NCAA- ACC Semifinals in Brooklyn 2018

UVa buddies Lukas, Nick, Brady, Briggs, and Kevin went to the ACC Tournament semifinals in Barclays Center in Brooklyn. They sawy the UVa-Clemson game and the UNC-Duke game. UVa is going into the NCAA as #1.

(Lukas, sort of), Nick, Brady, Kevin, and Briggs

Nick and Lukas

ACC Tournament: Pittsburgh v. Virginia 2017

On Wednesday, Kevin, Nick, and Briggs went to the UVA game against Pittsburgh at the Barclay Center last night. It went late- almost to midnight!- but UVA was victorious!

ACC Tournament

Basket!

Sadly, UVA lost the next night to Notre Dame, ending their tournament in NYC.

Last Day of Basketball 2017

Wednesday was the last day of the basketball season for James. James told Kevin, "Now I have a trophy just like you!" He was referencing the trophy Kevin purchased for himself after he won Fantasy Football in 2012. Haha.

Trophies!


Basketball picture

James Plays Basketball 2016

James started basketball on Wednesday! His team, the Mini-Spurs, practiced dribbling, passing, shooting, and then playing a little simulated game with offense and defense. He and a girl are the only kindergartners on his team and the rest are first graders.

Dribbling practice

Shooting

Offense against middle school children (siblings) helping to coach

Defense against the middle schoolers

St. Patrick's Day 2014

Cory and Robin came to visit this weekend during the Conference Tournaments and St. Patrick's Day. They also helped us kick off Kevin's Spring Break Week. Spring Break woo!

St. Patrick's Day photo with Robin and Cory

Saturday and Sunday we mostly watched basketball all day. James objected strongly and frequently. He wanted to watch the children's channel Sprout instead. He was way out-numbered. Saturday, Lukas and Nick came over to watch the games with us. And Sunday, we watched UVA victoriously claim the #1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Nick and Lukas are very focused.

Cory entertaining our troublemaker

Sunday we got in the spirit of the weekend and wore our green clothing. Kevin made his corned beef sandwiches (yum!) and the adults who could drink enjoyed some Guinness. James and I enjoyed these chocolate potato candies that Robin brought us.

Robin and Cory reading James's thank you card for the toy plane they gave him

James is excited about Kevin's corned beef

Robin's artistic display of the sandwiches

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

• Last year for St. Patrick's Day we went into Manhattan with Brady, Sarah, and Jon.
• On St. Patrick's Day 2012, we hit the bars in our Irish neighborhood in Long Island with Michele and Jon
• And for St. Patrick's Day 2011, I was pregnant with James so we stayed in with Briggs, Jon, Lukas, and Sarah

James's first trip to DC and to visit Cory and Robin 2012

We had a few extra days to travel since Kevin is on Spring Break from teaching classes, so we decided to visit Cory and Robin in DC.  Kevin's visited Cory a few times in the past, but I've never stayed with them in DC before.  They have a lovely condo in an up-and-coming neighborhood.  Their furniture and decorations speak of the international travel they've done together and everything feels very new and homey. James loved their floor-to-ceiling windows, and spent a lot of time looking out and planting his lips on the glass.

James first trip to DC- what a great photo! Thanks Cory!

Cory took Monday off, so after we used his guestroom for a ridiculously long family nap (all three of us in a row passed out with our mouths open), Cory took us to the Hill for lunch at Good Stuff Eatery. I cannot express how much I enjoyed my cheeseburger there. I felt like I had been craving that exact burger for months.

The boys at lunch on the Hill

The cherry blossoms bloomed early this year, so we skipped the Tidal Basin, but there were still cherry blossoms here and there on the Hill so we got a photo near the Capitol and then headed over to the National Mall to meet Robin.

DC cherry blossoms in front of the Capitol

Cory and Robin on the National Mall

Since we were close to the Hirshorn sculpture garden, I took everyone to see my favorite sculpture in DC, "Needle Tower" made by Kenneth Snelson in 1968. The picture below is what it looks like when you approach it, and I'm not terribly impressed by the side view.  For me, the magic happens when you step up on the lawn and stand under the sculpture. Something about the set up vaguely discourages standing under the statue, but if you look carefully there's a depression in the grass right under it, so obviously a lot of people know.  If you live in or visit DC regularly you should go look for yourself.  If you never go, I'm including a link to what it looks like from below.

Needle Tower (see from below here- don't click if you live in DC!)

Then we went over to the grassy area of the National Mall so that I could get a picture of all of us in front of the Washington Monument.  Cory took the photo while Robin made James smile- best. photo. ever. Thank you guys!  James had a little playtime in the grass, which was interrupted by a poop and a very public and messy changing.  Five seconds after we let him go back to playing he fell down and busted his lip on his teeth. Lots of blood and crying.  So with that, we head back to Cory and Robin's.

James running around having fun

Loves his daddy, and DC

Yay!

We took advantage of being in DC and ordered Turkish food for delivery. Really. Amazing isn't it? Robin's sister actually lives in Turkey, so she even had Raki, a Turkish liquor similar to Greek ouzo, but better. Yum. Then newlyweds Roger and Lina came over and we all watched the NCAA Men's National Championship basketball game together. Fun times!

Boston Celtics v. NY Knicks 2009

Good times! Can you tell who we were rooting for? Most of us are Celtics fans, though I'm not sure where Brian stands on the issue. Sadly we lost and I don't really want to go into the sadness. But at least we saw a bunch of famous people courtside.

Mike, Brian, Me, James (low down) Kevin, Jon, and Becky