Happy Daddy!

Kelly turns 30 next month, but a little earlier this month, Georgiana and I surprised him with his birthday present... A trip to Portland to go and watch Mr. Lebron James play against the Trailblazers!! When Georgiana sings "Happy Birthday," she says "Happy Day!!" When she sings Happy Birthday to Daddy it is simplified to "Happy Daddy!!!" Which she sang and sang all weekend, and of course we loved it every time.
This was definitely a trip (intentionally) planned around Kelly, but Georgiana was a true trooper the whole time! Here she is after the car ride. She kept telling me she had water on her knee in the car, poor girl had a seriously leaky diaper that soaked all the way down her tights to her knees. So, upon our arrival, I dressed her in some comfy sweats.

After checking into our hotel and making friends with one of the employees, we were off to lunch at Mother's Bistro. I mention the fact that we made friends with the employee (I believe he was a bell hop...), because he was a fellow basketball fan and quick to tell Kelly and I where the latest sightings of stars were. When we stepped out to lunch we missed his phone call about the man below, thankfully we all happened to be in Nike town at the same time... Yep, that's Kelly and Scottie Pippin. When I showed Georgiana this picture she pointed to Mr. Pippin and said "bigger!!" The next day I happened to walk next to him at our hotel (he was staying on our same floor), I laughed because at 11:30 am I was grazing by the club lounge along side Michael Jordan's right hand man, and by 4:30 pm I was mopping my kitchen floor per my 1 year old's request. They were pretty bad. Anyway, back to the weekend:
Kelly said one of the highlights of his weekend was showing Georgiana all the sights. She still talks about "The Game!" and asks when we can go to another one. Her highlight was the blimp before the game that dropped t-shirts. It was sponsored by Ford (I think) and shaped like a car, to a 1 year old, it was a very realistic looking car, and when she talks about it, she is in awe of the flying car. "So high!"

Kelly likes to watch the warm up, so as you can tell we arrived early. Being early allowed us time to thoroughly read the game program and get fully acquainted with the surroundings. It also made one of us very very sleepy! I was a little nervous about taking my 7 pm bedtime girl to a 7:30 pm game, but as Kelly would say, she was a rock star. A quarter and a half into the game, she cuddled up and went right to sleep. Trust me, I was as shocked as the rest of our row who were all so kind and climbed over the seats to get out at half-time. We of course were the aisle seats. I loved the section we sat in, for most of the games that Kelly and I have gone to, we have bought tickets from season ticket holders. This has worked out so well for us, great seats at (usually) greatly discounted prices. The section we sat in was mostly season ticket holders and Trailblazer family members. We know this because they were chatty and it was so much fun, it seemed like everyone knew each other, and may I just say when you have a toddler with you, people love to talk with you. Before realizing that I was talking with the NBA player, Jamal Crawford's (a player Kelly happened to play against while growing up), family I answered the question "who are you watching?" With, "Lebron!" The woman (I think Mr. Crawford's mom), was so excited and for a second (before I laughed at myself and explained), thought that we were friends of Mr. Lebron James himself, ha! Oh how we wish!! Nope, just two fans, one too cheap to buy a Heat jersey so I wore my Brandon Roy jersey, and one very excited guy in a Lebron James jersey. She totally understood our love for Lebron, she said even she couldn't wear Blazer colors that night with the Heat in the stadium. She would cheer like crazy for the Heat and then hold her Mom's (I think) hand when Jamal would take a free throw or be making a play. I know I sound like a stalker, I really did watch the game, they were just in front of me and I found the whole family fan base quite entertaining. Much better than reality tv :) I'm glad I snapped this picture of Georgie in her boots. Because, ever since we went shoe shopping in Portland, she refuses to wear them and tells me they are "tight tight," probably because while shopping I kept asking "do these shoes feel tight?" She also pinches the top of her shoes (every pair) every time I put shoes on her and says "good." Like she is checking where her toe is at and they feel cozy on her feet. On our way back home, we stopped at Joe's Crab Shack. We thought Georgiana would enjoy the atmosphere, maybe enjoy it a little more than the concierge's recommendation of driving South to the Ikea where they have free babysitting... Boy did she ever! A girl at a table near us was celebrating her birthday and Georgie clapped and cheered with the employees. Georgie is also really into straws at restaurants, here is Miss Independent herself: Another random note, Kelly and I were really wishing we had more professional soccer knowledge, because a bazillion (rough count) teams were staying at our hotel. The Swedish team caught our attention the most. Kelly, who I can honestly say pretty much never makes comments like this, pointed out that "that is the best looking group of guys I have ever seen." To which I replied, "they even smell good." Apparently beautiful people come from Sweden, either that, or the recruiters for the team take a headshot/comp card into consideration. It was insane. And, their girlfriends, oh my word, I seriously think they were all supermodels. Like real supermodels. Georgie sported her pink doggy/bunny looking hat most of the weekend, and the Swedish coaches loved it. They sang to her in the elevator and did a little dance, ha! The girlfriend's loved it too. Random and silly, but just made the weekend even more memorable to us.

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I almost forgot, at the game, practicing before the game, and many times after, Georgiana would yell "Go Bron (Lebron!). "Wooo Heat!" And, some "Yay Daddy" s just for good measure.