This is "see ya' later" not "goodbye"!

After a lot of thought and consideration, I have decided to suspend the ordering of Roaming Penguins during this time. I have absolutely enjoyed sending these little guys out into the world these last two years, but it's time for me to take a break and relax with other projects.

Currently I do not plan on stopping permanently. However, I don't have a set idea on how long the hiatus will last. I will take more time to update this blog and will make an announcement on here when I feel ready to take orders again.

I really appreciate everyone's understanding and patience and kind words! This project means so much to me and I look forward to revisiting it again with new energy in the future!

(if you have already ordered a penguin, don't worry! I am filling the orders I have as usual :) )

Thanks!!!
The Roaming Penguin Mama
Stephanie

What Can I Say? The Roamers Love Christmas!

Our favorite little hat trick of Roamers (all three have met their humans!), from our favorite Pens Twins, Kaitlin and Nicole :)

Nicole and I have a few photos from our winter festivities. First, our trio of Roamers wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year under our tree on Christmas Eve. The following pair of pictures document our yarn boys taking advantage of the freezing weather to strike up a Winter Classic of their own on our little backyard pond.

Love the hat boys!

He shoots, he scores!

Not only do I love the third jerseys, but, c'mon, aren't the ice skating marks great??!

Kaitlin and Nicole never disappoint with their Roaming adventures!! Thanks guys!!

We've Done It Again!!!

I am very happy to announce that I am about to send ANOTHER $1,000 check to the Mario Lemieux Foundation!!

I say it a lot, but I never imagined this project would be so huge.....I was hoping to send *maybe* $500 when this all began. And now we're on our way to the next $1,000....amazing!!

But getting to write a big check every once in awhile is only one of the perks for me. Your e-mails and pictures truly make my day! I love how people have embraced the Roamers and you guys are really creative with your stories and places you take your penguins! And for those that think "well, there's nowhere really neat to take my Roamers", let me tell you....the pictures of them buckled into the front seat of the car, sitting in front of the tv watching a game, or hanging out at a restaurant are some of my faves :) Of course, I will admit, seeing the Penguin players with the yarn boys is a special thrill. It means so much to me that you guys take the time during your very brief interlude with the guys to get a Roamer in there for a picture. Keep up the good work!

I am also happy to announce that the waiting list is dwindling. Oh, I'm still getting orders every week, but it's slowed down just enough that I'm getting them out faster than orders are coming in. Right now the list is 37 penguins long (at one time it was 120!). It will be nice for me to be able to answer order e-mails with a "your penguin will be ready in about 2 days" instead of "you're going to have to be patient for about 6 months"!  I am almost to the 400 completed penguins mark.....all I can say is AMAZING!

So give yourselves a huge pat on the back! It's cliche, but this project and those checks would not exist without you! You guys ROCK!!!

THANK YOU!!!!

Roaming for 22 Hours!

Kylee packed up Sidney Penguin and road tripped to Pittsburgh for Christmas of 2008. Looks like Sid made himself right at home for the trek!

I just wanted to send you some pictures from when Sidney Penguins dared the 22 hour trip up to Pittsburgh. They are from when I was in the car and obviously was really bored. I ended up watching Sidney Crosby On the Ice and Beyond like 7 times on the way up because I had nothing else to do (not that I minded it!!!) 

Sid enjoying some Mickey D's....

Looks like it's naptime....

I think someone is trying to find out if those presents are for him....

Perfect blanket for a penguin!

Thanks so much to Kylee for sharing her pics!

Roaming to the Olympics

A bunch of Roaming Penguin Mamas have decended on Vancouver and they brought their Roamers with them!

 

  

Looks like the boys had lots of fun at the aquarium....and I'm sure they will be glued to the Canada/Slovakia game tonight (and the Canada/U.S. game on Sunday!!!)

Thanks to Kylie, Mer, and Lauren for taking their yarn boys to the Winter Games :) Another proud moment for this Penguin Mama....

Hope MAP is enjoying Hawaii!

Alyssa wrote (back in December of 2008):

Marc-Andre Penguin flew from Nashville, Tennessee to Washington, Pennsylvania for a trip to Conneaut Lake, PA (my Grandparents) for Thanksgiving.

