March Madness!

NCAA Tournament time! For anyone who knows me, you know that I live for March Madness. I quit work 2 weeks early when I was due with Drew just so I could stay home to watch the opening rounds of the tournament. Its the time of year Paul becomes a basketball-widower. This tournament is my Super Bowl. And we are so lucky this year, the tourney has come to little ol' Portland! Last year when tickets were on sale Paul said I could get some, but stupid me, I decided not to. I am kicking myself now that the time has come! But as you can see by the pictures our family experienced a small taste of the madness. The Rose Garden was open for everyone to watch the 8 teams practice yesterday, free of charge, so we packed up the kids and hit the town. I must admit, it wasn't all that thrilling, exept for the fact that we were actually where all the real action will take place today. The kids were having a great time running up and down the stairs, until an usher started heading our way, and we decided it was time to leave. We saw Gonzaga and Illinios go through short practices which I enjoyed. There was a great NCAA basketball vinyl poster hanging up just behind us and we tried to figure out a way to get home with it, but I think the ushers had their eyes on us due to our rambunctious kids, so we left empty-handed. Afterwards we thought we would extend our social experiment by celebrating Paul's birthday a few weeks early at Red Robin. We were instantly reminded why we NEVER go out to sit-down restaurants! Drew and Mason actually did really well, thanks to the color crayons they provided, but Darcy was a mess. Paul wolfed down his hamburger while I was trying to console her, and then we tag-teamed it. I passed her off to Paul while I choked down my chicken sandwich and then we were out of there! 35 minutes from start to finish. Must be a record. Needless to say, we won't be trying that again in the near future.

Michael Jordan's son plays sparingly for Illinois.

Darcy is a HUGE Michigan fan, taking after Paul's dad who graduated from there. They will have a tough time making it very far this tournament, but they are the team we will be keeping tabs on. For the next 3 weeks if you don't hear from me, I can be found in front of my tv, the living room a mess, dirty dishes in the sink, with whining kids cuz they can't watch their shows, having the time of my life!