Serif meets Pekka

Jeff was listening to the radio on Thursday and heard an announcement that Pekka Rinne, THE Predator's goalie and Serif's hero, was going to be at the AT&T store in Green Hills on Friday at 4:30pm. Thursday night, we told Serif that we were going to get to go meet Pekka. He got so excited and said, "He's going to come out on the ice and I'm going to show him my pads!" We were so excited and took off work early so we could pick up Serif from school and get in line to meet Pekka.

Here's Serif with the life-size cut-out of Pekka as we were waiting for him to arrive.

We were at the front of the line and it was getting close to time for Pekka to arrive. Serif said, "I've gotta go to the bathroom." I pulled him out of line and was looking for an employee to ask where the bathroom was when we saw Pekka walk up outside. When Serif saw Pekka outside putting on his jersey, he wouldn't leave the front doors. He is so struck with Pekka that he seriously watches his every move, always. When Pekka came in the door, Serif was the first person he saw. He was all decked out in his jersey and new "Pekka pads" that Aunt Shannon made him for Christmas. Pekka smiled really big and somewhat chuckled and said, "That is so awesome!" I don't think Pekka was expecting to see that. He seemed tickled at Serif and kept watching him throughout the night.

Serif kept saying that he wanted Pekka to sign his jersey on the back. Pekka was so cool and so patient with all of us and signed anything we gave him with a smile! He signed Serif's jersey, his Pekka stick, a photo and a letter (see below).

After Pekka signed Serif's shirt, he scooped him up and sat him on his knee for a photo. Neither of them could really quit smiling. It was so sweet. So here it is, "Little Pekka" and "Big Pekka".

There is also a contest going on to design a mask for Pekka. He will only wear it one night but afterwards you get to meet with him after the game (of which you win premium seats to) and he gives you the mask. We would be beside ourselves if we won. Serif and Jeff collaboratively worked on the mask together. Serif did the illustration and Jeff pulled it together and added a couple of graphics. We also wrote a short letter and added a couple of pictures of Serif in there. We decided to have Pekka sign the letter. When Jeff handed it to him, he actually read it and commented on how cool it was and how much he loved the photos. He then asked if it was for him and if he could keep it. Of course we said YES! We really only had 2 copies with us. One for him to sign and the other to submit. Since he asked to keep it, we still had him sign one and we'll just print another copy to submit this week. No way we were going to say no to that!

The above photo is actually one that someone else took while we were there. Jeff saw it posted on Twitter and has since seen it repeatedly posted by other people who like it. He was able to pull it off and save a copy.

People were constantly coming up to us and asking if we'd mind if they took his photo. People were so giddy over him! It was so funny! We had no issues with it and so his picture was taken a lot while we were there. The fans, the AT&T employees and the Predator's folks were all taking photos. The news crews were there as well and they kept trying to film him. He got camera shy a couple of times and would hide behind my leg. Another time was when Fox 17 got the camera right up to him and had the big microphone in front him, hoping he'd speak. He didn't. He just looked at it kind of funny and froze. I think he wasn't too sure about everything that was going on. I will say that they were really friendly about it all and never forceful with us or him. That would never have worked.

Here's a photo from News Channel 2! Thanks Gladstones!!! They only got a snippet of him (us). Jeff TiVo'ed Fox 17 last night. They had the most footage of him. Unfortunately there was a football game on last night that pushed the news back to mid-night! Jeff said it ended up airing at the very end of the news at almost 12:30. Sorry to those of you that may have stayed up to watch it. We are making a video of it and will post it for everyone to see. I may add more photos later too because I know Aunt Shannon got some good ones. Daddy was a little overwhelmed with it all and I had to keep nudging him to remind him to snap a few shots. Haha. He said he was a bit starstruck and excited for the boy that he couldn't think.

Anyways, what a great night! I do wish we had stayed longer. He was only there for an hour but we left after probably 30 minutes or so to go eat. The crowd was slowing down and I honestly think had we stayed, he may have even gotten to play a little with Pekka. That would've been priceless! Maybe there'll be another opportunity in the near future. If anyone hears of another fan event with Pekka, please let us know!

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