Niners v. Cardinals

Sunday was our first San Francisco 49er game of the season.  Sam and I brought Jackie and Joe to the game with us, and we had a great time tailgating with the McHones and Oliveros before we headed over to see the Ward Family.  

 We got to celebrate Matt and Whitney's baby boy who will be joining the family in April 2014.

Mike, Carina, Kelly, Dad

 Carina and Mom

 Jackie and I at the game

Lovely ladies and our amazing gentlemen!

Sam and I can't wait to go back in December for the last home game of the regular season.  

49er Faithful Headed 'Home'

Tonight, Sam and I are flying up to San Francisco to spend what we hope will be a beautiful fall weekend in Northern California.  It will be our first trip home since we got engaged in August, and the first time I've seen my Dad and sister, Carina.  As you can imagine, I am really looking forward to being back in my hometown.  

While we're home, we're going to be celebrating Carina passing her nursing examination and being able to look for a job.  She is the first nurse in our family, so obviously we're all overjoyed and incredibly proud of her.  In fact, she's been home since last weekend so Sam and I will be a bit late to her party, but it will be really good to spend time as a family all the same.

While Carina's accomplishment deserves a good deal of attention, we originally planned this vacation so that we could make it home for the 49er game on Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals.  

Since it's the last season at Candlestick, Sam and I are making an effort to make it up for as many games as we can - which is looking like two so far.  Unfortunately, we're pretty limited in nights that the flight schedule and game schedule line up for us.  

Focusing on the positives, though, we're bringing Jackie and Joe to the game.  I am really excited to see them both and get to share something that means so much to me with a couple that Sam and I are looking forward to sharing lots of future milestones with.  Plus, Carina and Jackie will get a chance to meet again and hopefully bond a little bit over my bachelorette party planning.  Dad is awesome and he's going to sit with the McHones so that Mom, Carina, Sam, Jackie, Joe and I can sit in Papa's seats.  

It will also be really fun to see the whole Tailgate Crew.  Sam has been getting ribbed for years about not proposing to me, so I'm excited to show off my beautiful engagement ring and let him get all the credit.  

In addition to the McHones and Tailgate Crew, we'll get to see Matt, Kelly and Mike Ward along with Chris and Whitney (I hope).  That will be really fun because in addition to celebrating our engagement, Whit and Matt announced that they're expecting their first baby in April 2014 - so we have a LOT to be cheerful and excited about.  I am planning on bringing a couple bottles of champagne to pop in the parking lot. 

View from Papa's seats Jan 12, 2013 (San Francisco v. Green Bay)

Football Season 2013

This is going to be a very bittersweet football season for me.  As you (hopefully) know, my family has had season tickets to the 49ers since Kezar Stadium, and at the end of this season, the 49ers current stadium at Candlestick Park will be torn down.  The new stadium will be built in Santa Clara, and it looks to be quite a work of art.  Unfortunately, Papa's seats on the 45 yard line, 15 rows up behind the 49ers bench were going to be $80,000 a piece for the personal seat licenses (PSLs) - that doesn't even include the price of the tickets!

So, Papa gave up his seats.  Dad is going to have one seat in the upper deck with some of his friends from high school, who we tailgate with every Sunday.  The plan is to buy tickets comparable to what we are accustom to when we want to go to games, and even if we were to spend $2,000 for all 6 (now 7, with Sam) of us to go together, it would be significantly cheaper than buying season tickets that we don't even use every week because we only have 4 family members currently living in the Bay Area.

What makes this season especially tough is that we were so close to our 6th Super Bowl victory last February and I was incredibly invested in the season as you can see here, here, here, and especially here in NOLA.  This year we have another great team, and it's going to be really tough to say goodbye to The Stick when it just seems to feel like we're returning to our glory days.

NOLA Photos

Dad, Dominic, Robin & Mom at Pat O'Brien's, our first stop after arriving in Louisiana 

Bourbon Street our first night in town

We met up with Ruby and Tracy

Then we had the whole crew!

The girls

Saturday we met up with my friends, and Carina arrived!

We met Dwight Clark, and Mom's lifelong dream came true!

Dad and his girls on Game Day

49er Faithful K-9

I'm on the plane to New Orleans with Mom & Dad, but I thought I would schedule this little gem for all you 49er faithful out there.  My childhood friend has become quite the seamstress and she has an Etsy store where I special-ordered this doggie bandana for my little guy.  

Here's to hoping we're all very happy campers on the flight back in 3 days!