He really dug our American traditions and ate a big plate full of food. When he saw the snow outside, it reminded him of Canada and decided to go out and play in it.

Seeing as how we were in Conneaut Lake, he begged me to take him to see the lake. He almost jumped right in, but I caught him just in time.
 
Marc-Andre Penguin came back home and hung out and watched the games for a while and then it was time to put him under the tree to give to my oldest brother for Christmas. My brother is in the Navy and is a really big Pens fan (in fact, he got me interested)!  Little did I know that there was a Sidney Penguin awaiting me under the tree!

They played some serious hockey for a while only stopping to take a quick picture together in front of the tree.

They had lots of fun over the holidays and are excited for some adventures!!!

P.S. My brother will be stationed in Hawaii for two to three years. So hopefully there will be some thrilling (and warm) adventures to come!

 

  

  

 Ok, this picture made me laugh out loud! Those goalies love making snow angels!

  

 (you have to look close to see MAP on the left side of the sign :) )

  

 "When do we leave for Hawaii??"

  

 

This penguin order was a fun one....Alyssa wanted a Marc Andre for her brother and then her dad secretly ordered a Sidney for her! I love surprises!!

More Christmas (2008) Pictures from April and Sid

After Sidney Penguin came down from the Christmas tree, he and April took a trip to some pretty gardens :)

Christmas Day Sidney Penguin headed down to Longwood Gardens (in Kennett Square, PA) with me and my family:

Sidney Penguin sitting on the Longwood Garden Organ bench.  He enjoyed the Christmas sing-along 

 Sidney Penguin in front of the desert plants

 

 

 Sidney Penguin in front of banana leaves

 

 Sidney Penguin trying to hitch a ride on a dragon

 

 Sidney Penguin with the gargoyles

 

 

 Sidney Penguin thought that the fountains would be a nice way to cool off from all the walking we did

 

 Looks like Sidney Penguin wanted down from the pelican's mouth

 

 We enjoyed the chilly outdoor fountain display set to more Christmas music

 

 The likeness of Sidney Penguin, myself and Sidney Crosby.  Sid really seems to be beaming in this picture.

 

The pelican pictures are my favorite! Thanks so much for sharing, April :)

Trimming the tree with Sid!

April got a lot of help last year (and I mean LAST last year!) decorating the Christmas tree....

 We put our tree up on Thanksgiving and Sidney P wanted to get right into the action

 

 Sidney P checking out the view from his perch in the tree

 

After a few minutes Sidney P managed to climb his way to the top of the tree

 

 A fully decorated tree with the best kind of angel possible

 

Sidney P admiring his decorating skills from atop the tree

I think April is on to a fabulous decorating idea!!

Merry Christmas from Penguin Production Headquarters (Dallas Division)!!

Penguin Production Headquarters has temporarily moved from Nashville to Dallas (well, ok, Ft. Worth really) for the next week. And I am THRILLED to report that I got what I've always wanted for Christmas (well, ok, besides a husband).....a white Christmas! It was beautiful as it fell yesterday and I believe we ended up with about 3 inches. And did I mention we're in TEXAS?? Josey-kitten, my mom and I drove out here Wednesday night....and I'm glad we did with the impending snow. We'll be here until New Years and taking in two Stars games while I'm here.

Anyhow, I hope that everyone out in Roamer Land has a great, great Christmas (or a Happy Hanukkah!) and a fun time ringing in 2010!!

Josey and Sid...checking out the snow

Sid on my parent's front porch marveling at the white stuff!

Would you look at that.....Santa makes Roamers too! (this Sidney Penguin is for my dad...I'll let you know if he ever roams with him :) )

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Thanksgiving.....2008 *shrug*

I am now officially a year behind! Perhaps my New Year's Resolution next month will be to blog more (of course, at the rate I'm going, I won't make resolutions until sometime in September). Anyways, please sit back and enjoy Ali's trip home for Thanksgiving.....from last year :)

Brooks Penguin and I started celebrating Christmas and the winter season a little early -- enjoy!!

On the way to Virginia...

