Some Friends Meet a Flower
Who better to tell you about a close encounter of the Flower kind than the girls who lived it? Good Friends of The Show 1WingAngel and her twin sister, Nicole G., sent in these photos for us, and 1WingAngel was kind enough to write today's post. Enjoy! (Remember you can click the pictures to enlarge them!)
Nicole and I have a lot of pictures with the Pens piling up in our cameras, so we thought we'd finally send them your way with a recap of what we've done with our Boys thus far. :)
First was the Pittsburgh Penguins' Face-Off Luncheon. Our mom was generous enough to pull us out of school for a day so that we could attend the afternoon event at the Westin Hotel and Convention Center. We dressed semi-formal, but a good number of guests displayed their Pens' pride by wearing jerseys. Iceburgh waddled around the lobby for pictures, and we gladly took advantage of the opportunity:
The luncheon itself was a lot of fun. The team was introduced player-by-player and walked down a center aisle to get to their table at the front. When Fleury walked by, I shouted his name as loud as I could. :) Our table, by the way, was only one row away from the Boys' - and Sidney was in perfect view! My mother snapped a few pictures of the team enjoying their lunch.
After the players were dismissed towards the end of the event, a raffle was held. My mother, sister, and I all watched other fans take home the prizes we put in tickets for, but that didn't dampen our mood one bit. Having a girls' day out to share lunch with the Penguins was way too much fun!
Two nights later was the home opener, which we attended. Of course you know how the game ended, but my family and I still had a wonderful time because our seats were one row away from the ice on Fleury's end. Here are some of our best pictures:
A few weeks later, who should arrive in the mail but our trio of Roaming Penguins! Marc-Andre Penguin, Sidney Penguin and Maxime Penguin were all very excited to come out of their boxes and meet us.
SP, MAP, and MP all took in the stunning "Wall of Croz" in Nicole's room...
Then the group checked out my room, and MAP was very amused by my smaller wall dedicated to his human doppelganger...
MP, meanwhile, searched in vain for a wall dedicated to him.
SP later discovered that the "Wall of Croz" isn't the only Crosby-dedicated spot in his friend's bedroom. There's the wall by her computer...
...and then her ceiling.
After the introductions and icebreakers, a few weeks passed until my mother heard that Marc-Andre Fleury would sign autographs at the BC Sports in Ross Park Mall. Marc-Andre Penguin was very excited to hear this, and absolutely insisted that we go. Mom and I couldn't resist those huge, pleading eyes! We signed up on one condition: He had to allow Mom to glue a strip of material above his number so that Flower could sign him.
We waited approximately an hour and a half in a long, LONG line of Pens fans before we finally met Marc-Andre Fleury. I was numb with nervousness and excitement; Fleury is my favorite Penguin! (some of you may know that I find him adorable...) And while I waited at the front of the line, I tried to calm my nerves so that I could make a good impression on my favorite Penguin. So I approached Fleury with a smile as I walked to him, thinking, I've gotta make this perfect, gotta make this perfect - and then my foot bounced off of something hard as soon as I got there.
Fleury chuckled. "Oops, sorry." My foot had hit his, which was concealed under the long blue tablecloth. At the moment, I was mortified -the first thing my favorite adorable Penguin said to me ever was "Oops, sorry"- but you know the meeting improved from there and now I just laugh about it, but my family actually teases me for it. They call it "giving Fleury a footsie." >:( I WILL NEVER LIVE THIS DOWN, apparently.
Marc was very polite and attentive, even though the supervisors tried to rush each group. I approached him first with my Fleury jersey, and asked him how he was "holding up" since the line was still incredibly long. At this, his head snapped up.
"Is it still long?" Dear Marc had almost a pleading look in his eyes when he asked me, because I'm sure he was a bit tired after signing for nearly two hours following a late game in St. Louis.
I smiled sadly. "Very..." I felt so bad for him! But he sucked in air through his teeth and flashed me a smile.
"Yeah... so far, so good." Marc slid the jersey across the table to me, and I stepped with it to one side as Nicole approached the table.
"I have a penguin for you to sign..." Nicole pushed a very nervous Marc-Andre Penguin towards Flower, who smiled at the little guy. When MAF took the penguin for the first time, he glanced down and said, "That's the first time I've seen this." He LOVED MAP and the whole idea of Roaming Penguins; our mother (who took every MAF picture) explained it to him and he listened attentively and turned the doll in his hands before signing.
"That's pretty cool." He returned MAP -"There you go."- and Nicole gave him The Card.
"We made a card for you and the team."
"Oh, thank you." Mom and I moved at the same time to shake Marc's hand, and we laughed. Mom let me go first, although Marc crossed his hands as though to accomodate us both at once. Then Nicole shook his hand, and Marc said "Nice to meet you" to each of us with a smile. As we walked away, we wished him good luck against the Oilers, and Marc grinned.
"Bye. Thanks a lot." He pulled The Card closer to himself and watched us leave.
All in all, it was a fantastic Penguins-themed month! :) I would definitely give ANYTHING to know what Fleury thinks of The Card, though - wouldn't you? It was certainly a huge success, thanks to all who participated. ♥ I really can't thank all of you enough for responding so quickly and creatively to our offer, and I know that this will mean a lot to our team.
Now, I'd like to leave you with a final, thought-provoking picture of an advertisement from Ross Park Mall:
Also at the Fleury autograph event were sibling Friends of The Show Rachel, Sara, and Jake. Rachel sent in this shot of Sara with MAF (brother Jake is in the background) and another picture of MAF signing some autographs:
Many, many thanks to 1WingAngel for doing my job for me today. ;) Thank yous also go to Nicole and Rachel for sharing their pictures with us! Part two of the game photos should be ready for tomorrow.
GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nicole and I have a lot of pictures with the Pens piling up in our cameras, so we thought we'd finally send them your way with a recap of what we've done with our Boys thus far. :)
First was the Pittsburgh Penguins' Face-Off Luncheon. Our mom was generous enough to pull us out of school for a day so that we could attend the afternoon event at the Westin Hotel and Convention Center. We dressed semi-formal, but a good number of guests displayed their Pens' pride by wearing jerseys. Iceburgh waddled around the lobby for pictures, and we gladly took advantage of the opportunity:
The luncheon itself was a lot of fun. The team was introduced player-by-player and walked down a center aisle to get to their table at the front. When Fleury walked by, I shouted his name as loud as I could. :) Our table, by the way, was only one row away from the Boys' - and Sidney was in perfect view! My mother snapped a few pictures of the team enjoying their lunch.
[snoop: That is the one and only Bob Errey.]
After the players were dismissed towards the end of the event, a raffle was held. My mother, sister, and I all watched other fans take home the prizes we put in tickets for, but that didn't dampen our mood one bit. Having a girls' day out to share lunch with the Penguins was way too much fun!
Two nights later was the home opener, which we attended. Of course you know how the game ended, but my family and I still had a wonderful time because our seats were one row away from the ice on Fleury's end. Here are some of our best pictures:
A few weeks later, who should arrive in the mail but our trio of Roaming Penguins! Marc-Andre Penguin, Sidney Penguin and Maxime Penguin were all very excited to come out of their boxes and meet us.
SP, MAP, and MP all took in the stunning "Wall of Croz" in Nicole's room...
Then the group checked out my room, and MAP was very amused by my smaller wall dedicated to his human doppelganger...
MP, meanwhile, searched in vain for a wall dedicated to him.
SP later discovered that the "Wall of Croz" isn't the only Crosby-dedicated spot in his friend's bedroom. There's the wall by her computer...
...and then her ceiling.
After the introductions and icebreakers, a few weeks passed until my mother heard that Marc-Andre Fleury would sign autographs at the BC Sports in Ross Park Mall. Marc-Andre Penguin was very excited to hear this, and absolutely insisted that we go. Mom and I couldn't resist those huge, pleading eyes! We signed up on one condition: He had to allow Mom to glue a strip of material above his number so that Flower could sign him.
We waited approximately an hour and a half in a long, LONG line of Pens fans before we finally met Marc-Andre Fleury. I was numb with nervousness and excitement; Fleury is my favorite Penguin! (some of you may know that I find him adorable...) And while I waited at the front of the line, I tried to calm my nerves so that I could make a good impression on my favorite Penguin. So I approached Fleury with a smile as I walked to him, thinking, I've gotta make this perfect, gotta make this perfect - and then my foot bounced off of something hard as soon as I got there.
Fleury chuckled. "Oops, sorry." My foot had hit his, which was concealed under the long blue tablecloth. At the moment, I was mortified -the first thing my favorite adorable Penguin said to me ever was "Oops, sorry"- but you know the meeting improved from there and now I just laugh about it, but my family actually teases me for it. They call it "giving Fleury a footsie." >:( I WILL NEVER LIVE THIS DOWN, apparently.
Marc was very polite and attentive, even though the supervisors tried to rush each group. I approached him first with my Fleury jersey, and asked him how he was "holding up" since the line was still incredibly long. At this, his head snapped up.
"Is it still long?" Dear Marc had almost a pleading look in his eyes when he asked me, because I'm sure he was a bit tired after signing for nearly two hours following a late game in St. Louis.
I smiled sadly. "Very..." I felt so bad for him! But he sucked in air through his teeth and flashed me a smile.
"Yeah... so far, so good." Marc slid the jersey across the table to me, and I stepped with it to one side as Nicole approached the table.
"I have a penguin for you to sign..." Nicole pushed a very nervous Marc-Andre Penguin towards Flower, who smiled at the little guy. When MAF took the penguin for the first time, he glanced down and said, "That's the first time I've seen this." He LOVED MAP and the whole idea of Roaming Penguins; our mother (who took every MAF picture) explained it to him and he listened attentively and turned the doll in his hands before signing.
"That's pretty cool." He returned MAP -"There you go."- and Nicole gave him The Card.
"We made a card for you and the team."
"Oh, thank you." Mom and I moved at the same time to shake Marc's hand, and we laughed. Mom let me go first, although Marc crossed his hands as though to accomodate us both at once. Then Nicole shook his hand, and Marc said "Nice to meet you" to each of us with a smile. As we walked away, we wished him good luck against the Oilers, and Marc grinned.
"Bye. Thanks a lot." He pulled The Card closer to himself and watched us leave.
All in all, it was a fantastic Penguins-themed month! :) I would definitely give ANYTHING to know what Fleury thinks of The Card, though - wouldn't you? It was certainly a huge success, thanks to all who participated. ♥ I really can't thank all of you enough for responding so quickly and creatively to our offer, and I know that this will mean a lot to our team.
Now, I'd like to leave you with a final, thought-provoking picture of an advertisement from Ross Park Mall:
[snoop: Quickly glance at the picture and you'll see what she means...]
Also at the Fleury autograph event were sibling Friends of The Show Rachel, Sara, and Jake. Rachel sent in this shot of Sara with MAF (brother Jake is in the background) and another picture of MAF signing some autographs:
Many, many thanks to 1WingAngel for doing my job for me today. ;) Thank yous also go to Nicole and Rachel for sharing their pictures with us! Part two of the game photos should be ready for tomorrow.
GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Labels: Fleury, guest blogger, photos, reader stories, reader submissions, roaming penguins
posted by snoopyjode at 5:25 PM
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