The Superbowl Comes to Town!

With all of the festivities going on in downtown Indy this past weekend, we decided that we didn't want to be left out so we called up Grandma Nancy and got her to take the little girls and off to the Superbowl Village we went. People were flocking to downtown to get a glimpse of a celebrity or get on ESPN or the NFL network, we went to have fun and let Levi experience this once in a lifetime experience. (Well maybe, all the news networks are saying that Indy was the best host city in the history of Superbowls.....way to go Hoosiers!!)

When we drove into downtown, traffic was horrible and parking was even worse. Some lots were charging $60 to park for the day! Thanks to Citizens Gas, we parked for free at the Thermal Plant across the street from the stadium. They opened up their parking lot to all their employees as long as they had their ID. Thank you Citizens, you are not all bad.

Walking the 5 city blocks to the SB Village this is the first thing we saw. The JW Marriott got all dressed up for the week.

Still walking....we saw the Giants hotel. The Patriots stayed at the IUPUI campus hotel. We finally reached the Village....along with 150,000 other visitors.

There were "shows" everywhere. This group was caroling football songs.

Ice sculpting in action.

Unique to Indy were the Indy 500 cars supporting each team.

How cute is he?!?!? We didn't tell him we were going downtown and surprised him with it. He was one happy boy.

Wanting to get out of the face to face crowd we decided to go into the convention center and try out the NFL Experience first hand.

After waiting in line to buy our tickets, then waiting in line to sign the release form and get our arm bands, we finally got to enter in and get in line to play the games to experience the NFL. you could train like a player, run a touchdown, catch a pass, but Levi wanted to kick a field goal first. So we got in line that wrapped around the "field" behind approximately 200 people. We slowly made our way to the front of the line. There were only about 10 people in front of us when the NFL network entourage showed up to film a segment with some NFL players and some special Olympic athletes. While this would have been neat to see, but I just wanted Levi to kick the ball and move on, but we waited.

Not sure who this is, but he had three Superbowl rings. So I thought he was worthy to take a picture of.

The filming lasted about 30 minutes. After the field was cleared of cameras, lights, technicians, film crew, athletes, and about 20 bodyguards Levi finally had his chance to kick. He didn't make it, but had fun trying. Not only could you play games, but there were many other activities, sights, and photo opps.

Levi the Bear...

The actual Vince Lombardi Trophy to be awarded to the Giants on Sunday.

I think we have come a long way with football safety.

I got to "meet" Peyton. I think we shared a special bond. Can't you see how excited he was to see me?

Tebowing in front of Tim Tebows locker.

Let us at the Patriots!! We will get a win for Eli!

Levi's favorite player, Aaron Rodgers.

After we experienced the NFL we went back out to the street. We wanted to do the Zip Line, but the tickets were all sold out. Although the Catholic church was open to the public.

We then decided to walk down to see the Circle. It was a sight to behold, but by this time there were at least 175,000 other people downtown and it was getting crowded.

After seeing the circle we decided that it was getting too crowded for us, so we decided to make our way back to our car and head home. As we were walking past St. Elmo's Restaurant a Porche was parked on the street. Levi thought this was pretty neat and ran his hand down the side of it. Scott and I both about had a heart attack as the owner looked on in disgust. We just kept walking.

Thankfully we were being protected by the cities finest, in case the owner chased us down. :-)

Channel 13 anchor woman. I don't know here name. I was a little disappointed that we didn't see anyone famous. I knew the city was hopping with celebrities, but we just never crossed paths. Then we learned that you could walk into the Giants hotel. So we gave it a try.

This is the first person we saw. I didn't know who he was, but someone said he was a football player so I went up to him and asked if we could get a picture. He allowed this although he didn't seem to happy about it. Then I saw he was wearing his Superbowl ring.

I asked for a picture and he held out his hand. The picture is blurry because as I was taking the picture a girl came up and introduced herself as LaShonda and he moved to shake her hand. I guess LaShonda was more important than us. I then told him, "I hope you win Sunday!"

I walked back to our group only to learn that he name was Plax something and he doesn't even play for the Giants. Oops. :-) I also learned that he was the player that his gun accidentally went off in his pocket a few years ago and shot his foot. Fashoo, am I glad that he wasn't carrying it that night.

Then there was this guy. I don't really know if he was a player or not, but he was big and dressed nice so he probably was a football player. He also drove away in a super nice SUV. Plus he was wearing his shades at night, so he was cool. It made Levi happy.

Our last picture was of this fella. Again no idea who he is, but he allowed a quick picture. It is blurry, but you don't ask a NFL player to hold on while you take another picture. Also I think LaShonda was waiting for him.

Many blocks and miles later we finally made it back to our car. We drove away from downtown tired, sore, and happy. With this view. It was a great night!