are at the Ravens, and so are we!

Being only a couple hours away, of course we had to get tickets and go! We stayed at a downtown hotel and were just a couple blocks from both the stadium and the Inner Harbor. I’m not sure if the boys were more excited about the game or the hotel… they love a good hotel even more than they love a rental car!

"I'm soooo strong! Look at my muscles!"

After a long night of semi-sleeping and waking up constantly for fear a child was falling out of bed and getting kicked in the head and woken up to use the bathroom, we were off to explore. We went down to the coffee shop, ate breakfast, watched a show on the ipad, found an empty hotel ballroom and played football, set up a forest of dinosaurs back in the room, swam in the pool, had snacks, showered, and got dressed—all by 9:30am. Whew. After playing some more and trying to rest, we left for the stadium.

It had been drizzling for the past week, and had just stopped that morning. The forecast said 0% chance of rain all day, and we were ecstatic to not have to watch the game in the cold rain with two little kiddos. However it wasn’t quite done, so we walked to the stadium in drizzle and found a corner of the lower level concessions area to eat lunch. Drew rode the whole way on my shoulders, and we were amazed by the sheer number of Packers fans. They loved Drew riding high, and he got a ton of high fives and even a set of beads!

The football gods were smiling on us, as it stopped raining not 10 minutes before kickoff! After stopping at Guest Services to get the kids lost and found bracelets (they took our seat numbers and gave them bracelets that said, “please return me to guest services.” I found that logical, yet quite amusing.) We wiped off our seats and settled in to the first row of the upper level near the goal line.

The kids did an awesome job of being good and not falling over the railing. Our surrounding fans were welcoming and fun and not obnoxious. Despite the incredibly loud noise of an NFL game, Evan slept through part of the second quarter, and Drew crashed halfway through the fourth (and during the entire walk home). We were thrilled with the Packers pulling it together and making some big plays to win the game!

After the game we were famished and headed to the Inner Harbor. Drew busied himself by playing with stickers while we waited for our order—he always puts them on his lips! We’ve found however that the sticker doesn’t do much to keep him quiet. :)

After dinner we walked around to run off some of our last bits of energy for the evening and ended up reenacting the game on a wide open piece of brick parkway in front of the fountains. The boys were still wearing their game gear, and got quite a few cheers from passing by Packer fans.

In the morning it was time to go. The boys found their “coffee cups” and gave a “Cheers!” to the hotel and Baltimore as we packed up to head back home, exhausted and happy.

On our way home we stopped at "Mommy's Far Away Work" to show the kids where mommy goes on Wednesdays, and introduce coworkers to the family. While chatting in someone's office, Drew decided the best place for him to go was in a bookcase. Odd. But a perfect fit.

After lunch we stopped across the street in the lobby of the Discovery Building to visit their T-Rex and other treasures, and to watch the incredible George Rhodes Audio-Kenetic Sculpture, "Eureka!" I think Drew could have stayed there all day, and honestly so could I.