Happy 19 Months to Nolan today! I'll be wrapping up his 18 month post shortly, but first need to re-cap our recent trip to Penn State and Nolan's second Halloween :)
We traveled to State College, PA in mid-October for the Second Varsity Women's Hockey Alumni Weekend and to attend the first ever Women's Hockey game in the brand new Pegula Ice Arena! To say I was excited for this trip was an understatement. We had always been told that the men's and women's club hockey teams were being readied to make the move to varsity, so to see it happen 10 years later is so amazing! The club team has been included as part of the program's history and is honored both in the arena and at the All Sports Museum in Beaver Stadium.
We arrived at Penn State Friday evening after dropping Dean off at Joe's parents house. We headed straight to the game (we were late due to traffic). It was past Nolan's bedtime and he was sleeping in the car. Joe didn't want to disturb him so he relaxed in the car while I headed in to catch the 3rd period. Penn State lost to Union in a close one, but it was amazing to see the huge crowd in attendance to a women's game (nearly 2000 people!) and feel the electricity in the place with the blue band and lion mascot in attendance. After the game, we checked into the Nittany Lion Inn, put Nolan down and I headed out to Cafe 210 to hang out with my old teammates. It was such a fun time!
 |
| Singing the alma mater after the game |
On Saturday, we got up and headed to our favorite place to eat in State College - the Waffle Shop! After a delicious breakfast, we walked around downtown and did some shopping to stock up on more Penn State merchandise (Nolan had grown out of most of his PSU stuff!) and then wandered over to the Nittany Lion Shrine to get some family photos. We now have photos there together after college graduation, the weekend after our wedding, and when Nolan was
9 months (0 years old) and 18 months (1 year old) - we'd love to make it a yearly tradition! :)
 |
| Our Penn State Family - 2013 |
 |
| Last year - Nolan at 9 Months |
Next we headed to the Pegula Ice Arena for our packed hockey schedule - first up - a tour of the brand new arena! Last alumni weekend in February,
we got to tour the construction site so it was so cool to see the final product. Everyone's favorite part was seeing the locker room and all the cool facilities the women on the team have access to!
 |
| Head Coach Brandwene giving the tour |
 |
| What's THAT?! In the women's locker room |
 |
| Women's Locker Room with glowing Nittany Lion Logo |
 |
| Nolan loved the tour! |
After the tour, Joe took Nolan for a drive around the area so he could nap (which he did immediately!) and my teammates and I wondered around the arena before the Women's game started.
 |
| Pre-game warm-up. Game 2 vs Union |
The arena has an awesome section devoted to the history of the program. It has a big touch screen in which you can pull up any year and it will show you photos (we submitted!) of the team! There is also a large display box with some of our old team photos and trophies as well as a piece of the boards from (the old) Greenburg Ice Arena that I signed last year.
 |
| Our alumni playing with the interactive history wall |
 |
| My teammate Katie pointing to her name on the boards from the old arena |
 |
| Can you find my name on the wall? |
I had the chance to play with the screen a bit and it was so cool to find some photos of me there! Of course I had to capture the moment with a photo :)
 |
| That's ME! :) |
We headed back to our seats for the game, and had a lot of time to chat and catch up with my teammates. Joe and Nolan made it back in time to watch as we were honored on the ice between the 2nd and 3rd periods as past alumni of the team. It melted my heart to see Nolan in the stands clapping an my name was announced - such a cutie!
 |
| Heading out on the ice |
 |
| The whole gang! |
Penn State played a great game and won! It was great to see their first home win in the new arena. After the game, we all headed down to the locker rooms to get suited up for the alumni game!! It was absolutely amazing to get to play in the brand new arena. The ice was fabulous and the company was the best. The mood was very playful during the game and we had blast. I felt in better shape than last time and even had a breakaway top shelf goal on my old goaltender :)
 |
| Picture with teammates Steph and Katie before the game |
Nolan was a bit confused with me wearing a mask. He was a bit scared at first, but then was fascinated and trying to pull it off.
 |
| What is that on your head Mama? |
 |
| An action shot! I'm #20 in blue |
Post game we had some time to goof around on the ice and take lots of photos!
 |
| Me and (most of) my teammates in attendance from when I played - Faryn, Kate, Alex, Katie, Steph, and I |
 |
| Everyone who played! |
 |
| Faryn and I with our babies :) |
 |
| Our group with 3 babies - future hockey players! |
 |
| Our fam! |
 |
| Future hockey player! |
 |
| He loved wearing the mask :) |
After our game, we had a catered dinner upstairs in the club area of the arena then I headed out for one more night on the town with the girls. I'm very thankful for Joe to hold down the fort with Nolan both nights - I owe him! Maybe next year we'll take the grandparents and both get to go out. We went to a new bar called "Clover" which was more of a nicer speakeasy and had a really great time.
No comments:
Post a Comment