Hurricanes Summerfest 2013

Last week sometime I got an email notice that the Hurricanes would be having a summer festival and I thought "What a terrible idea". I mean, it's JULY. In North Carolina. Every time I leave an air conditioned space for the sweltering heat and humidity of the outdoors I curse my decision to move here. 

But then I saw it was inside the arena and I thought "Lets go!"

So we did. Not for very long, we were a little lazy that morning getting going but it was worth the trip for just the couple hours we were there. 

Upon exiting the truck, Grant saw one of the few things they had stationed outside the arena which was a huge inflatable slide. Slides being one of his favorite things ever, he pointed and said "OHMIGOSH ITS A SLIDE! I need to go on the slide!" 

He always has to go backwards too.

He could have stayed on that thing until it shut down. And even though it was outside, it really wasn't too hot standing there. And if the slide was hot, none of the kids coming down had any complaints.

We managed to talk Grant into checking out what was inside. There may have been mention of a bounce house.

And there was a bounce house. But Grant seemed intimidated by the crowd around that one and didn't want to play there. So we walked and just happened to see the Hurricanes mascot, Stormy. Figuring there was no way he'd get near the giant pig ("Ice Hog"), Husband tried to ease him into it. When he set Grant down, Stormy crouched down too. And that's when Grant walked over to him with his little arms spread out for a hug which just about knocked us on our butts with shock.

Also, it was one of the cutest things I've ever seen. Ever.

Posing with Stormy!

We had passed a little slap shot station they had set up on our way to say Hi to Stormy. So after that little meeting, Grant told us he wanted to go play hockey and made his way over there. Grant was patiently waiting in line while kids who'd already had turns let other kids cut in line...which really pisses me off considering there a mom standing there acting like a 12 year old that thought the whole thing was funny. So I made a not-so-quiet comment about how Grant had two kids in front of him and now they've magically turned into four. Then a dad appeared and made the two boys who'd cut in front of Grant get behind him. Husband calls that "showing my NY side"...I call it "making parents teach their kids manners". So anyway, Grant had his turn at the slap shots and he did great.

He was serious about his hockey. I'm thinking we've got a little sports player on our hands (which isn't a bad thing...just an expensive thing).

Future player checking out the feel of a locker :)

After that we just checked out some more stuff they had going on. Some of it was too big for Grant. Like the bull riding station he almost cried to ride on. It was nice because it wasn't too crowded so there wasn't a lot of waiting and it wasn't wall-to-wall people.

Grant loves to throw the football so he had to check out this station

They were also having their prospect scrimmage so visitors could go in and watch that too. We didn't. As soon as we walked in there, Grant started whimpering to leave. I'm thinking he was having flashbacks from his first hockey game. Or maybe he just didn't want to sit down and stop playing. Who knows. We stood at the deck area for a minute to watch but that was it.

It was definitely worth a trip out there. We've never gone in the past but knowing it was inside this year was a big incentive. Plus, much to my surprise, it was totally FREE. All the activities were free and they even had a little cotton candy station for the kids (well, adults too I guess...we didn't partake). I think it's awesome they do that for the fans! Grant had a great time and maybe he'll remember how much fun he had there the next time we make an attempt to get him to a game.