But just a couple of days before departure, these boys also had the opportunity to represent their team once again as UNI's Anthem Buddies during the Panther Senior night - taking the court with the college players for the singing of the National Anthem.
Back to our weekend! The tournament just happened to fall on Brandon's birthday weekend, and the schedule of games worked out just perfectly so that we would be done playing basketball on the first day by early Saturday afternoon and would have the opportunity to take our birthday boy to Mall of America for a fun dinner and all the roller coaster rides he could handle. And thus, our decision to leave our baby girl at home with Nana Deanne and Papa Tim - the first time any of us would be away from her overnight. I wanted to be able to focus on Jaden and the big opportunity he had that weekend - and most importantly, I wanted to be able to join Brandon on all of those rides and give him my complete attention on his birthday.
Papa Bob and Nana Nancy joined us for our weekend away, and the other papa and nana stayed at our house for two nights to love on our girl. It wasn't easy saying goodbye to her, but it was absolutely the right decision.
Because Brandon's birthday was on Saturday and we would be leaving town on Friday, he opted to open his birthday gifts before we left town.
But first - baby sis snuggles. We would all miss her so much!
We had a fun weekend away. We took the Nintendo Switch with us, hooked it up in our hotel room, and spent our first night playing video games together after arrival.
As far as the basketball tournament went, it was an entirely different game style than what we'd been used to playing in Iowa for the last three years. The Outlaws played some tough inner-city teams, but held their own - going 2-2 on the weekend. And Jaden played some of his best ball to date. He wasn't intimidated by the athletes on the other side, and we even saw some serious toughness from him on the second day when he went one on one with a kid from the other team that had been talking smack and shoving our guys all game. Jaden won a rebound battle against him, they both ended up on the floor, and Jaden stood up with the ball in his hands and stared him down while looking over him. Those who know our boy know that he doesn't get too high or too low when he's playing - but seeing him get a little "angry" and watching how that pushed his game forward was pretty fun to watch as the weekend progressed.
Getting a "job well done" from Daddy.
And Brandon had an absolute blast at Mall of America. We took him to eat at Margaritaville, ordered him a super delicious chocolate cake dessert and then bought him an unlimited ride wristband. The basketball team met up with us after supper and all the boys and their siblings had a blast bouncing from ride to ride all night long. I lost count of how many times Brandon rode the Pepsi roller coaster, and he and I made one sweet memory on the log ride together. And as we were coasting to the top of that free-fall drop, we both decided that water rides are not our favorites. Give us roller coasters all day long - we'll pass on the water drop from now on. Or at least until Disney World. ;)
Jaden has become increasingly scared of rides as he ages, but he was a trooper watching everyone else have fun, and even carried a bunch of the moms' coats and purses while WE went on rides from time to time. :)
It was good to get away with my crew and escape reality for a while, but it was equally as good to return home to our girl on Sunday night. She was definitely ready to see us, and we were so happy to smother her with hugs and kisses again.
