#SBLII Experience

Last week, because the Super Bowl was in town, Minneapolis had tons of extra entertainment and sightseeing opportunities downtown.  There were events all up and down Nicolette Ave including live music, food trucks, ice sculptures, ice skating, snow skiing, a zip line and many, many other fun things to see and do.  The temp was below zero most of the week leading up to and including the weekend of the Super Bowl so I didn't make any attempt to see the fun on Nicolette.  There was a big event inside the Minneapolis Convention Center: Super Bowl Experience, that I did go to.  Twice. We took the students I work with on Thursday as kind of a graduation celebration for one of the students. We do some special event near the end of each student's last year with us and the Super Bowl Experience seemed like the perfect special activity for one of this year's graduates. I almost didn't even suggest it as an option but Eric encouraged me to.  The Super Bowl only comes a couple times in a person's lifetime so this would be a very rare opportunity. A group of seven of us went on Thursday hoping it would be a little slower day at the event.  I had so much fun that Eric encouraged me to take my own kids the next day.  Grace didn't want to go so I took the boys out of school for the day.

The experience started out with their first city bus ride.  We rode the bus when I went with school on Thursday so I had a chance to figure out where and when the bus we needed would be downtown. 

There were so many activities, the boys could have spent three days there.  One whole floor was activities geared for kids.  There were running, passing and kicking scaled down to make it easier for a smaller person.  They tried on jerseys and pads to practice running through obstacles carrying a football. 

We call JJ "Jegabear" so he wanted a picture with the Jaguars mascot.

The boys happened to walk up to a flag football field just minuets before a half hour session started so we didn't have to wait in line at all for that one.  They rotated around the field and learned a few different football skills for first half of the time.  Then they had a mini flag football game. So fun to watch!  Coach Tony Dungy was on the sideline watching a kid that came with him.  It was kind of funny to watch all the dads that were supposed to be watching and taking pictures of their kids on the field keep glancing over and trying to catch his eye. 

Even though the Vikings didn't make it to the Super Bowl, they were still the host so there were plenty of Vikings things all over the area.  The color theme of the event was purple and blue, imagine if the Vikings would have been playing. 

After the boys spent two hours in the kid's area, we moved upstairs to the full-sized simulations.  I liked that, once we paid to get into the building, every activity was included.  We didn't have to count tickets or tokens or pay for each thing they wanted to do, just run get in line and have fun.  Lines moved quickly, event volunteers were friendly and helpful and everyone was having such a good time.  The boys tried so many different things, sometimes they would both try an activity, sometimes it only interested one of them.  Micah tried one where you run a specified path with a football while volunteers try to knock you down with dummies.  He liked that one so much he did it twice. 

All through the event, there were current and former football players from lots of different teams appearing.  Most of them sat at a table signing autographs while people filed by but there were a few interacting with fans.  Jason Witten of the Cowboys was helping out at one of the games the boys tried.  He passed the kids footballs then the kids ran through obstacles. 

Friday, we saw former Viking Chris Carter.  The line was long and that kind of thing didn't interest my boys so I just took a picture of him from the crowd. 

Same for current Viking, Harrison Smith.  Lines to see Vikings players were by far the longest lines anywhere over the two days I was there.  When I went with my students, we did wait in a few lines because they were interested in autographs. I missed out on Teddy Bridgewater Thursday because I didn't realize how the line in that area worked and I was waiting for some of our students at Daunte Culpepper. 

The first autograph line I waited in was for Phil Simms.  I had no idea who he was but Eric told me he was a quarterback the last time the Super Bowl was in MN.  All the players we encountered were so friendly, none of them seemed like they were trying to push people past or that they were tired of being there. 

The line for Daunte Culpepper was pretty long and was at the end of the day so I didn't try to go through that one.  Although now, I kind of wish I had made the effort. 

I had a great time and am so glad Eric encouraged me to go and to take the boys the second day. We had so much fun soaking up all the sights and enjoying the activities. It was probably a once in a lifetime experience.  Next time Minneapolis gets the Super Bowl, I will probably be a grandma!