Austin Road Trip

I feel like all my KU posts are so long and have so many pics.  With that, consider yourself warned.

Remember when I posted this on my Smile Fridays last week?  Well, we did it!  We kept going back and forth and basically decided no.  Then Thursday night we got a connection with tickets-maybe.  It wasn't finalized until Friday afternoon.  So, Friday night we packed and left our house Austin bound on Saturday morning!

After the short drive (3 hours), we arrived in Austin just in time to grab some lunch and head straight to the arena.  We had incredible seats and the kids did amazing!  The game started at 1, the exact time we put them down for naps everyday.  Despite the 16,000 semi-loud fans, we got Laney asleep most of the first half.  She was up for the second half but totally content on our laps.  Very unLaney like, I was prepared with lots of toys and snacks, but didn't need anything!  She was taking it all in-the game, the crowd, the LED boards with all the lights.  She would point to the court and say, ba-ball.  She is very familiar with basketball since her brother asks her to play every single day.  We are pretty sure she loved her first KU basketball experience. :)  Cooper loved it as we thought he would.  He was always on the lookout for Jeff Withey and Ben McClemore.  He was cheering and mad at all the right times :).  However, he did tell me about every 3 minutes how tired he was, but he refused to rest.  We didn't buy anything!! and only got up once, can you believe it??!!  That one time was for me to take Coop to the bathroom with 4 minutes left when we were still down!!!!!!  But we came back from the bathroom after we had finally taken the lead again.  It wasn't the prettiest game and was way too close for comfort (if my kids didn't soak in any new inappropriate words it will be a miracle ;)) but all that matters is our Hawks got the W. 

After the game we hung out, let the crowd clear out and took some pics on the court.  On the way out of the arena, we happened to walk out where the team bus was!!!!!  Aaaahhhhhh!  Duh, of course we hung out to see our boys up close.  And up close we did...

 Told ya, great seats.

 sweet sleeping babe. 

 Happy 1st KU basketball experience Laney Faith.  You were a gem!

  Representing our Hawks in Longhorn country.

 Thumbs up for a KU win!

Standing right behind Uncle Bill's seat :).

 Can you tell Coop is happy to be meeting his favorite player and the guy he imitates everyday at home.

 Evidence that we tried to get Laney in these pics.  She wouldn't stand still and the guys didn't seem willing to grab her in their arms :).  For you non-fans, this is Ben McClemore.  The kid is 18 and an absolutely incredible basketball player.  Even if you aren't a KU fan, you need to watch a game just to see him play.  You better catch him this season, I imagine he will be in the NBA soon.  For the record, I just wanted to squeeze Ben's cheeks...he looks like a baby!

 Elijah wasn't too happy...he did not have a stellar game.

 We really wanted Laney in a picture, I kept feeling like she was going to look back on this and wonder where she was!  Kevin Young was the sweetest with the kids.

 I was about to throw in the towel and give up on seeing Uncle Bill...tired and hungry kids and a diaper that needed changing.  Ad convinced me to stay a few more minutes and then out walks Uncle Bill.  Cooper was in an all out sprint, yelling "Uncle Bill!!!!"  This was him thinking, who is this kid about to attack me and where are his parents.  :)

 Mission Accomplished.  Coop was on cloud nine afterwards, all smiles and full of energy.  Of course,  I love living vicariously thru my kids so I felt just like Coop :).

Right after seeing the players and Uncle Bill they must have been chatting about who was their favorite.  

It was the most beautiful day - 70s and sunny.

I love this picture but hate how grown up he looks :(.

We stayed in downtown Austin, walked to a local pizza place for dinner, and then pushed our double stroller in a liquor store for a 6 pack :).  Yep, as Austin was just getting started Adam and I were drinking beers in our hotel bed with a 3 year old between us and a 18 month old sound asleep in a pack and play.  We were all out by 10 :).  We all slept in until about 8, grabbed breakfast, hit the road and were back home by lunchtime Sunday.  It was an incredible 24 hours and we made some really fun memories.