Road Trip to the Final Four!! April 2-3, 2011

Hi everyone-- We have been watching the women's and men's basketball tournament like obsessed fans, especially Emmy! Emmy was watching the Notre Dame-Tennessee game on Tuesday, March 29, and ND was ahead so I casually mentioned that "hey, if ND actually wins, we'll have to road trip to Indi for the Final Four." Well, ND had NEVER won against Tennessee in the history of its program so I thought that I was making a pretty safe off-hand comment :) Well, of course, ND won this time so Emmy piped right up and asked "so, when are we going?" Weeeeeeeeeeeelllllll... After checking into tickets, etc., I didn't think that it was feasible. After all, I was supposed to drive to Milwaukee for a conference on the following Tuesday, and tickets were outlandish. On Thursday evening, I told Emmy that we weren't going to be able to go. She was just crushed... After seeing her face (and listening to her offer to buy her own ticket), I went back to the drawing board on Friday morning before my faculty meeting. In an hour flat, I arranged for NCAA tickets, a hotel room, and called the NCAA to get the girls pre-registered for a special event. I also got an airline ticket to Milwaukee b/c I knew that I'd be too tired to road trip there right after returning from Indi-- thank God for frequent flyer miles! On Saturday morning, I went to Chelsea's track meet (but, unfortunately, didn't get to see her jump) and then picked up Emmy and Ellie-Kate from Emmy's softball practice and started the drive for Indi. We arrived at Applebees near Carmal and met Grandma B. and Great-Grandma for supper (and then shopping at Kohls!!). We all had a fun time!! We checked into our hotel by around 10 p.m., and I tried to stay awake to watch the second men's game but couldn't. (Go Butler-- winner of the first game!!) On Sunday, April 3, 2011, we had a terrific day. We woke up early, got ready, had our free breakfast in the hotel, and then tried to pass the time until we could check in for our special event. We only had an hour and a half of unscheduled time, but it certainly passed slowly!! Our hotel was amazing!! We stayed at the Hampton-- right across a parking lot from the Consesco Center. At 11 a.m., we went into the center, picked up our tickets, and took pics. It still wasn't time to check in for the Circle City Dribble, but Emmy and Ellie-Kate spotted a short line of kids shooting hoops in the street, and we went to do it. People were impressed by Emmy and taken with Ellie-Kate :) The street was blocked off, and the NCAA had a number of fun activities for kids to do as they waited for event registration. We checked in at 11:30, and the girls received their free t-shirts. We stopped in at Steak and Shake for lunch and then walked the short two blocks to the convocation center. Wow!!! Tournament Town was incredible. The girls got to dribble and shoot basketballs, go to a batting cage, try lacrosse, and take pics. We tore ourselves away in time to drop off our coats at the hotel along the way and then get back for the Circle City Dribble event-- along with a few thousand of our new closest friends :) What an amazing experience!!! We were about halfway in the group. As we passed by the Consesco Center, each girl received a basketball, and Emmy and Ellie-Kate dribbled for four blocks to the convocation center. People were so impressed with both of their dribbling skills. I was recurrently asked how old that Ellie-Kate is, and they were stunned when I replied, "Just turned three!" Meanwhile, a person from Stanford (one of the other teams in the Final Four) talked with Emmy. When she learned that Emmy wants to go to either ND or Stanford and play ball, she told her to keep up the great basketball skills (as well as her grades). When she learned that Emmy taught Ellie-Kate how to dribble, she was even more encouraging to her. After more fun at the convo center (and a pep rally that included the bands and cheerleaders from the four Final Four teams), we changed into our new Final Four t-shirts at the hotel, ate dinner at Old Spaghetti Warehouse, and walked the one block to the Consesco Center. Okay, our seats were up high, but our noses didn't bleed. We were very fortunate to get corner seats b/c we were literally in the only three seats in our aisle. We had an absolute blast watching Texas A&M and Stanford, even though Stanford lost in the final seconds. Ellie-Kate slept for about 20 minutes but woke up during the intermission between games. She was awake for the entire ND-UConn game. Good thing because Emmy and I couldn't contain ourselves. We were all yelling and screaming during the whole game. We loved every second-- the players, the cheerleaders, the band, and the ND students who sat even higher in the stadium than us and did the gig :) After ND won, we participated in the most incredible fan experience, yelling "We are.. ND" as we all departed from the arena. The girls finally got into bed around 2 a.m. We left for Athens on Monday around 8 a.m., and Emmy got to school by 12:30. We were all exhausted-- but very grateful for the experience! Christie