Last week, I entered an online competition with Air New
Zealand. I wasn’t really expecting to win – but on Wednesday afternoon I got a
phone call from a lovely guy at Air NZ who began to tell me the good news
while I was trying to restrain Alfie, who was attempting to eat the entire food cupboard
right before his dinner.
The Air NZ man was very patient with me, even though my
conversation jumped backwards and forwards between him and Alfie, but he
basically told me we’d be going to the rugby on Saturday and meeting the All
Blacks on Sunday!
Our prize started off on Saturday night with four tickets to
the All Blacks v Argentina game at the Westpac Stadium. It was the kids’ first
time at the rugby and quite a poignant game for us (considering Alfie’s place of birth).
We managed to persuade him out of his favourite Argentina
soccer shirt for the night (disclaimer:
he is too young to understand the politics and only likes it because he likes
the yellow sun on their flag) and into a lot of warm, waterproof layers.
New Zealand's spring weather is renowned for being quite unpredictable: for the last
couple of weeks we’ve been basking in sunshine, but all of a sudden this
weekend a violent storm came crashing in with winds of up to 140kph and
torrential rain. Not the best weather for the players to give their best, but
Air NZ came up with brilliant seats for us and we were some of the lucky ones
under cover, protected from the worst of it.
However a surprise power cut half way through the game put
the stadium into darkness for a few minutes, and had Alfie completely spooked
and wanting to go home.
Meanwhile Molly surprised us by fully embracing the game,
chanting “All Blacks clap clap clap...” at the top of her voice,
enthusiastically joining in the Mexican waves, and giving out an almighty
scream when Cory Jane scored a try (my ears are still ringing).
Anyway, after a very late night and a bit of a lie-in the next
morning we got ready to go and meet the team!
Excitement would be an
understatement! The kids spent AGES choosing a pretty dress for Molly to wear
and then spiking Alfie’s hair up so that it matched Richie McCaw’s! (They used up so much hair gel that it's still not all out, 3 showers and one swimming lesson later!)
When we were finally introduced to the team, I had to try extremely hard not to become like the man in the Mastercard advert and I forced myself to act dignified and restrained when I shook hands with Dan Carter and Richie! (I think I managed ok, but my heart nearly stopped!)
We then got on the plane and flew down to Dunedin with the team! After a very shy start, Molly and Alfie took a great shining
to Israel Dagg and Ben Smith and regaled them with tales of gymnastics and school and DS games
and Barbie dolls and other such important stuff.
Anyway, a huge thank you to Air NZ and the All Blacks. You've given two children some amazing memories (and for me and Jake too!). We had a great time at the game, and you guys were awesome on Sunday as well. Can we do it again soon please?!
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