Skating with the Big Boys

As soon as Finn sees the snowflakes falling, he wants to shovel.  Never mind that it makes more sense to shovel AFTER it stops snowing!  So, here we are in this picture shoveling in a snowstorm.

Up close to the action

Rooting for the gophers

Minnesota Gopher Hockey game with our buddy Jack on the far left

Mariucci Arena

That's A LOT of ice cream!

Aiden and his buddy Mark on the bench before they skated

Getting to meet the high school hockey players and give a fist bump before the game

Future Star-Aiden Carrithers

Aiden and his Mite One teammates getting ready to skate

National Anthem

Aiden's team is in the background watching warm ups

We had a big snow storm this week so there was lots of snow to play in at our house.  Not surprisingly, schools remained open and the boys were a bit disappointed.   Over the last 8 years that we have lived in MN, I can only remember seeing the schools close once due to snow and three times due to dangerously cold windchills of like -50 degrees.  I think we have a better chance of missing school due to super cold temperatures than snow accumulation since MN is relatively efficient at clearing the roads.

The boys had the awesome opportunity to see a Gopher hockey game over the weekend.  A very generous neighbor offered us their hockey seats for Saturday night.  Their daughter has been doing some babysitting for us and the boys love her.  They had nearly front row seats right behind the net so they got to see a lot of action and had an awesome time.

Lastly, I know I have said this before, but Minnesota does a fantastic job promoting the sport of hockey and developing kids at a young age to play the sport.  The boys really admire the older kids (aka "the BIG BOYS") who play hockey.  Aiden's team of kindergarteners recently had the opportunity to skate with the high school kids in the city where we live.  These kids look gigantic compared to Aiden and his teammates.  They were announced with the team and even got to play a small game at intermission.  Aiden thought it was so cool and talked about it all night.  He gave us the play by play of the game including when he saved a puck from going out of bounds and exactly which teammates scored, etc...Definitely was a memorable experience for Aiden!