Early in the evening, I went out on the back porch and took a few pics of the moon and Venus.
Venus doesn't appear to be much more than a little star in the bottom right of this picture, but objects are much larger than they appear. :0) It showed up much better the night before, but I didn't get a decent picture then. Oh, well. Those are the breaks. We decided to have a wild and crazy night for New Years Eve, so the hubby and I grabbed the kids and headed on down to the local Applebee's for dinner. It doesn't get much more exciting than that. For some reason, I can't step into an Applebee's now without thinking of that scene in Talladega Nights. Anyone else have that problem, or is it just me? 
Then it was on to our traditional New Years Eve entertainment...the Alaska Aces Hockey Game! They always play a home game on New Years Eve, so we like to go and cheer them on. We've done it 3 out of our 4 years in Alaska. It was a great game, and very exciting. We always seem to run into friends at the game, too, so that adds to the fun. 
I have to admit, I was a little worried for a while there. Stockton had us at 2 to 0 for a while, but then the Aces got in their groove. They tied the score (2-2) by the end of the game. 
Check out our Zambonies. Brandon loves the blue one. It looks like you could drag race on it. 
The game went into "Sudden Death Overtime". They set the clock for 5 minutes and let them loose. It was a tough fight, but the Aces scored again and the crowd went wild. It was a great end to a great game!
We made it home around 10 pm, so the fun was just beginning. We got a Wii for Christmas, and the kids have been hooked. (OK, we've all been hooked.) They started playing Star Wars:Clone Wars and zoned out for about an hour. Then we played some of the sports games to get our blood circulating again. That's always a lot of fun. 
In case you were wondering, the cats had to get in on the action. Poor Ashley was trying to enjoy her family time by taking a nap in front of the TV. Tink wouldn't let her relax. She jumped up on the ottoman beside her and tapped Ashley over and over again with her paw. You can just imagine the conversation. "She keeps touching me!" "Am not!" Ashley refused to give up her warm spot, and eventually, Tink gave up and found her own nap site. Kids! Anyway, Have a super and very Happy New Year, from our family to yours! 
This year, the game was very exciting. Our teachers made them work to score those goals. In the end, the score was 3-0. 
They did spend a little time clowning around as well. The kids loved it. The Aces are really great about playing games with the kids and giving out lots of prizes like autographed t-shirts and gift cards to local restaurants. It was a lot of fun for everyone.
The Aces are very involved in the community. Each year, they visit local schools and read to the younger kids.
The Aces came to our school last year, and the kids really loved it. They showed off some of their hockey skills, encouraged the kids to get out and get active, and then finished the visit off with a hockey game against some of out teachers. They are an awesome team!
