We've been homebodies this year. As a family, with the exception of a Christmas Light Drive (Life University in Marietta) with the Rebel Grammy before Christmas, and Christmas Day to the other grandparents in Dahlonega, we haven't been out of Midtown. We've barely been out of our pajamas and it's been *awesome*: video games and slow cooker-ing, walking and riding bikes in Piedmont Park, more games (offline), puzzles and catching up on Battlestar Galactica (the new one) from Season 1 on the AppleTV and DVD to be ready for the new series Caprica in January.
Tonight, we finally took ourselves Outside The Perimeter (I285 surrounding Atlanta), for a Family Date Night: Mom, Dad, 15yo Puberty Angst Boy, 12yo Drama Queen and 9yo ADHD Phenom.
Go Gladiators! We hooked up with tickets (via Ticketmaster) to the professional minor league hockey of metro Atlanta, the Gwinnett Gladiators -- and we had a great time.
We were almost right on the ice, behind the penalty box and the announcer, Section 118, Row C in the Gwinnett Arena. At first, we thought we would move up higher, for a more unobstructed view of the ice and the jumbotrons, but we ended up staying down with the bad boys of the penalty boxes and the announcer -- never even realized the mastery of The Voice: this guy was amazing! Not only did he call the game and follow his script of announcements and promos, he also ran all the music and sound effects on a laptop computer! He may have been running the lights and advertising banners, too, for all we know.
The Gladiators ultimately lost, 4 - 5, in a tie-breaking shoot-out against the Florida Everblades, but what a game!
The kids had a great time, which is a rare and very special occasion anymore, when all three can be pleasant and have fun together, all at the same time.
And I discovered one really important, wonderful thing about hockey and ADHD: nobody even notices, or has any problem at all with, a 9yo boy who is active and exuberant, noisy and fully enjoying the action, in his seat, albeit bouncing a bit -- it was a beautiful night. Perfect.