Rip City!

On Friday I got an email from the good folks at the Ronald McDonald House: they had tickets for kids to go to Saturday night's Blazer game and be one of the 'kids on the court'. FUN! I got myself two tickets, found myself a nice young man to take along, Gabe, and we met up on Saturday and drove on down to the House to pick up our packet.

Well, we picked up the packet at 5, so we had a bit of time before the Rose Garden opened at 6. We grabbed a bite to eat at Taco Bell (since we planned on them giving us a free chalupa when the Blazers scored over 100 points that night, we figured we should give them some business). Hmmm...still some time left before we can get into the Rose Garden. Darn it.

Hey, I thought to myself, we're right by Cari's house. Let's go bug her and play with the kittens. We were lucky: Cari was in, she was happy to see us (right, Cari, you were 'happy'?) and the kittens were happy to see us. Gabe had a great time playing, and as you can see he was a big hit. During the play time that big piece of wood you see on the coffee table made it's way to the floor. Good times. Good times.

Cari brought the rats out for a peep. Interesting dynamics, eh? Cat meets rat.

Thanks Cari for letting us come by unannounced and entertaining us so nicely. I appreciate it. I guess you weren't brought up by crack smoking wolfs. Thank goodness. You helped make the evening even nicer.


We get to the Rose Garden, wait in line to get in, find where we're suppose to meet the good folks of the Blazers, and after all of the events of going on the court and such Gabe got a bag FILLED with great stuff. A hat (see above), wrist bands, a head band, a Blazers notebook, ruler, pen, a picture of one the players, and a pennant for the wall. Very nicely done Blazers, very nicely done. Can you tell Gabe was happy? The hat looks like it was made for him.

Okay, I got ahead of myself. Here is a picture of Gabe on the court, getting ready to high five the players as they come out for warm ups. Why is there only one picture? Cause the rest of my pictures oh Gabe being on the court SUCK! Blurry city! Kseniya had me take her camera: let's hope I didn't screw those up. Gabe is the second kid in on the right hand side (the kids line up on both sides so the Blazers can run through them as they come out to the court to war up). Hard to see, I know.

After the Blazers came out on the court the kids got to sit on the sidelines for about 5 minutes and watch them warm up. How fun for Gabe to not only go to his first Blazers game, but to get to high five some players and sit on the court! How very cool is that!

Gave was a delight. He is so easy to talk to, pleasant, funny, and I think he became a Blazers fan last night. I'm thinking it happened folks.

The folks sitting next to us were from the House as well, and the girl was SO EXCITED about going on the court. Her dad was so excited cause he got the hat in her gift bag! A win/win for all folks.

Our seats were in the 200 level, and I have to admit not too bad at all. A couple of guys a couple of rows ahead of us were a bit 'loud' (could the beers they were drinking as they supported the team have anything to do with it?), and stood a lot, causing the kids to have a difficult time seeing. But the guys were high fiving the kids a lot, didn't mean any harm, and they eventually settled down and sat through the last half (could the effects of the beers they were drinking as they supported the Blazers have anything to do with that? I'm thinking so).

Utah played well, but it was pretty much Blazers for the whole game. The blazers scored over 100 points and we got our free chalupas. Thanks Taco Bell!

I had a great time taking Gabe to the game. I hope he and I can do something like this again. I really enjoyed hanging out with him, and I hope he had as much fun as I did.

One important thing we learned at the game: if you ever made a sign at a game, and they offer you honking big ole pens to write with, DON'T DO IT!!! Those honking big ole pens will cause the sign to STINK for a LONG TIME. Like a REALLY LONG TIME. Trust me, we know.