Max's Birthday

Max celebrated his birthday with his friends ... and for the first time, he actually got to celebrate his birthday with his friends ON his birthday.  Usually we have to celebrate it a week or two before ... or as with last year, a month later ... as many of his friends scatter to be with family for Christmas.  As it turned out, yesterday was the last day of school ... so what better way to celebrate the last day of school AND Max's birthday AND the end of the world (according to some misguided Mayans ... also interesting to note: for those doomsdayers that thought today was going to be the end of time, is it coincidence that as they emerged from their bunkers and saw their shadow ... six more weeks till Groundhog Day!!!!) ... A sleepover at our house!!!! 

We hosted six of Max's friends.  Unfortunately, rain forced them inside earlier than expected, but that just meant they could come inside and torment big brother Charlie.  Have you ever seen a pack of hyenas take on a lone lion ... that's what it was like ... Charlie could hold them off one at a time, but when the pack attacked together, he cowered in defeat.

The best Birthday present for Max, though, by far, was the presence of his mom ... Shelly came home from Orlando after over a month.  Shelly's dad, Jim, had successful surgery on his liver two weeks ago and also returned home on Max's birthday.  What a welcome home for mom!  10 boys eagerly awaiting pizza, cake, and ice cream.

Above and below ... the pack circling dessert after feasting on Charlie (notice, he's not pictured anywhere ... oh, my, where's Will?  They must have gotten him, too!!!)

Max, prolonging the wait with a monologue on why the San Diego Chargers are actually better than what their record would indicate.

Charlie Boy

A certain reader of this blog complained about the lack of pictures of Charlie.  Here's a few reasons:
1. He is almost as tall as I am
2. His voice is deeper than mine
3. He calls me "old man"

Here is his normal position when I am having an important conversation with him ...

 As soon as I mention girls, he perks up ...

Actually, Charlie takes a lot of pictures with our main camera.  Thus, that's why he is rarely on the other side.  Shelly supplied these photos from her phone.  Charlie, here, in front of a small waterfall near Lake Michigan in Milwaukee on our trip this summer.

The gang in front of Lake Michigan. 

We're still around ...

Sorry for the long delay between posts.  Wow, we skipped all of November.  I have to say, I was pretty excited about the Giants winning the World Series again (just a tad less full of "torture" than in 2010).

As the boys grow, I realize that they don't do anything cute anymore.  No gnawing on the dining room table, no chasing butterflies, no putting on mommy's make-up (wait a minute, I still do that myself).  Regardless, followers just want to see the boys. 

Max is approaching 9 years old (hint, hint).  This weekend, I told the boys that we needed to clean the cars out - Mom's and Dad's - fully ... vacuum, interior cleaning, and complete wash.  Groans, groans, groans.  According to Will, weekend's are NOT for cleaning and that I'm RUINING the fun of weekends!!!  Trying to divvy up all the responsibilities, I told Max that I wanted him to start by vacuuming my car.  "Then, what?", he asked ... looking to negotiate the least amount of work in the day.  I responded, "If you do a good job, you can then sweep the garage ... if not, you'll have to vacuum Mom's car, too".  Completely matter-of-factly, he replies, "Dad, that doesn't make any sense at all ... if I do a great job, don't you WANT me to vacuum Mom's car?  If I did a bad job, then why would you want me to vacuum another car?"  He added, "Parents ...  can't figure them out!"

So I grounded him and vacuumed both cars myself.  That will team him!

 Max dancing ...

Halloween was kind of odd here.  Usually, there's a pretty good build-up to it with anticipation.  I think since Shelly bought the mammoth pack of candies from Costco a few weeks earlier ... and we had already gone through all of it (except for the Almond Joy's and Costco's version of a peanut butter cup that was really awful ... and took up half the bag) the lure of trick or treating was lessened. 

Charlie went with a group of friends - mostly to go to the houses of girls they knew; realize that they were not there; hang outside their house kind of creepily; text the girls; text their friends next to them; text the girls about texting their friends; etc. 

