I really struggled with whether or not to go to the tournament with Daniel. Anthony and Carrie would be in Utah another day, so it meant cutting the time I got to see them. It was also complicated logistically for friends to watch Sadie and Elise and then get rides to all their activities. The NCAA tournament is also further complicated by the fact that if they lose the first game you are gone for 3 days and if they win you are gone for 5 days. So I had to ask my friend to potentially watch my kids for 5 days. That is a long time for a trip that isn't necessary. In the end Anthony kept telling me I should go and I am glad I did. And I am even glad we brought Millie. She got to have crazy amounts of attention with the Nielson family.
We flew on a charter out of SLC. Chartered flights are so great and this year the plane had a first class section so we had tons of room to spread out.
We went to dinner in Austin when we arrived. Tom, Carolyn and Courtney met us there. Millie showed off her love of all things sauces by eating mainly ketchup and my leftover salad dressing, along with a few bites of bread dipped in butter for her dinner.
The next day while the team had practice/media stuff Millie and I hung out with Carolyn and Courtney. Our hotel was on the south side of Austin, which is the opposite direction from the Nielson's, so they had to drive 30-45 minutes each way to see us.
We walked along the Boardwalk Trail around Lady Bird Lake. The weather was super muggy and I found myself wishing I had worn workout clothes. Millie was showered with attention and praise, but she mostly gave us the cold shoulder.
Mimi got a smile out of her when she got to climb on the railing.
Afterwards we went to Chuy's where Millie drank the creamy jalapeno dip and generally caused a scene. Paco attempted to distract her while the ladies finished up our lunch.
He headed back to work and we went back to the hotel so Millie could nap. Courtney, Carolyn and I hung out in the hall outside the hotel room for the next 2 hours while Camille slept. We had a fun time. Seriously.
Once Millie woke up she got lots more love and attention. Tom and Whitney arrived to bring our total to 6 adults and one toddler hanging out in a small hotel room.
That night we went to The County Line for a delicious dinner with the team and Nielsons. The weather was still foggy so the view wasn't as clear as usual.
Millie mostly ate bread and butter. What a surprise.
When we parted ways on Friday night the Nielsons left one of their cars with me. Saturday morning I drove out to hang out in Round Rock. Millie renewed her love for Ruby the dog. I love this picture of Whitney and Camille.
We ate lunch at Hoody's where Millie showed off her straw skills.
After lunch Millie napped at the Nielson's with Paco while the women went shopping at Target. I was nervous all day for the game, so it was nice to be doing things instead of sitting around waiting.
The picture below is Millie doing her "BYU" chant with her hand motion. It is adapted from the BYU fight song. She started doing it in Vegas and now she does it all the time at home. She just really feels the love for the Cougs.
When the game finally started we looked stiff. The team played alright, but not nearly as well as they can. They still kept it relatively close, and were only down by 2 points with 2 minutes left, but they couldn't pull out the win. It was disappointing, but in a different way than the WCC tournament. I was so sad for them.
We waited for the team back at the hotel so we could go to one final dinner before our flight back to Utah the next morning.
On Sunday morning we flew back to Provo, but the flight was not without it's....complications.
First, Millie was in an angry mood. In an attempt to make her happy at the airport Daniel stuck her up on this ledge and then she didn't want to get down.
Next came the digestive issues. About 15 minutes into the flight Millie got diarrhea. We moved out of our first class seats so the other coaches didn't have to deal with the smells of the constant poop/diaper/clothes changing (the airplane bathrooms didn't have changing tables). We took over a couple rows back by the cheerleaders and BYU band. It was a flight to remember. As fate would have it, her worst 2 1/2 hours of diarrhea coincided with us flying. Once we landed it slowed down from every 20 minutes to every few hours.
When we got back Sadie and Millie were very happy to see one another.
Special shout out to Whitney who drove 6 hours each way to see us/watch the BYU game. Of course, if BYU had won we would have been around a couple more days, but it was still awesome of her to get the time off work and drive out.
0 comments:
Post a Comment