An Early Valentine's Gift ...

As said before, I had a big surprise planned for Scott for Valentines Day. Since Scott has been traveling so much, it was a lot easier and FUN to plan. Here is how our date went ...

Saturday, February 7, 2009 I flew Scott home from Los Angeles and picked him up at the airport at 3:00pm. Of course, as soon as he got in the car he asked "where are we going?". I told him it was not time to tell ... so we went to an early dinner. Before we got out of the car at the restaurant, I gave Scott his present ...

(tickets to the Carolina vs Phoenix game that night)

We ate at Maria Maria, a restaurant owned my Carlos Santana (the musician) and enjoyed the beautiful weather by sitting on the patio, in the sun, almost entirely by ourselves (that's is what you get when you eat dinner at 3:45pm).

Then off to Glendale we went, to the Carolina Hurricanes vs Phoenix Coyotes NHL Hockey game ... a good 40 minute drive. Now, for those who don't know already, we are huge hockey fans and the Carolina Hurricanes are OUR team. We were engaged at a Carolina Hurricanes game, so this was a night to be almost as special as that ... almost! Needless to say, we were pulling for Carolina to win.

We got there and walked around the arena before the gates opened. We met a lot of fans of Carolina who flew in from Raleigh just for this game ... what great fans the Hurricanes have! Then when the opened the gates, we went in and stood down at the ice to watch the players warm up. We were standing right by the tunnel where the players come out, so we got to see them up close and get a couple good shots of them warming up. It brought back so many good memories of all the old games we used to go to in Raleigh ... for those of you who know this man ... we even saw Tripp Tracy, the broadcaster from Raleigh.

(Eric Staal, coming out to warm up)

(again, Eric Staal)

(Cam Ward, the goalie ... Scott got this picture for me, he knows I have a thing for all the goalies)

Then the game started ... we had seats about 8 rows off the ice, down where Carolina shot twice. By the third, we moved down to the first row and sat directly behind the goalie and got to see Carolina score some goals ... it was awesome.

(face off)

(this is how close we were, once we moved seats to the glass ... it was so cool)

(what is a hockey game without a fight)

(We were so excited to catch this picture ... you can see the puck in the net, right above the goalies skate)

(Final score ... Carolina 7, Phoenix 2 ... GREAT GAME FOR US!)

After the game, we went home and to bed. The girls woke up very early and were SO EXCITED to see that Daddy was home. They did not even say good morning to me, they were all over Dad! Scott said that this was an awesome present, he could not have asked for anything more fun and exciting. We went to lunch with Scott on Sunday and then took him back to the airport ... we were all so sad to see him go again, but we will see him next weekend.

My Valentine's gift to Scott was a big success ... it stayed a surprise and he was beyond excited. I am proud of myself! Thanks for sharing it with us!