Will  had one of those Halloweens we've all had.  He had a great idea ... he was going to be "Fork in the road".  Essentially, a black shirt with lane markers and a plastic fork taped at the intersection.  Brilliant.  Simple.  Easy to wear.  No explanation.  Perfect ... until Halloween night ... when he put it on and thought he looked stupid.  So then we spend the next two hours trying out all other types of costume ideas and he ends up dressing as ... a baseball player.  I'd laugh, but I've been there, too!

Max wanted to be a weird, scary guy ... but we didn't having any dress robes for him to dress like Patrick.  Ha, ha!

Fall in North Carolina ... I ruined another "perfectly good weekend" (according to Will) by making the boys rake all the leaves!

Will ... showing his support for the first place 49ers!  He's so young ... doesn't he know that NO ONE uses a cell phone to make calls anymore!

Thanksgiving visit to Florida

Will, with cousin Liam

Six grandsons of the Cullinan's ... from left to right ... Liam, Will, Eli, TJ, Max, and Charlie

Granddaddy with Liam

 Eli (left) and Liam on the piano

On a serious note, after our visit to Florida for Thanksgiving, I drove home with the boys and left Shelly behind.  Her dad, Jim, was to undergo a procedure and surgery to remove a cancerous piece of his liver.  The procedure took place on the Monday after Thanksgiving ... to look for any other signs of cancer.  Nothing else was found, thankfully.  After further discussion, his doctors recommended that they perform surgery to remove the cancer.  This past Monday, he entered the hospital to start receiving treatment in preparation for surgery on Friday (Dec 7th).  The surgery was successful!  He will remain in the hospital for several more days as he recovers. 

In the meantime, I've been doing the Mr. Mom thing at home - with complete respect to all those single parents out there that have to manage a family and work at the same time.  The boys have been supportive and have enjoyed the experience, but clearly, we miss our Shelly. 

Depending on Jim's recovery, we'll either drive down to Florida for Christmas and we'll all drive home together before the New Year - or - if the thought of hosting three (or four) rambunctious boys while trying to fully recuperate is too much, we might have Shelly fly home for Christmas.

Secret Trip - Game

With about 30 minutes before kickoff, we were asked to leave the field-level area and go to our seats.  We had just enough time to find a place to eat, order some dogs and chicken fingers and drinks, then go find our seats.  WOW!  What seats!  Right on the 50 yard line, twenty rows up.  With food in hand, we got to our seats as they were introducing the Packers ... then the National Anthem ... followed by a flyover of military jets (probably the most awesome sight ... seeing jets fly over the stadium and hear their roar as they dart into the distance.  One time, at a Jacksonville Jaguar game years ago, I saw a Stealth Bomber do a fly-by ... absolutely the most amazing sight and sound ever ... one giant plane leaving one huge impression on 75,000 people).

Do you know why they are called the Packers?  Something to do with meat-packing ... but really, it's how they pack their fans into the stadium.  Remember those aluminum bleachers I was talking about in the previous blog post ... no seats (unless in the suites), just benches ... and these benches were designed for fans 70 years ago, not the modern day girth of fans like ... well, like me.  Apparently, fans 70 years ago didn't have legs, either, as there was minimal leg room between yourself and the fan's back sitting in front of you.  By far, the most uncomfortable three hours of football watching in my life.

Ahh, but the joy of watching the 49ers win.  What a great game!  Some pictures (only took a few at the end of the game because it was so cramped, I didn't want to pull out my camera without fear of someone spilling something all over us).

 Final play for the Packers ... 4th and a long way to go ... under a minute to go

 Pressure from the corner causes an errant pass, which falls incomplete down the far right sideline

Victory Formation ... last snap to win the game!

Visual evidence as the clock counts down for a 49er Victory!

