London part 1

Well the McClarnons went to London!  When planning vacation earlier on in the spring and early summer, we were convinced that Hawaii was in our future.  However, Brexit happened, making a trip to London actually cheaper than going to Hawaii from California.  Perfect for us!  Even more perfect was that around the time we were going to London the Colts happened to be scheduled to play in Wembley Stadium in the NFL International Series!  Needless to say we had to make it happen.  Casey and I had such a blast during our week across the pond.  We had so much to share that it won't all fit into one post.

Right at the beginning of our trip, the Colts happened to be playing in London while we were vacationing(ok, I may have moved the trip to incorporate it).  Watching a soccer match at Wembley Stadium was my initial goal, but seeing my favorite team play overseas was amazing.  The stadium and festivities surrounding the game were awesome.  One weird note:  the British fans don't know exactly what to do on 3rd downs.  Instead of cheering loudly to try and disrupt the play, they boo for some reason...which was weirder than how it sounds as I'm typing this.  The experience of Wembley was great, the outcome of the game........

There were some really cool experiences to be had during our trip.  One such experience was the London Eye.  The London Eye to me seemed like a deathtrap in concept(fear of heights) but it was in actuality really neat.  It took about half an hour to do one complete round on the ferris wheel and it delivers one of the best views of the London skyline.  Oh, and champagne was served.

Of course this trip wouldn't be complete without a shoutout to the royals, or as Casey calls them: relatives.  We had the privilege of visiting Kensington Palace, the home of Casey's kin Will and Kate.  In addition to this it had a few really cool exhibits with Casey's being the royal dress collection.  Needless to say I accidentally didn't budget enough time for the gift shop at the Palace!

Indianapolis Colts @ the New York Giants game

In light of last nights game, I thought I would post something uplifting for my fellow Colts fans. So let's discuss the Indianapolis Colts @ the New York Giants game that happened Monday, November, 3rd. Well to start off, an outfit had to be picked. These were a few of my choices for the cool 46 degree temperature that I was going to be sitting in. I had the traditional Andrew Luck jersey, a breast cancer Colts shirt (I know that breast cancer month was officially over, but I hadn't worn it yet, and a 12 is the new 18 shirt from Hayes & Taylor (not quite fitting since we weren't playing Peyton, but we were playing the other Manning, Eli). On top of that I had leg warmers, headbands, hair ties, and a bracelet (the three latter made by yours truly). Even though my top half didn't end up getting shown due to the cold, I opted for the jersey with two shirts underneath, the leg warmers and the horseshoe headband.

I have posted photos of MetLife before from other events (Jets game and Eminem/Rihanna concert), but I wanted to take it again because they change the lights depending on who is playing (the Jets and Giants share the stadium). If I haven't mentioned it before, the best part about the stadium is that it is 10 minutes away. The worst part about the stadium (aside the face that it's the Giants and Jets home) is that it is 10 minutes away. On game days we just stay as far away as possible because like all sporting events, the traffic is horrible! This was also the first time that I noticed the you could see the Empire State building from the stadium. I thought it was really neat to see. The emotional national anthem was played by the famous trumpet player, Chris Botti. It brought tears to many fans and players (Reggie Wayne in particular) eyes and can be viewed here. It was absolutely beautiful and a nice change of pace from the traditional singing that we normally hear.  

One thing I have learned from living out here is always be prepared. In my normal purse I carry a charger, hand sanitizer, hand lotion, a kookie, etc. because you never know what you will need when. Well in this case, I brought my colts beanie hat in case I got cold, which I did, and apparently a tan once I put it on (I swear no filters were used). For the most part, of course there were a few obnoxious fans, the Giants fans were really nice. They talked to us about Peyton and how amazing he was and how we made a great choice with Luck. I was worried because of our previous dealing with the Jets fans at the preseason game, but overall it was great. We did come out the gate running though, so they really couldn't be too mean because the Giants fans had nothing to back it up :)! We started the first quarter taking the lead and just kept going from there, ending the game with a final score of Colts 40 to Giants 24. Not only did we win, but Reggie Wayne moved up to eighth on the all-time receiving yard list. It was such an amazing thing to witness your "home" team not only winning, but breaking records at the same time! 

Hopefully that is enough to cheer everyone up from the game we all witnessed last night! Until I see you on the East coast again boys in blue!