Dave and I were so fortunate to have been able to go to the SuperBowl 8 years ago in Miami, thinking it was a once in a lifetime opportunity! Last minute, my dad was able to secure two extra tickets to the game (My brother Brian and his girlfriend Hollie were going to go with his original two) and my dad invited us to come as well! Nani graciously offered to take off work and babysit for 3(!!!) days so we would be able to attend.
Saturday morning we dropped the kiddos off at Nani's and hit the road for Arizona. I'm not sure who was more excited: us, our kids or Nani :) I think it was a win-win-win.
We made it there in about 5 1/2 hours, which was great timing! We hit some rain for the last 3 hours and were worried that it woudl be a repeat of Miami (where it poured on us all game) but thankfully it cleared up once we arrived.
We headed over to my dads hotel (less than 1 mile from the stadium) to meet up with Brian and HOllie since they were staying with him and then made our way to the stadium to see my dad!
Having fun while waiting :)
We're here... kidless :)
We saw Poppa briefly but he was pretty busy with putting out last minute fires so we let him get back to work and saw him later that evening for dinner.
Sunday morning we headed over to the hotel, about 10 a.m., to make our way over to the stadium. My dad was able to get us into the NFL Tailgate Party which started at 12:30 so we wanted to be there in time for that and didn't want to mess with traffic.
We walked through the Westgate plaza which was hopping - bars were charging $200 cover just to get in and watch the game... and there was a line of people waiting - football fans are crazy :)
We made it into the tailgate with no issues and I wish I took more pics of the actual party. I think it's pretty safe to say that we will never attend a party/event like this again. The decor, music, drinks, food stations, etc is simply incredible. I told my dad I wish I could see the event breakdown for costs. It takes them 3 weeks to set up the 'complex' just for the tailgate.
Verizon was a sponsor and they had charging station belly bars set up in the tents - this was early on in the day, By the end, there were no chargers left and people were crowded around these tables trying to charge their phones.
Dierks Bentley!
Brian, Hollie, Laura & Dave at the tailgate
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After the tailgate we headed into the stadium. Look who we ran into :)
My dad wanted to take a picture of the 4 of us... but we wanted him in the photo, too. He said his shadow made it in.
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SuperBowl XLIX
ASU Band for pregame
Brother - Sister!
Brian & Hollie
Our seats were great and the stadium was SO nice - amazing compared to Qualcomm in San Diego.
Setting up for halftime - this was quite a production!!
Know who the halftime sponsor was?!?
Katy Perry was AH-mazing!!
The game was pretty AH-mazing, too! Patriots won in the last seconds - 28 - 24.
This may be my favorite picture from the entire weekend. My dad, who has worked 10+ hour days for who knows how long, is unloading bike racks prior to the trophy presentation. Why? Because it had to get done, he's a hard worker, and no job is too small for him. Mind you, I was a little mad since he just had shoulder surgery over the summer but you gotta do what you gotta do :)
Well, I take it back. This may be my favorite picture from the weekend. Morning morning we drove to see Gram D and then hit the road back to San Diego. We made it back around 5 p.m. and we got to see these 3 :)
I don't think Nani stopped working/playing from the time we dropped them off until we picked them up. They went to the playground, Starbucks, farmers market, went on a train ride, made brownie, read lots and lots of books, built with blocks...
AND... I came home with a suitcase full of clean clothes for the kids. Nani, you are simply amazing and this wouldn't have been possible without you!
We are so incredibly grateful for this amazing opportunity we had!!
