The first weekend in October, we headed up to Chapel Hill for the weekend. We made a quick trip up to Chapel Hill in September for Kade and MM's engagement party and for a football game but we didn't get to take the kids with us. This weekend would be our only chance to head back up to take the kids to their only football game of the season. On Saturday, we would be going to the UNC vs. Va Tech game.
For this trip, we brought one extra person along for the ride and the game and the fun! Miss Rachel, our most favorite preschool teacher, babysitter and now friend, is originally from North Carolina and is a huge Carolina fan. This is just one of the many reasons we love her! We invited her to tag along for the weekend and she was brave enough to say yes. We were especially grateful to Kade for letting her stay in one of his extra rooms and to Eric for getting her a ticket and showing her around the Smith Center.....she was in heaven!
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| Jess and Rachel on the court |
We left early on Friday morning and made it to Franklin Street in time for lunch. I had big plans to sit outside at Top of the Hill and enjoy the fall weather and the view...but, a hundred other people also had those plans! The place was packed so we settled for an indoor spot.
After lunch, we headed down towards the Dean Dome. Eric was in a meeting so we decided to start our tour in the basketball museum. On our way into the museum, we ran into Coach Ford...as in Phil Ford, greatest point guard ever at UNC. Of course, he knows Chad and took a few minutes to speak to him....Rachel did a great job hiding her excitement. Coach Ford shook hands with both the boys. Owen took the chance to introduce himself to Phil Ford as "James Michael"...my boys are so confused with their own identity...they both think they are tall, african american males who play ball at UNC....set your dreams high boys!
We have been to the basketball museum several times in the past. We make this an annual event and I always enjoy it....the boys love it! Lucky for us, there were only 2 other people in the museum so the boys used this chance to run wild...and run wild they did!
Payton's most favorite Tarheel (in his short 4 years of life) is Harrison Barnes. Here is our little guy, in his Harrison jersey, posing beside his name in the long list of UNC players who have been drafted. You can see HB was the 7th pick in 2012.
My big boys enjoy watching the videos in the museum
My little boy continued running around!
Once we finished in the museum, we were happy to run into Eric. Eric let the boys play around on the court. He actually had to take care of a few things, so our time on the court turned into about an hour and a half on the court. My kids are SO spoiled. They have no idea that playing on the Smith Center court for an hour and a half, just because, is not normal. They have no idea that the event is something that should give them cold chills....they just think they are there to play. With two balls and a few goals, they did just that. Running and playing the entire time. Mommy still understands that this privilege probably won't last forever....sure, we hope Eric works at UNC forever and ever and ever.....but, it may not work out like that. For now, Mommy enjoys watching the boys play on the court and snaps as many pictures as possible. One day, they may not remember these days and I know it will be pretty cool to show them (and for them to show their friends) of their time on the court. And, on the off chance that they actually grow up to be 6 ft 5 in and have amazing ball handling skills and shoot like they were born to do it and get heavily recruited and wind up playing college basketball, well, these pictures will come in handy for a collage of sorts (like the one Tyler Hansbrough has in the UNC Basketball museum).....yes, let a mom dream, okay, Tyler Hansbrough is an amazing player and while I doubt either of my boys will ever be of that caliber, I seriously doubt his Mom and Dad expected to have 2 of 3 sons play college basketball or professional basketball either....and, had their 3rd son not had a brain tumor, it is likely they would have had 3 boys to play collegiate sports....now that is impressive....and I don't care who his Mama is dating! I digress.....
The boys spent a lot of time on the court and I got some really great pictures to prove it....unfortunately, this is the time frame where I only had my little camera...my big camera would have been so much better!
Payton, pretending to start the game
Proof that Rachel was with us
Payton hitting a shot...small ball but 10 ft goal, he worked for a long time to get this shot to go!
Jump ball!
Eric so nice to take Rachel in the locker room....Rachel did a great job of hiding her extreme excitement!
In the locker room
Slam dunk....times two
Owen, working on his hang time
...and his jump shot
Payton
Owen was to "scary" to sit down
We actually played on the court for soooo long that the boys were getting tired....I seriously think Owen would have fallen asleep if we had left him alone a little longer!
Just taking a little break at half court
This picture reminds me a little of the ever popular "Tarheel Dreaming" poster that so many of my friends had on their walls when we were growing up....of a little boy, laying on his bed, dreaming of the Heels. These are my boys, dreaming of being a Heel....except they both already think they are!
It is hard to see in the picture, but in the corner, two former UNC players are giving lessons to a young teenager. Payton and Owen enjoyed watching them play. One of the players was a former point guard...and, not one of the best, but he did contribute to a few necessary wins...Owen cracked us up as he continue to call this player "Michael Jordan." No buddy, if we were that close to Michael Jordan Mommy would be sure to let you know!
We were happy to hear that Amy would be able to bring Brady by for a center court photo op. This time was a little easier than the last. I know our boys will grow up hours apart but I hope they will still be great friends one day. Hope we can keep getting shots like this until they are old enough to be annoyed by their parents asking them to pose for a shot. Don't you just love that little Brady!!
Here are the 3 boys back in February
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