Salisbury Final Four Fun

While Lee was rootin' on the Heels in San Antonio (aka "working"), the kids and I were doing the same in Salisbury... but, we were having way more fun!

Burt and Gayle took fabulous care of us while Lee was away. As much as we were looking forward to having him come home, it was hard to leave their beautiful new home.

Amelia loved sneaking up to Grandad's loft area to hang-out with him, eating bag after bag of Cheerios. Her other favorite place was GG's sunroom.

We ate delicious meals, explored Salisbury, played around the house, and visited with friends. One afternoon, Anne Phillips came to play and share dinner. She's the granddaughter of Burt and Gayle's good friends, the Crawfords. The girls had a grand time playing princess, dancing, and enjoying yummy ice cream cake for dessert.

Somehow we survived the Tar Heel loss. Probably because we had GG and Grandad to distract us. Amelia is hoping that Dad goes on a trip again real soon, so she can head back to Salisbury for an extended stay. We all can't wait to go back!

Meeting Noah

The Monday before I left for the Final Four, Noah met his great-grandparents for the first time.

Amelia was very excited to go and see Granny and Poppi, and Granny and Poppi couldn't have been more excited to have two little ones visit.

Noah showed off his new skill - smiling. Although it's still a rarity to catch on camera, the little guy will flash a smile that will warm your heart. Poppi made it his goal for the afternoon to make Noah smile as much as possible, and he was very successful.

Championship Night

Congrats to the Kansas Jayhawks. Tens of thousands of Jayhawk faithful descended on San Antonio like Santa Ana's forces in 1836. And like Sam Houston, I'm ready to retreat to higher ground.

The championship game was a lot of fun and what a classic battle. Julianna would find this hard to believe, but I did feel sorry for the Memphis team and fans. (Julianna - it's only in Tar Heel games that I feel the losing team deserves no quarter.) They had the game in their hands and just couldn't finish.

A highlight of the evening for me was meeting one of my favorite Tar Heels of all time, Hubert Davis. He was an All-American shooting guard for UNC in the early '90s. Hubert's a super nice guy; we discussed kids and Tar Heel basketball prior to the tip off.

Well, time to sign off from San Antonio and board a plane home. I'm looking forward to seeing my wife and little ones.

Hooping it up in the Alamodome

Since the Tar Heels took it on the chin on Saturday, the highlight of the weekend was running 5 on 5 hoops on the dome floor.

Every year at the Final Four, CBS reserves a two-hour block on the floor for some hoops. We ran four games to 42, CBS staff vs. non-CBS staff. Each team won two, and we ran out of time before playing a rubber match.

While the quality of ball was about as good as UNC in the first half of the Kansas game, we certainly had a lot of fun.
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Tears from the Alamo

I love text messaging. I know, I'm a dork and texting is such a high school communication medium. So during the game, here is a quick sample of the texts I received while watching my beloved Heels fall to the Kansas Jayhawks, a game that Kansas fans have dubbed, The Revenge Game.

Game Situation
"Message"
Text Sender

Danny Green commits his fourth turnover in 4 minutes
"Is Danny Green being paid to throw this game?"
B.S. (UNC Fan)

Another Danny Green turnover
"Did Danny Green undergo a hand transplant last night?"
J.S. (UNC Fan)

Kansas goes up 17 on UNC in 1st half
"Kansas looks like the '90 UNLV team."
(editors note: UNLV beat Duke in '90 by 30, considered one of the best college teams of all time)
M.M. (UNC Fan)

Kansas goes up 23 on UNC in 1st half
"Kansas looks like the San Antonio Spurs."
(editor's note: San Antonio won the NBA championship last season)
M.M. (UNC Fan)

Kansas goes up 28 on UNC in 1st half
"Kansas looks like the '96 Chicago Bulls.
(editor's note: the 1996 Chicago Bulls are arguably the best NBA team of all time)
M.M. (UNC Fan)

On Kansas beating UNC like a drum in the 1st half
"Painful."
J.S. (UNC Fan)

UNC goes 4 of 22 shooting in the first 12 minutes of the game
"Is this the UNC Tar Heels or the East Chapel Hill Tigers?"
B.S. (UNC Fan)

The most random text of the night -
"Do you have a beard?" At the time, this struck me as extremely funny.
K.W. (UNC Fan)

Game over
"Well, that stunk."
E.P. (UCLA fan)

I received 34 texts last night.