Secret Trip - Game Day - Pregame Festivities

Game Day ... one restriction we had on our visit to Green Bay was that we only received four tickets for the game.  Counting ... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ... hmm, there's five of us.  One of us will have to miss the game.  Max, do you want to stay at the hotel?  (As a matter of fact, his answer was "yes" as he is not a big fan of fireworks ... and most sporting events launch fireworks after the National Anthem or after a big score.  I had to convince him (not knowing for sure) that there would be no fireworks).  Shelly raised her hand right away and took one for the team.  "I'll just go shopping!!!"  (After she dropped us off at the stadium, I called my credit card company and told them my wallet was stolen while in Green Bay and asked them to deny all charges for the day.  Ha!  That would have been great if I actually did, but I wanted to get back to North Carolina in one piece and thought better of it).

So it was boys day out at the football stadium.  We arrived really early and walked around the parking lot and took in some of the pre-game festivities around the outside of the stadium.  Lots of excited fans looking forward to football season finally starting up for real ... on a gorgeous September afternoon. 

Outside the main entrance, we saw Kenny Mayne from ESPN.  He was filming a segment and was moving from location to location.  I told the boys to walk by and say really loud, "Hey, it's Dan Patrick.  Dad, dad ... can we get our picture taken with Dan Patrick?"  (Note: Dan Patrick is another ESPN personality).  Either the boys didn't say it loud enough, or Kenny was not amused and paid no attention to our tom-foolery.

Kenny Mayne (Grey shirt, sunglasses) outside the main entrance, trying to do his job.

A great part of the experience for the weekend was receiving field passes for pre-game warm-ups.  Well, not really field passes ... but field level, on the perimeter of the field ... which was pretty awesome, too! 

I had Charlie taking pictures ... and he took about 400 or so, while we were field-level ... but most were of players backs.  It would go like this ... "Hey, there's Frank Gore"  "Where?"  "Over there"  By that time, Frank has passed and walking away from us, but we got a great shot of his back!

The tough part during most of warm-ups is that the players did not have their uniforms on, so we didn't know who was who.   After a bit, I told Charlie to just take pictures of their front and we'll figure it out later by trying to match faces from the 49er website to our pictures. 

Charlie did a great job ... and when we passed the camera to Will and Max, you'll see what drew their interest (see below).  One thing to notice in the background ... scroll down to my previous blog post when we did the tour of the stadium the day before the game.  You'll notice the stands are metal bleacher seats.  In the pictures on game day, it looks like the stands are green or gold seats.  The Packers were giving away t-shirts on game day and placed them on each seat.  Everyone was supposed to put them on for a Tide commercial.  We saw them putting them down the day before ... then it rained Saturday night ... by game time, they were nearly dry, but we were already wearing green (our section was green t-shirts), so we didn't bother to put them on.

Colin Kaepernick, 49ers backup QB, greeting some friends in the stands

Vernon Davis, Tight End for the 49ers, had gold-bottom cleats.  Flashy!

David Akers, Kicker for the 49ers, warming up.  He kicked an NFL tying record 63 yard field goal just before halftime of the game.  I was pretty neutral throughout the game, but when that kick went through, I think I squealed like a girl and the folks around us figured out that we were 49er fans dressed in Packer green.  

 Max with the camera ... "Hey, Max, there's Alex Smith ... get a picture of Alex Smith ... what are you looking at? ... oh, okay ... make sure to get her friend, too.  Oh, and don't tell Mom"

This is funny ... while Will was taking a picture of the cheerleaders, walking past us was the owner of the 49ers, John York (front, left)

 Max was pretty impressed with the teamwork and practice of these cheerleaders.  If interested, we have about 200 more photos of them to share.

 Admittedly, I thought this was the owners son, Jed York when we took this picture.  But it is 49ers General Manager Trent Baalke.  Nice guy, too.

 Will:  "OK, on this one, signal a first down while grabbing your leg with your other hand"

 Backup QB Colin Kaepernick warming up

 49er head coach Jim Harbaugh actively participating in warm-ups with his QBs catching passes

 You know the replacement ref that missed the three clipping calls on the punt return by Green Bay during the game ... neither do we ... but we have your picture, dude.

