Not much for me to add in text to many of these photos, but, these are the pictures that Suzanne either sent me or posted on Facebook of her and Matthew’s celebration-of-Kevin’s-birthday trip!
(Kevin has taken / did take this turn of events remarkably well).
(Tree Lighting and Fireworks Downtown)
(on the ferry)
(Pike Place Market)
(the weather forecast was rain all weekend…..and Suzanne was pleased to report that except for during the game and afterwards it was pleasant! Even got to see Mt. Rainier on the last day!)
(Seattle)
(Snoqualmie Falls Park)
(The Big Game!)
The ticket saga is worth a mention here…..getting tickets for this MNF showdown for NFC superiority was a challenge (and not cheap). Suzanne ended up getting them Monday morning and got aisle seats under cover……so, it was all good in the end but a little stressful getting to that point.
(should have been using the “Find My Iphone” app a lot more before now…highly HIGHLY useful for boy-tracking.)
(Matthew’s only picture of the trip….had to grab it off of his Instagram account)
Some news stories from the game for future reference
Seattle Seahawks dominate New Orleans Saints, clinch playoff spot
SEATTLE -- A couple thousand Seahawks fans were crowded in front of the television stage when Russell Wilson walked out of the locker room still in full uniform. Instantly, the chant started.
"MVP! MVP!"
Hard to argue against Wilson after a performance like Monday night't. He threw for 310 yards and three touchdowns, and the Seahawks became the first team to clinch a spot in the NFC playoffs with a 34-7 victory over the New Orleans Saints.
More important than just wrapping up a spot in the postseason, the Seahawks (11-1) moved two games ahead on the rest of the NFC in the race for home-field advantage and hold the tiebreakers over New Orleans (9-3) and Carolina (9-3), the two closest pursuers.
The rest of the top teams better get ready to visit the Pacific Northwest in January. After this rout, the road through the NFC playoffs is almost certain to go through Seattle.
"For us to come out in that fashion and to win that game the way that we did was awesome," Wilson said.
Wilson was outstanding, picking apart the Saints' defense. He threw touchdown passes of 2 yards to Zach Miller and 4 yards to Doug Baldwin in the first half as Seattle built a 27-7 lead. Wilson added a pinball 8-yard TD pass to Derrick Coleman in the third quarter.
Wilson completed 22 of 30 passes and finished with a quarterback rating of 139.6. He has 22 regular-season wins in his first two seasons, tied for the most ever by a second-year QB and is 14-0 at home.
Michael Bennett had a 22-yard fumble return for a touchdown in the first quarter to give Seattle a 10-0 lead and the Saints never threatened. It was a dominating performance by the Seahawks, making up for a lackluster effort the last time they were given a national television spotlight and were taken to the final yard and final play by St. Louis.
Not this time. The most anticipated game in the NFC this season was a laugher.
Drew Brees and the Saints were stymied the entire night as he lost for the first time on Monday night after nine straight wins, and continued the belief New Orleans can't win outdoors late in the season. New Orleans didn't crack 100 yards of total offense into midway through the third quarter. Jimmy Graham was nearly invisible outside of his franchise-record 12th TD catch of the season in the second quarter that pulled the Saints to 17-7.
Brees finished 23 of 38 for 147 yards. Graham had three catches for 42 yards. Darren Sproles led New Orleans with seven catches, many of those check downs. The seven points matched the fewest scored by the Saints since Sean Payton became coach in 2006 and the 188 total yards were the fewest in his coaching tenure.
"Lot of things to look at," Payton said. "Lot of things we didn't do well."
It was K.J. Wright's job to shadow Graham and he hounded the Saints' star all night.
"The coaches told me 'We're going to let you hold (Graham). Just do your job, win on your leverage, trust your guys around you and just play your best game.' That's what I tried to do," Wright said.
The Saints went three-and-out on their first possession and that was just the start of their struggles. On their next possession, Brees was hit from behind by Cliff Avril and fumbled into the arms of Bennett, who returned it for the touchdown.
Brees was unable to take advantage of Seattle's depleted secondary. The Seahawks were without Brandon Browner (injury) and Walter Thurmond (suspension) but Byron Maxwell and Jeremy Lane played well in their places.
"We took one in the chin today," Brees said. "We got out played today. They played great. They made a lot of plays and we didn't."
Seahawks fan base retakes Guinness World Record for crowd noise
The 12th Man set a Guinness World Record for crowd roar on Monday Night Football against the New Orleans Saints, recording a 137.6 decibel reading in the game's second quarter.
Congratulations, 12th Man. The world heard you roar - again.
The Seahawks fan base regained the Guinness World Record for crowd noise on Monday night at CenturyLink Field, registering a 137.6 decibel reading in a game against the New Orleans Saints. A CenturyLink Field-record crowd of 68,387 contributed to the effort.
The mark tops the previous record of 137.5 decibels set by Kansas City Chiefs fans in a mid-October game against the Oakland Raiders at Arrowhead Stadium. Prior to that, the Seahawks owned the record for loudest crowd roar - a 136.6 decibel reading set in Week 2 against the NFC West rival San Francisco 49ers.
Monday's record came about two-thirds the way through the game's second quarter, when the Seahawks defense held on a Saints third down, forcing a Nerw Orleans punt that gave the ball back to Seattle with roughly two minutes remaining in the half.
The fan collective "Volume 12" - led by former Seahawks defensive lineman Joe Tafoya - was behind the record-setting effort. Tafoya's group also headed the effort in Week 2.
In addition to the record roar, Seahawks fans triggered some more seismic activity in a warehouse one block south of the stadium. The small quake came during defensive end Cliff Avril's first quarter sack and forced fumble of Saints quarterback Drew Brees, which fellow D-lineman Michael Bennett scooped up and returned 22 yards for the game's first touchdown.
The seismometer that picked up the movement was the same one that captured running back Marshawn Lynch's earth-rattling run against the Saints in the 2010 playoffs.
Jumping fans register a magnitude 1 or 2 quake during Seahawks TD fumble return
Seahawks fans jumping up and down during Monday night’s 22-yard Michael Bennett fumble return for a touchdown registered about a magnitude 1 or 2 earthquake.
The University of Washington has a seismometer in a warehouse about a block south of CenturyLink Field, says earth and space sciences professor John Vidale.
The earthquake-like vibration can be seen in the blue wave in this graphic.
The same seismometer captured Marshawn Lynch’s “Beast Quake” on Jan. 8, 2011, when he rumbled for a 67-yard touchdown run that clinched a 41-36 playoff victory over the New Orleans Saints.