Despite the end of the season, I'm proud of my Heels. They were in a huge hole last night and almost dug themselves out. Carolina fans should celebrate this season. Most wins in school history, an ACC regular season championship, an ACC tournament championship, and a trip to the Final Four - what a great year.

I'll keep you all posted for tomorrow's championship game, it should be fun.

And go Memphis! Sorry - I guess I'm a little bitter.

Greetings from the Alamo!

This weekend I'm lucky enough to combine work and one of my favorite events, the NCAA Final Four.
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One of my assignments for work is to manage the NCAA tournament for CBS. This task requires training and staffing 16 co-workers at 13 different arenas over a four week period. The Final Four is the last weekend of this ordeal, and my favorite sporting event. To top it off, the North Carolina Tar Heels, my alma mater, will be playing.
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I've been involved with the NCAA tournament for nine years, and not once have I had the Tar Heels at my site. Each year we are required to book our travel prior to the NCAA releasing the brackets. For those of you that don't know, the brackets determine where each team plays. Every year I've been involved with the tournament I've tried to predict where the Tar Heels will be and schedule myself at that site. In 2006 it was Greensboro, but, alas, the Tennessee Volunteers were sent there and the Tar Heels were sent to Dayton, OH. In 2001 I was at the regional weekend in Atlanta, hoping to see the Heels. Unfortunately UNC was knocked off early by Penn State. One year I hoped to have them in Washington, D.C., but the Heels were upset by the Cinderella George Mason team that went on to the Final Four.
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This year we had Noah, and I thought maybe staying at home during the tournament would be the best idea. But Julianna insisted..."You have to go to the Final Four, the Heels are going to be there." I just poo-pooed her and said, "Honey, it's a long road and there's no guarantee that the Heels will win their bracket." I relented, deciding to take a chance and schedule myself for the Final Four. We'll here I am in San Antonio, and so are the Tar Heels.
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Julianna and the kids are spending the weekend in Salisbury with my folks. Thanks, Mom and Dad for taking them in, and thank you, Julianna, for convincing me to go to the Final Four.
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Hopefully the Heels will keep the momentum going...win tonight, and we'll see you on Monday night.

Museum Exploration

The other day, Amelia and her friends Myla and Sarah went to a favorite place - the Museum of Life & Science in Durham. This visit was extra special, not only because Dad came along, but Sarah's cousins - Jonathan and Jake, joined us too. Amelia was thrilled! She loves older kids.

Between testing out the new climbing wall, riding the train, and exploring the wind exhibit, much fun was had by all.

As usual, Amelia hated leaving!

Watch out Edyta, here comes Carolyn!

In case you missed it, here's Mom and Dad's debut on Dancing with the Stars last night... they received perfect 10's from the judges!

I think the producers have been calling them to join the pros on next year's show!

Happy Easter!

Today our dear friends the Linke's invited us to share Easter brunch with them. As always, Leah prepared a delicious feast!

Amelia had a ball hunting for eggs with Ben and Max. The Linke boys are so wonderful and couldn't have been sweeter to Amelia and Noah. They were so patient with Amelia following them around every where they went. As far as she's concerned, Amelia has two new best friends!

We had a lovely time with the Linkes in their beautiful home. It was a perfect Easter celebration!

Little Seeds

Amelia has a new friend - Zach. Zach's mom, Wendy, is helping our next door neighbor, Susan, with some landscaping.

Zach comes to help his mom... and play with Amelia. They have had so much fun together climbing Susan's massive dirt pile. I fear what's going to happen when all the dirt has been transferred to the beautiful new flower beds. Amelia's going to be very sad.

Today they were pretending to be seeds potted in the barrel... growing into the silliest trees you ever saw.

Many an evening I've had to drag her home, literally kicking and screaming, because she doesn't want to stop playing with Zach and Susan.

We have the best neighbors!