Super Bowl XLVIII

I am still in shock that the Seahawks won the Super Bowl.  Nathan figured out how to to cheer, "Go Seahawks," pretty early in the season.  I knew even before they won that I wanted to be sure I went to the victory parade.  Nathan has also been talking about going to a parade for the last couple months.  He remembers the 4th of July parade we attended in the summer and after we watched the Rose Parade on TV he was ready to go to another one soon.  

I took a personal day and Aunt Jenn called in sick and we headed north to Seattle at 7:30 on the day of the parade.  I knew it would be a crowd filled day, but I had no expectation for how many people would come out to support and celebrate the big victory.  

The day was really a test of patience and of waiting in lines.  It all started when traffic started to slow in Tacoma.  As we looked around seemingly every car was filled with someone in Seahawk colors.  We had decided to park in Seatac and take the light rail into the city.  We were not prepared for the wait.  When we arrived the line to get tickets stretched over half a block just from the stairs to get to the overpass to get to the station.  We waited two hours to catch a train.  In doing so we were tempted to take a cab, turn around and go home, but decided to stick it out.  It was cold, but just about everyone was in good spirits and despite still waiting for a train, at 12:12 we cheered like crazy from the platform for the Seahawks.  

Once we got downtown, we decided to quickly head straight to Safeco Field where we had tickets to watch the ceremony for season ticket holders in the CLINK on the big screen in the baseball stadium.    It was nice to have a place to sit and watch some of the parade, but by this time Nathan was cold and hungry and it was nap time.  He seemed to do best when we were moving so we didn't stay too long.

It was so cold all day long.  Temperatures were in the 20's and the wind was fierce.  In a typical dad move I forgot Nathan's gloves at home, but we were lucky to have hand warmers for his pockets and several people offered to give us more hand warmers as well.  Nathan was a real trooper, and would admit that he was cold when asked, but never complained and seemed to handle it well.  

We never really got too close to the actual parade, there were just too many people.  I can't quite describe the shear number of people downtown.  Original estimates were for 300,000 people, but by the end of the day estimates were in the 750,000 range.  Everywhere we went was wall to wall people.  The only other place I have ever been that would be close to this amount of people is walking the streets of New York City, where I was also amazed at the shear number of people all the time.  However the density of the people in such a small area was truly amazing.  I can't imagine ever being anywhere again with that many people in such a small space.

Because of all the crowds, Nathan had to be carried much of the time.  Since he is almost 40 lbs this had quite the tiring effect on both Jenn and I.  I could feel it in my arms the next day.  Nathan for his part was amazing.  He was in good spirits almost all day.  There were a few times when his 2 1/2 year old independence streak cam out and he requested to walk on his own when it just wasn't safe for him to do so, but once he understood what was going on then he would be fine.  Every single time we asked him if he was having fun, he answered in the affirmative.  He was a bit bummed he didn't see much of the actual parade, but the train rides made up for it.  

After watching a bit of the ceremony and warming up in a nearby office building we decided to head home.  Unfortunately our timing was terrible and we decided to leave a few minutes too late and left just as the CLINK ceremony was ending.  Trains were packed and we were tired.  It was approaching 5:00pm and we had a couple hours to wait just to get on the train to return to our car and drive another 3 hours home.  Luckily, Erin's dad, Dave who is a Seattle police officer, was just getting  getting done with his shift on crowd control for the event and was able to rescue us from our long wait and deliver us to our car.  Nate was so glad to see Grandpa that he quickly fell asleep in the car on the way back to our car.  

We finally arrived home at about 9:30pm.  It was quite a day, and I am still debating whether it was worth it or not.  We kept telling Nathan that we were having an adventure, which is a new word he is learning, and that we did.  It was definitely an experience and I am glad to say that I was able to participate in the celebration of the team's first Super Bowl victory.  I hope Nathan will remember the experience and be able to tell his kids all about it.  

The day was so crazy and hectic I barely took any pictures and the ones I did take were only on my phone:  

This is the line to get to the train.  

Waiting for the train.  We met a ton nice people who were all members of the 12th man.  

More waiting. More crowds.

These are escalators that should have been moving.  At one point we had to change Nathan's diaper on the train platform in the cold.  

Finally we got to Safeco.  Nathan who remembers running around the bases the last time we were here, kept asking to go on the field and I had to explain to him that we may not get to do that every time.  

The sun was out, but it was still bitterly cold.

Nathan was running and active right up until we got into the car, where he quickly conked out.