 Field side with the boys

 Aaron Rodgers (Cal alum) and Donald Driver during warm-ups

 We asked a guy to take our picture ... this was the best of six pictures he took.  Two of them didn't have Max in them, and the other three were of my shoes.  Nice guy though.  

Boyz to Men sang the National Anthem.  I asked them if they were Green Bay Packer fans.  Their response was less than convincing (notice, no Packer gear).  Asked them if they've ever been to Green Bay before.  Nope.  I was going to ask them, "What are you doing here, then?", but I think I had already figured out that answer.

Secret Trip - Meet Coach McCarthy

One of the highlights, and perhaps the most surprising aspect of our surprise trip, was the opportunity to meet with Coach McCarthy.  In meeting with his assistant, Lisa, the day before, she gave us an idea of what would happen.

After touring the Packers Hall of Fame and touring the field and expanses of the stadium, we were all set to meet with Coach.

Now consider this.  Here he is ... one of 32 NFL head coaches ... the day before the first game of the season, playing against one of the most formidable opponents on his schedule, and he's going to spend some time with a family from North Carolina!  I love this country!

Lisa led us upstairs to the offices.  The fifth floor is where the General Manager and other executives work - along with administrative functions (accounting, marketing, procurement, etc.).  The fourth floor is where all the coaches have offices.  As we got off the elevator, Lisa gave us the lay of the land ... with coaches offices along the perimeter of the building - defensive down one way; offensive down the other way, with meeting rooms in the interior spaces.  As we walked down the offensive coaches hall towards Coach's office, all doors were open, and many of the coaches had their young children in their office ... and for a few hours, they were Dad.

Lisa checked to see if Coach was ready and led us into his office - which was split into two areas ... his desk with a couple of chairs for conversations there ... and a sitting area with four comfortable chairs and a small sofa.  He greeted us warmly and directed us to the comfortable area.  And we just chatted.  Very down to earth.  Inquisitive of the boys interests.  Related to us about his own two young boys.

The first thing I said, beyond thanking him for his time, was that I was a 49er fan ... but when in Rome, you wear a toga ... thus, my wearing of Packer gear.  We discussed Charlie and Will's interest in the Packers ... and Max's strident interest in the Chargers.  Shelly was pretty shocked that I came out with all this "my blood is red and gold", but as a lifelong Steeler fan, he could relate.

A couple days before, when we first arrived in Green Bay, I asked each of the boys to write down five questions they wanted to ask Coach.  Charlie moaned ... "Ughhh ... homework!"  Max and Will were a bit more concentrated and took to the task.  I knew it would be helpful to put their thoughts together ahead of time, because as we sat there - they were in complete, astonished, pinch-me, stunned silence.

They were able to remember a question or two that they had written down and asked the coach.  I didn't want to turn it into twenty questions, so I tried to conclude the get-together with one final question.  I asked him for his thoughts on the idea of preparedness ... and that at a young age, it takes the form of homework assignments and projects ... but as an NFL Coach, it takes the form of studying for months, reviewing film, designing plays and game-plans, getting the players physically ready, etc.  They just didn't show up on Sunday and draw plays in the grass in the huddle.  This question really struck a chord for the Coach.  Clearly, in his mind, he was already preparing for his meeting with the players later that evening, the night before the first game of the season ... and my question seemed along the lines of what he was going to talk about later that evening.  So he shared a little about his speech - very personal - about how his father had raised him; his advice; and that he is in a position today to pass on advice within his family ... the Packer family.

