Family Weekend

I just got back from a fun weekend in Minnesota and boy am I tired!  Jeff plays lacrosse for the Minnesota Swarm and this weekend was their last home game before playoffs start!  The team arranged some activities for all the family members that came out which was really nice!  

Last year, Jeff played in Toronto which is very close to home for him.  They won the Championship game in May and everything was great!  

Then in September, as I was relaxing on the last day of my Hawaiian vacation with some girlfriends, I get a call saying he had been traded.  To Minnesota!  

I was sad for Jeff because Toronto was the only team he has played for, and they just won it all and  now he would no longer be part of that team.  And since Pittsburgh is a lot closer to Toronto than Minnesota, I got to go to most of his games before.  Not anymore!  And I know he had to be bummed, but its a business and no one stays on the same team forever!  

So off he went to Minnesota.  Flying back and forth every week!  In Toronto, there were a lot of older guys, most were married with kids.  In Minnesota, it was a much younger team with only one other guy being married.  So Jeff got to take on more of a leadership role and was a veteran on the team.  That was great for him, and he got to be the Assistant Captain quite a few times (they change them every game)!

I have gone out to Minnesota only one other time this year, so I was excited about going out for Family Weekend.  I flew out Friday, rented a car and went to the hotel to take a quick nap because I was tired from my early morning.  

That night, a bus picked us all up at the hotel and we went to pick the guys up from their practice.  We then went to a banquet and dinner.  After we ate, they gave out awards and Jeff won 3 awards!  He won for Most loose balls, Most forced turnovers and Defensive Player of the Year!  It was so nice to see him recognized for all those things because when you are on defense, you don't get noticed like the offense does!  

Here we are at the end of the banquet.

 Yes... I painted my nails yellow and blue!  Swarm colors!!

The next morning, bright and early (6:45!) all the ladies got on a bus and headed to the spa for breakfast and services!  We got to choose between a facial, massage, manicure and pedicure.  Then everyone got their hair done!  We were supposed to get our makeup done... but that never happened?!  Not sure why, but there were so many of us that we would have been there forever if we had that done too!  

I got a facial.  I had never had one before, and I figured if I was getting something done for free, I wanted to try something that I had never done before!  I figured it might be a quick little facial, but no!  It was a nice hour long facial/massage!  Oh my gosh... I LOVED it!  I already told Jeff that I will probably have to have more done!  :-)  

Most of the morning appointments were taken up by our group, but there were a few other customers there and they probably hated us!  We were a bit loud for the relaxation room of the spa!  Oh well... it's the official salon and spa for the team (the cheerleaders mainly, but they always give away a gift certificate at every game) so I'm sure they weren't too mad... after all, they probably made a ton of money from all the ladies there (the team paid for everything for us... even the tips!  So nice!!).

Then, it was a quick lunch and nap after we got back and then off to the game!  Our bus took us under the stadium and dropped us off where the players get dropped off!  Pretty cool... I have never been driven under a stadium before!

Then, we made our way up to out suite!

All the family went down on the floor to high five the players as they were announced.  Again... pretty cool since I have never done that before!!

Oh yea... I did a quick wardrobe change since I finally got a Swarm t shirt!

The Swarm always plays the song Warriors by Santiago x The Natural, and they came to perform it at the beginning of the game!  So cool!  You can buy their song on iTunes!!  I did :-)  

And I got my picture with them after we left the floor!  Really nice guys!

View from our suite.  

There's my boy on the floor!!  

Now I know the next picture is all blurry and weird, but it was one of his teammate's daughters birthday so they put us on the jumbo-tron and if you look closely, you can see me right above "Happy" holding up my camera.  The girl turned 5 so it was so cool for her to hear them announce that it was her birthday and to see us up there on the jumbo-tron!

Yay!  They won.... 16-13!  They beat Colorado, and now next weekend the Swarm will head to Colorado for the first round of the playoffs.  So let's hope they can pull out another win!  The game will be on the CBS Sports Channel at 7:30pm Eastern time Saturday in case anyone wants to watch and cheer on the Swarm!

After the game, all the guys signed autographs for the fans.  It's so fun to see these kids (and adults!) so happy that my husband signed something for them!  

Then it was finally MY turn for a picture with my hunny!  

Then, we headed out to celebrate the win!  

Then, I had to leave Sunday.  Luckily my flight wasn't until 2pm so I got to sleep in!  

It was such a nice weekend and the Swarm owners were so kind to all of us.  It's nice to be part of an organization that really cares about their players and families!  The last team he was on didn't even have a banquet when they won the whole championship!  

I am glad to have today to rest because we were on the go all weekend long!  

Sadly... I didn't go to the Mall of America!  I saw it twice, but I didn't have a ton of time and I only had a carry on that was pretty full already, so I didn't want to buy too much.  Oh well... maybe next time because I do love to shop!!