Brooks Penguin and my sister had to stop and get in a game of checkers...

Brooks took awhile to decide on his next move...

Santa!!!

Brooks really wanted to take a little bite out of this HUGE gingerbread house, but we held him back. haha.

With a deer in the winter woodlands. :)

Brooks, Santa, and I all posed for a picture together. :)

Wooden Soldier & Brooks... excellent.

Brooks and a HUGE Christmas tree -- you can't really see him, but he's on top of the gifts under the tree...

Looking up at the tree... see how freakin' huge it is??? Wow.

It was skate time!!!

Checking out the rink before it was time to go out and skate...

It was time to get up close and personal with the ice... haha... Brooks probably should have been giving ME lessons...

Skating = so much fun!

Well -- I guess the final countdown to Christmas is right upon us... haha... I hope you have a great December!!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Sidney Penguin and I ate waaaaaaaay too much and we took in a Stars game over the weekend (don't tell anyone, but S.P. does love the Stars).

Until next time....keep on Roamin'!

Give These Girls A Raise!!

You all may remember that twins Nicole and Kaitlin introduced the first Roamer to his human counterpart. Well, Max Penguin was jealous, so another introduction was made (and I will hunt down those pictures in my overflowing e-mail box soon!). Sidney Penguin just couldn't stand to be left out.....and I will let Kaitlin take it from here.....

I'm very happy to let you both know that my sister, Nicole, and I recently achieved what we'd like to call our "Roaming Penguin Hat Trick" -- all three of our Roamers are now signed by their respective players! And yes, that means Marc-Andre Penguin (Nov. 3, 2008), Max Penguin (Dec. 1, 2008), AND a certain Sidney Penguin... ;)

Sidney Penguin met his human counterpart today after the boys' game day skate. Nicole and I arrived at the Igloo at about noon (we cheated because we now live at Duquesne University, less than ten minutes away on foot) and stood along the green fence just outside of Gate 2 alongside a HUUUUUUGE crowd. I was certain that hardly anyone on the roster would approach this unusually large crowd, but I was soon proven wrong. A young hockey team, the Peterborough Petes (Jordan Staal's team from his younger years), was in town, and some of the guys couldn't resist visiting them. Tyler Kennedy walked right up to the crowd and made his way down the line, then Ruslan Fedotenko followed suit. Jordan Staal and Eric Godard then walked to their cars, but when the young hockey players were escorted into the parking lot, Staalsy paid a visit to his former team... and that's when I noticed Sidney Crosby walking towards the group. I tapped Nicole (he's her favorite player), and we watched as he signed autographs for the boys and posed for photos. Then he also walked to the long line of fans and proceeded along the fence. I was stunned, because I hadn't thought for a moment that Sid would approach such a sizable group. I put my jersey aside so that I could document Nicole holding out her Sidney Penguin for Sid to sign. Said documentation has been uploaded to my YouTube account, and here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/user/spazzingfangirl#p/a/u/0/k9gALVQmwiI

Notes: --The woman following him is a Penguins employee. She set the rules for how long Sid signed for the crowd, and maintained control.

--Sid initially missed Nicole because he was in a conversation with a fan, and Nicole wasn't holding SP over the fence. She didn't want to risk dropping him (although, if she HAD dropped SP over the fence, wouldn't it have been something if Sid picked it up?? :) ).

--The quality is awful because it was recorded by my anxious self using my digital camera...

-- The first two attached photos are of Sid meeting the Peterborough Petes. The third is apparently a look at Sid's thighs... taken by Nicole. The fourth is our RPHT. And last is a screenshot of SC and SP. :)

So there you have it. Sidney Crosby met Sidney Penguin today... and Mama G., Nicole G., and myself have an unofficial "Roaming Penguin Hat Trick!"

GO PENS!!!

Kaitlin G.

  

That? Is just too beautiful for words :)

Can you even breathe with him that close?? *le sigh*

Needless to say, I owe Nicole, Kaitlin, and Mama G. a very huge thanks for all the great pictures and stories!! I don't know, ladies, I'm thinking once you get a taste for the hat trick, you can't stop there! :)