Sportin' Some Seahawks

Last year, the Seahawks had an awesome season. The year before they had an even more awesome season. And truly, every year since J-Man and I moved to the SeaTac area in 2008 they've been steadily improving. I like to think my fandom is what pushed them over the edge. The more of a fan I've become, the better they've done. 

That is, until the superbowl 2015 and its unspeakable final moments and the general apathetic disintegration that's been going on the past few months.

I say all this with love. I really like cheering for the Seahawks. Not enough to stay awake and watch late games. Not even enough to really pay attention during afternoon games while only the highlights are displaying on Red Zone. But enough to know the key players' names, get excited by memes, commercials and other franchise news, and have serious opinions about Russell Wilson's dating life. 

Also, J-Man bought me a jersey for my birthday last year, so I think that makes me a fan for life. These things ain't cheap. I'm a fan until this jersey wears out; I can't just go around buying new jerseys every time a team misses a perfectly opportune chance to run the ball in with the best runner-inner in the league.

So, back to me and my fandom and how my wardrobe has been affected... the first Friday of football season, I decided to sport my new Richard Sherman #25. PDG didn't have any navy/green, so he wore his "football shirt" with the numbers on it, that made him feel like he was in a jersey and thankfully had navy blue so it worked aesthetically. MDG didn't have any "football shirts" but he did have a navy and neon shirt that said let the games begin, so, you know, perfect in its own way. J-Man wore one of his many Hawks items (probably a few items really), and as a family, we earned the title of most fantastically fanified of all time.

It was fun and at that point, nothing bad had happened this season yet.

By the time Spirit week rolled around at my school, my team had already had some disappointing losses. Still, unwavering in my support, I decided to go all out. Every year I like to pick one or two days of Spirit week to really be a team player. I give less quizzes, I try to throw in some games on pep rally day, I blur the line of super-strict-til-Christmas and have some fun. Tailgate Tuesday called my name, and I had no choice but to raid J-Man's closet and respond with this.

Yes, I got teased plenty. I got accused of being a bandwagoner (to which I mentioned attending games back when Hasselbeck was QB and empty stadium seats abounded) and also questioned for hanging on despite the downward trajectory. I stayed true, even working my 6th period duty at the security desk, checking in all visitors to the school and working our fancy remote-operated doors. My clashing stripes and polka dots on pattern day didn't hold a candle to my neon proclamation. I'm a 12 for life. Win or lose.

But, if any Seahawks are reading this, just an fyi: it's way more fun for all us G's if you keep winning. Just, you know, in case you weren't sure. That'd be awesome. Or, you know, if it's not the winning you're having trouble with, then, maybe, just possibly, not losing at the very end. That'd be cool too. K. Thanks. Kisses.

Superbowl Sadness

By now you likely know we're Seahawks fans in the G-house. Don't go calling us bandwagon fans either. My first professional games were to see the 'Hawks back in '09 when no team in Washington state seemed to understand what winning was. Their colors are fun. Their fans are fierce. And finally, they've got a crew of fun-to-cheer-for players who can put some points on the board.

Last year I watched the Superbowl with J-Man. Ok, correction. Last year I watched the first half of the Superbowl with J-Man. I was still overly sleep-deprived, though, so that first play after halftime sealed the deal and I went to bed pretty confident we had it in the bag. J-Man silently celebrated the win so that I could rest until the next feeding. Times were different.

This year I told J-Man that I didn't want to host a party, or get a sitter, but I did want him to get the chance to actually shout at a TV during the game if he felt so inclined. Around five pm he set off to watch with some friends, and the little boys and I popped some popcorn and settled in for the first quarter.

We were serious.

And we like popcorn.

I also felt like I should watch the whole game (sentimental commercials included) since I'd assigned my students to be able to respond in Spanish how they reacted to the game's turnout - chapter four vocabulary always falls perfectly at this time of year, which makes it my favorite chapter for being something relevant that the kids really do want to use. but before I nerd out about authentic prompts for assessments...

I was watching the game.  And then I was listening to the game with my eyes shut. And then I was hoping it just stayed 24-21 the rest of the game. And then I was waking up with this weird feeling that the TV had gotten loud or something had happened or wait, what? We lost? Wilson got intercepted? Beast Mode didn't get to rush it in? Brady and his face got a trophy? My students would get to each, individually, tell me how they felt 'alegria' the next day as payback for me wearing my #3 jersey on Friday and taunting my Patriots fans?  what?!?!

Poor J-Man came home not too much later and we reminded ourselves (or, I reminded him) it's just a game. Nothing about our lives actually changed.

And the next day, our Amazon Prime package (the only way to shop) arrived. The boys, understanding nothing of seasons and endings and superbowls, put on the glasses so we could be "cool dudes" and excitement for next season again.

Or maybe, just maybe, excitement for seven months of football-free Sunday afternoons set in. Either way, it'll be ok.

Daff-i-dils

Flowers have been a big theme here in the G house this April.  I noted recently how J-Man sent me some beautiful flowers to my work.  And in that same post how little PDG has been noticing the blossoms and buds in the neighborhood on our walk to and from the park.

Well, let's just say that PDG is really into flowers.  Really, really into them.