Then an idea went off in his head and he jumped up and said, "hold on ... I've got something for you" and darted off through a side door ... essentially, a large closet (or small storage room) adjacent to his office, but leading to a conference room - his coaches conference room.  A couple of minutes later, he returned and invited us into the conference room.  We sat at a large table with about a dozen comfortable leather chairs surrounding it ... with a large drop-down screen on one wall at the head of the table.  Coach sat at the other head, running a laptop ... and dimming the lights, he said, "I'll be showing this video to the team later tonight ... you get to be the first one's to see it".  The whole time, he's got this goofy enthusiasm ... like what you'd expect when Bell called for Watson or Jobs interacted with Woz when they created something cool ... and you realize that this VERY public person, who is surrounded by coaches, players, and staff consistently ... when alone in a small setting, with his assistant, is as giddy as Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas morning, longing to share his creations with an appreciative audience.

Roll film ...

It was a 8-10 minute highlight film of the Packer's pre-season - from training camp footage to highlights of each of their four pre-season games, featuring stars and non-stars alike - with the combined messages of family and preparedness ... we're in this together ... we prepare for ourselves, but we prepare for the greater good, too.

Afterwards, he signed autographs for us.  Will was especially thoughtful in having Coach sign a football, "Happy Birthday, Tyler" for his friend up the street who was a big Packer fan.

And then we took a couple of snapshots of all of us together just outside his office (I made sure the picture of Lombardi on the wall was in sight).

All in all, it was nearly 25-30 minutes, when we expected 10-15.  It was the day before the first game of the season!  Everything that we've read and heard about Coach McCarthy, before and after, fits with our experience.  A genuine, nice, family man.

A couple of weeks later, the Packers lost on the last play of the game in Seattle.  A Hail-Mary throw to the back of the end zone in which the referee made a horribly bad call.  The whole nation knew it was a bad call, but the play stood and cost the Packers the game.  A week later, it was reported that Coach McCarthy reached out to the referee to provide his support - with no ill will - after all, it's just a game, and there are more important things in life.  A class act.

Another side note ... As we waited in the conference room for the film to start, behind the screen was a giant white board with about a hundred plays on it - segmented by offense and defense; different personnel packages; different down and distances ... I was very tempted to pull out my camera and snap away.

Here are our pictures with Coach McCarthy

Secret Trip - Tour of Lambeau Field

After visiting the Packers Hall of Fame on Saturday morning, we proceeded to our scheduled tour of Lambeau Field, which included a visit to a luxury suite and down to field level, led by a couple of older gentlemen that just loved giving tours.  The lead tour guide took to Max right off and was bewildered that a boy from North Carolina, visiting Wisconsin, would be a San Diego Charger fan.  Max, in turn, was offended that the tour guide thought he was strange.

Some pictures from our tour of Lambeau Field:

Lead signage of the atrium at Lambeau Field ... this area, which includes the Packer Pro Shop (Gift Shop), Administrative offices, Packer Hall of Fame, and open atrium ... were all added to the stadium about 10 years ago.   From sketches of the new 49er stadium, it looks like they will have something similar in a corner of their new stadium in Santa Clara.

Waiting in the atrium for our tour to start ...

The tunnel ... leading from the Packers locker room (which we were NOT allowed in the day before the game) to the field.  

Pictures from field level (Stay off the Grass!!!)

(See how Charlie towers over Shelly now!!!)

Our lead tour guide, Steven, on the left ... offered great stories about the history of Lambeau Field

This sappy guy proposed to his girlfriend a minute before this shot.  What a tool!  Who proposes to his wife at a football stadium?  BTW ... reminds me of a certain sibling who had season tickets to 49er games and kept his tickets in the nose-bleed section because of some sort of female infatuation he had years before ... just kidding.

Also note, we witnessed another proposal the next day from another sappy guy to his girlfriend who will always be #2 to him because he loves a football team more than his girlfriend.  I told her that and she cried (I think she was crying before that, so I can't take credit for making her cry).  Then I slapped her across the face (I can take credit for her crying on that one!)

So I looked at Shelly ... gathered Steven, our tour guide, over and said, "Honey, there's something I want to ask you before we proceed."  <waiting> ... <waiting> ... "Where are the bathrooms around here?"