I wanna drive the Zamboni!

Wow! What a weekend we've had here in sunny California. Thomas turned the big 5-0 on Friday and Afton's birthday -- the big 1-0 -- is in a couple of weeks, so as you might guess, we celebrate all month!

Thomas started out his birthday celebration by breaking Afton out of school and taking her to Disney's California Adventure park for the day. Disney has a promotion this year that if you go to the park on your birthday with valid I.D. in hand, you will be given free admission to one park for the day. And, since they're also having a 2fer promotion where So Cal residents get two park admissions for the price of one, Thomas got a 2fer ticket for free! Afton had just been to Disneyland with my brother, Gordy, and his family, so she still had a day ticket for California Adventure.

Off they went (I was at work and had a Girl Scout meeting that evening) to spend the day in each other's company. According to both parties they had a great time right up until the sun went down. Then it got pretty cold and neither one had taken a jacket (now you all know I sent one along for Afton... but Dad left it in the car!) So they called me about 6:10 p.m. to let me know they were on their way home. Afton got home in time to finish up the Girl Scout meeting, so it was nice that they came home early.

Saturday was another day of celebration. My friend, Juli, does massage for the L.A. Kings Hockey club sales staff, and in return scores some fantastic tickets. She arranged for all of us to go to the Kings vs. Wild day game on Saturday, and set up a few extra perks to go with it. We all showed up early decked out in our Kings attire (yup -- Thomas even acquiesced and wore the Kings shirt Juli gave him for Christmas) and away we went for a day of adventures.

First up on the docket: Thomas and I were escorted out on the ice to the penalty boxes and announcer's box. Juli had told me what was in store, but Thomas had no idea. As we were walking across the ice I informed him that he was the guest announcer for the Kings. He was totally caught off guard! It was very fun to watch his expression. He sat with the announcer and was given his script. We had plenty of photo ops, including shots of both of us in the box and lots of shots of Thomas at the microphone. When the time came for the teams to head onto the ice for warm up before the game, Thomas was on the P.A. and on the large overhead screen announcing, "Ladies and Gentlemen, your Los Angeles Kings!" The announcer offered to also have Thomas announce the two honorary captains (kids) of the day, but Thomas declined. He didn't want to flub anything up. After his big moment we stayed in the box while the teams warmed up. Man, those guys are huge in their gear and skates. And those pucks come at the glass plenty hard and fast!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.... Afton and Juli were of on their own adventure. Afton was soon ensconced in the honorary driver's seat (aka passenger seat) on one of the Zambonis. The funny thing was that on our way across the street to the arena, Afton announced that "In my whole life I always wanted to ride on the Zamboni!" Dreams come true at hockey games, too... Guess Disney doesn't have a corner on the market in California after all.

Thomas and I headed back off the ice and saw Afton on the Zamboni all set to do the rounds. She was shaking with excitement and waved both hands for the entire time she was out on the ice. You'd have thought she was the Rose Queen! When the Zamboni came back in we headed up to the Arena Club to have lunch during the first period of play. We got a table overlooking the ice and watched the whole period while we ate our fabulous buffet meal. The only downer was that I missed the Kings first goal while I was up at the buffet getting my lunch.

Sounds like a perfect day, right?! Well, there's more... During the first intermission between periods they recognized birthdays up on the screen. There in big letters was "Happy 50th Birthday, Thomas McCormack" followed shortly by "Happy 10th Birthday, Afton McCormack." Of course I couldn't get my camera to work fast enough, so I missed a shot of Afton's birthday greeting, but I got a great one of Thomas's name in lights.

We went to our premium seats (Thomas confided that the seats were the perfect seats in the arena and if he could buy seats these would be the ones he'd get.) Once we were settled in we continued to enjoy a great game. In the midst of the third period, Bailey (the Kings Lion mascot) shows up at our seats to wish Thomas and Afton both Happy Birthday. Bailey grabbed Afton and took her down to the bottom of our section for a photo op, messed up Afton's hair, kidded around with her and then gave her a draw string backpack filled with Kings goodies, which he proceeded to take out and present to her, one by one, topping the whole thing off by putting the backpack over her head.

So, what can you do to top that? Not a darn thing. It was a great day. Thomas was a star, Afton drove the Zamboni, we all had a great lunch, and the Kings won. Perfect day in every way.