Super Bowl = F-F-Football Day!

Practicing our tackling skills for football time!

As I mentioned earlier, we jumped ahead to the Letter F for Super Bowl Sunday. We planned to spend the day at Mom & Bob's house, but we started some F activities at our house first.

Dylan officially loves the Do-A-Dot stuff. He asks to "do dots!" So we started F day with the F dot page.

F Dots

Then he asked to color, so I got a coloring sheet out and he spent quite a while perfecting his frog picture.

More Lefty Action

Dylan passed out in the car on the way to my parents' house, so I spent his nap making snacks for the big game with my mom. She made sloppy joes and I made guacamole & sausage dip. Gotta have football snacks on the ultimate football day! Think Finger Food qualifies as an F food?

When D woke up, we got back to the F stuff. Dylan worked on a sticker collage of "F"ootball helmets.

And then he had me color some "F"ish with him. We were also being watched by some "F"rogs

Then it was onto another Confessions upper vs lower case letter sorting activity. He did this one a few times throughout the day so that he could show off a little bit for Nonny and Pa.

It was Super Bowl Sunday and as gametime approached it was time for us to get into a sports mindset. We, obviously, had to take a photo* with our football stuff. (Notice that all the teams we root for are represented. We are wearing our Pats jerseys, we have a Bears football, and the Falcons "Football Mike.")

*Dylan may or may not have been singing and was way too busy to smile for the photo.

And later while the adults were watching the game, Dylan played a little "F"oosball. (Although I am certain that he isn't very clear on the rules of the game)

F Day was a success, but there were some Football crafts/activities that we didn't get to. Maybe I'll save them for our first football day of next season. Maybe that way, he and Daddy can do them together!

Michigan Trip Continued...1 NFL Pre-season Game!

Even though there was plenty of sadness on our trip to Michigan, there were so many great moments and fun surprises. One of the surprises was that Michelle and Cindy had gotten tickets for the New England Patriots vs. Detroit Lions pre-season game! Fortunately, Cindy let me in on the surprise so I could (sneak-ily) pack our Patriots Jerseys.

Josh, Logan & Dalton

There were 8 tickets, so Josh, me, Joe, Michelle, Larry, Eric, Dalton and Logan were the lucky eight! While Josh and I enjoyed an adult night out, Dylan spent the night hanging out with Grandma Cindy, Aunt Marlene, and his beautiful cousins (Morgan, Meredith & Mallory). It was a win-win for everyone. I think we all had a really fun night!

Michelle and I sat next to each other and sported our competing quarterback jerseys!

Anika & Michelle

I couldn't resist a photo of my with my tall & handsome nephews:

Dalton, Anika & Logan

Our seats were amazing. We were about 20-some rows up on the 35-yard line. It was my first time at Ford Field (only my second pro football game). I admittedly may have had a tiny bit too much beer and cheered a little too exuberantly for Rob Gronkowski (at least Josh didn't mind...he was cheering long with me), but I had a blast!! Go Patriots!

2 of Dalton’s Football Games & 1 of Meredith Cheering!

We managed to squeeze in several football games while we were in Michigan - Mancelona Ironmen Football and Comets cheerleading!

Josh’s oldest nephew, Dalton, is currently a Junior at Mancelona High School. He is also a major football stud! We were able to see two of his games while were there. I know it meant a lot to Josh to be there cheering him on. And Dylan got to experience his first ‘live’ football game!

Watching Cousin Dalton

Dylan was actually pretty amazed at all the action. He sat in Josh’s lap watching for an entire quarter. And he was right on queue clapping and cheering with the rest of the fans. He really liked clapping along to the fight song. I think the flag girls twirling around those huge flags helped too!

Unfortunately, there was about an hour of lightning delays (even though it only sprinkled rain on us and the lightning was far away). So we had to keep the kid occupied while there was nothing exciting to watch on the field!

Josh and I took him down on the grass in front of the bleachers and let him run around and burn off some of his energy. He had a blast! But between the two game delays and the running around, he didn’t make it through the whole game. Josh ended up carrying a sleeping (and drooling) baby on his shoulder during the last quarter of the game while he followed the team up and down the field.

Daddy, Dalton & Cousin Dalton

But I think we were good luck, because Mancelona won both of the games we attended. And they are still rocking that winning streak. Yay! I was such a proud Aunt up in the bleachers. It’s thanks to Josh that I get to call myself Aunt Anika and have such amazing Nieces and Nephews.

Cousins Meredith & Mallory

Over one of the weekends, we headed down to the Detroit area to visit the family that wasn’t ‘up North.’ When we rolled into town, we met up with the Luttrell Family to watch Meredith cheer at a John Glenn Comets game. We just missed Mallory’s game, so we didn’t get to see her do her magic. But I think Dylan was happy she wasn’t cheering because he was all about the hugs & kisses for his Cousin Mallory!

I think Dylan is getting used to the cheering from the bleachers thing!

Another nephew, Logan, is quite the football stud too! Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see him play this time. But, hopefully (since he is a Freshman this year), we will be able to see him play in the future.

I am so happy that we got to be there to support of our nieces and nephews. I really hope that we can get back there again and cheer on the rest of them doing their thing. We are so lucky to have such amazing young people in our lives. I couldn't be prouder of all of them. I met them all almost seven years ago, and I have loved all of them since then. Dalton, Morgan, Logan, Meredith and Mallory are all such amazing spirits. I am so blessed to be their Aunt Anika. 

Anika, Josh & Dylan at the Comets Game