After enough exclamations of "yellow flowers!" and "purple flowers" it seemed time to teach him new words.  Now, thankfully, this little boy can identify daffodils and tulips by name, and loves to tell me when he sees them.  It's kinda too cute.

This all makes me think of a time before kids, before even trying to have kids (so, yeah, wayyy back) that J-Man and I went on an adventure to northern Washington State.

It's probably obvious that it was the beginning of our marriage when a husband will do just about anything for his wife because it's all new and fabulous and a blessing (not that it isn't now.  it's just.  you know.  the beginning is just so nauseatingly wonderful it's remarkable). I was able to convince J-Man to drive hours just to see flowers.  Granted, it was a town full of fields and fields of flowers as far as you can see.... but it was still just flowers.

What was in it for him?  I think we bought some pickled carrots...?  Pickled something I'm sure. But not many because we were pretty poor.  That sweet, just-married, living-on-love kind of poor.  So I got to take pictures with flowers and J-Man got some sort of salty treat.  Some things about our marriage haven't changed I guess.

And I can only imagine what our PDG would say if he got to visit that festival this year.  I'm sure it would go something like this:

 "Yellow flowers! Daff-i-dils! Flowers! Oh gosh! Yellow flowers! Daff-i-dils! Tulips!"

Spring Break West Coast Part 2

Our first full day in Tacoma we spent with J-Man's dad and grandma.  PDG has some pretty amazing genes, by the way, since g-gma G is still in the independent living section of her community, his other grandma lives in her home still, and his grandfathers, who took notoriously minimal care of their health, both only passed away in recent years.

Back to the point, g-gma G is one totally with-it lady, a social butterfly in her community, clearly esteemed by all, and a lady who was more than happy to see her great-grandson.

We met before lunch, had a lovely meal together, took some pictures, and let PDG play and charm his audience for the afternoon.

By the way, if you think our peer group likes babies - hang out in a retirement community.  Their oohs and ahhs are something extravagant.

This was the only day we were able to spend time with this half of the family, but tried to make the moments count, and hope it won't be another two years before we see them again.

The next days were spent with Gma S (J-Man's mom) and Lil Bro.  PDG hadn't seen his grandma since Vegas back in May, so there were cheeks to be kissed raw, and birthday cake to be snuck, and bedtimes to be pushed back for just one more snuggle.

We didn't take non-family photos, I guess because we were at restaurants, but we did meet up with some good, good friends whose weddings we've attended since moving East during trips north to Seattle and its outskirts.  We got a peek at a house our peers could purchase (enough to make us temporarily green with envy), and J-Man shirked our pattern of 9pm bedtimes to stay out late with his party-going friends.

Then Saturday we had a belated birthday party for PDG and a friend of Gma S.  This kid loves cake.  And being passed around.  And chasing Dakota the dog.  He even mastered saying "dog" while we were there.

Easter Sunday was our departure day.  Rather than church, we had a breakfast together, before I insisted that all the G's put on nice shirts and take pictures.  They'd been warned, but I was a taskmaster insisting that the rarity of our visits, the more extreme rarity of March sunshine in Tacoma, and the excuse of a holiday to post adorable pictures of children all over the web meant that we MUST do photographs.  No excuses. Not even a baby gate would hold us back!

So here are some of our favorites.

Sunshine in the NW

J-Man and I went to a lovely wedding recently, and it made us miss the Northwest oh so much. 

First, the weather did to me what it once did in February 2007 - it was beautiful.  That first visit, years ago, I remember telling my new love that his city's winters weren't bad at all, and clearly the world exaggerated when complaining about Seattle and this so called rain.  Silly world.  A similar naivete was shattered when I realized J-Man's family did not live in a house floating on the water a la Sleepless in Seattle, and that in fact, all Seattle houses were not like that. 

Still, the belief persisted that northwest rain was a myth by those who just couldn't appreciate 45 and partly cloudy.  Weak sauce.

Fast forward to me whole heartedly agreeing that we could move our combined new york city apartments across the country in an ABF truck and live happily for years 3000 miles away.  We arrived to beautiful sunny September weather (which is not a myth) and a few weeks in began the adventure of the G's versus the Gray.  You know we're back east now, so obviously the Gray beat our butts a little.

Anyway, we now joke on beautiful days about how that one fateful February fluke of weather altered the course of our life plans.  A gorgeous day and holding hands can do that.

On this particular ray of sunshine, someone else's life changed for the better too.  As J-Man and I squeezed each other's legs (or maybe that was just me?) Lady K and her own j-man expressed loving vows and promises and stories with the backdrop of Lake Washington and the support of friends and family.  We ate tasty treats and danced and laughed a lot as we wondered which of the frat friends might mess things up. 

Thankfully the answer was none - it seemed the bartenders had been given orders to cut people off before any such shenanigans of a recent wedding took place.

We enjoyed the perfect weather with a fabulous celebration and bragged to our east coasters about the mid seventies, no humidity, radiant sunshine. And when not stealing the spotlight from the lovely bride and groom, shared with a few more close friends our own life changing news on this perfect day. 

Thank heavens for sunshine, and happiness, and love, and the beautiful green northwest.  Oh, and for cabs so that sleepy pregnant wives can safely get back to the hotel.

Best wishes Lady K!