A little girl held captive the players of the Green Bay Packers when she wanted an impromptu tea party.
Two-and-a-half-year-old Aria Rubens was sporting her Packers cheerleader uniform and offering imaginary sips of tea to the players as they were on their way back from practice.
As the players walk by, Aria innocently asks, “Want some tea?” And she holds out her hand with a pink-colored teacup through the fence. Aria gives out high-fives to those who stop to have a sip of pretend tea and then waves them goodbye with a “Go Pack Go.”
Where did she learn her passion for the Packers? Her father of course! Brock, her dad, is a diehard Packers fan and taught Aria the “Go Pack Go” slogan during their viewed football games on TV last season.
Aria’s mother, Ashley said, “I wanted to leave the tea set in the car, we’re not bringing a teapot to practice.”
However, Aria’s will won and Ashley let her bring a few pieces of the tea set so she could have a tea party with her grandparents.
Aria was not satisfied with having tea with just her grandparents, she wanted to offer some to the players as they came by as well.
Ashley said, “She was not afraid. She just thought, ‘Somebody besides my mom is going to have a tea party with me. This is great.’ We were actually shocked when the first Packers player stopped. We were like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s so kind.’ Then a couple of more stopped.”
One player who stopped by thought Aria would want her tea set autographed, but no, she just wanted to have her tea party with him. He said, “Oh, OK, I can do that.”
Shawn Davis, a safety for the Green Bay Packers, joined in the party and said, “Oh my gosh!” As he gave Aria a high-five and said, “Boom!”
Ashley was touched by their willingness to participate in a 2-year-olds imaginary tea party. She said, “They were truly so good to her. From the bottom of our hearts, we were just so thankful of how kind these guys (were). After a long, sweaty practice out in the sun, they were like, ‘You know what? We’ll give time to a 2-year-old.’”
The Green Bay Gazette reported,
Ashley originally posted the videos to her Facebook page for friends and family, and then someone asked if they could share it with a local TV reporter on Twitter. When Ashley posted another round of videos from their second day at camp, Discover Green Bay asked to take some of the individual videos and put them together in a highlight reel it shared on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.
Thats when things went viral for the little princess. Versions of the video have now been viewed over 10 million times.
Ashley said, “This is just crazy. It has been a wild journey, and you can quote me on that.”
Ashely went on to say, “It’s just crazy how many people just want a good story about people being kind to each other. I think that’s what it comes down to, is that we were OK with the story about our daughter being spread as long as it’s spreading some kindness and joy to people, because, ultimately, I think that’s what the Packers community is about.”
