Jordan's jordans

Who knew Tay would ever have better basketball shoes than I do?

So after a rough first game for Taylor's team, they have now won a game (by 20 points) and tied a game. The game yesterday was a close one and with under a minute to go we were down 4 points. The girls hung in there though and tied the game with 8 seconds left. We were so proud of them. Tay had a steal and a rebound, along with multiple passes (as she is playing point guard or SMALL forward when in the game). It's fun to watch them out there trying to figure out this game called basketball.

I think the best part for me is watching Taylor enjoy something I love (most days). It seems like another connection I have with her that will allow her to understand a part of me - and me a part of her. We'll see how long this lasts - I'm hoping for a long time whether she keeps playing competitively or not. It's going to be fun this summer playing with her outside at our hoop - and teaching J a few things in the process...

chess tournament?

Who knew I'd ever be at a chess tournament...on purpose? Who knew it would be so intense, competitive, and entertaining also? There's a first time for everything...

Just a quick bit of business since I'm sure I'll be running on and on and on and on and on for this post. I have posted a few others lately - including some great new pictures of Tay...

Anyway, onto the chess tournament...

We went up to Lansing for the tournament (I know, I was at Michigan State - and I survived - barely), and had to be there by 8:30AM...which means we left a little after 7AM. Once we arrived and entered the building, there were kids everywhere! The helpful thing was that her team had very easy to distinguish t-shirts which made it easier to find them. We spent the day there and left around 7PM that night. There were 5 matches and Taylor played in 3 of the 5. She did very well (although lost 2 and had one draw) and each of her matches lasted a long time (she was always one of the last people in the room) which made them more exciting. This was also her first year on the team, so everything for us was new...and intimidating, but we managed our way through it.

You can see her team, the room we played in, and the room we hung out in below. There were so many kids there it was crazy...they were coming from all over the state and it was fun to see so many of them playing chess. One of the most fun things was watching the woman coordinating the event and seeing her lose control and yell into the microphone time and time again. She was a legend and all the parents that had been there before were ready for it. Let's just say we all stayed in line, didn't talk - and certainly didn't use our cell phones in the room.

All in all, it was really a fun time. We were able to spend quite a bit of time together as a family, eating snacks, lunch and dinner together so that was a positive upside. We also were able to spend a lot of time playing with Taylor's friends - playing cards, chess, gameboy - what a lively crew. At the end of the day, they were selling the chess sets the kids had played with all day for very rock bottom prices so we picked one up. It's always fun to have a 'travel' set to take with us when we go places.

Guess we'll just keep practicing until we get to do this again next year...

The whole team...

Tay, Jaz and Owen

Playing our first game...Taylor is sitting straight ahead next to the person in red (that's J)...

Our 'quiet' room - we hung here between matches...

More 'quiet' room shots...

Game #3...

Playing cards...

Just enjoying our time...notice my cool Erickson (her school) shirt...

Playing chess...

Tough to handle the stress...