The difference between good and great

It saddens me to post about our weekend... one lousy point was the difference between a good weekend and quite possibly, the best weekend of our lives (OK, so the best weekend of Jeff's life at least). URGHHHHH, stupid Marquette! Not only did you throw our brackets totally out of whack (I'm still winning though), but you made my hubby really, really sad. However, I can thank all you cougie fans out there for LOSING and helping him to reel in happiness for a few minutes when we learned your LOSING fate. Oh well, life must be documented so onward with the weekend's events. I'll try to condense everything into a day-by-day account.

Thursday: Sent email to boss and co-workers stating I was headed off to Boise to watch my beloved Aggies play in the NCAA Tournament. Rush home to grab about 100 items I forgot to pack that morning, load up the truck, and head to Logan to pick up our babysitters, aka Grandpa and Grandma. Arrive in Logan, re-pack the van with all of our crap, and hope Roy (Jeff's brother) doesn't talk too long. Try to explain to Pearl that we're going to be in the car again for a long time all while secretly praying the laptop battery makes it through at least one movie and that the screaming / whining from Pearl is minimal. Make it to Twin Falls without killing the whining child in the back seat, considering this is the first time we've driven anywhere with Pearl for more than a couple of hours she did pretty good, or starting a movie. Let Pearl terrorize the Golden Corral - it's amazing how many people love her piggy-tails - and start driving again to Boise. Pop in a movie... yes, we gave in to keep her quiet but hey who doesn't love to "move it move it" with Madagascar 2? Finally, arrive in Boise to a much-better-looking-online-borderline-ghetto hotel with no working AC, proceed to lug one huge suitcase, purse, diaper bag, toy bag, and super excited-to-get-out-of-the-car-and-run-around child up the stairs and into our room. Flop down on bed, scream at Pearl to lay down for 20 minutes, and then figure out that if Pearl lays on top of me she will go to sleep.
Friday: Wake up oh so refreshed from previous night of sleeping 1/2 off the bed with Pearl's stinky butt and feet in my face, kicking me, and throwing the covers off of me (Jeff had a bed all to himself, how does this always happen when we travel?). Get told to skip the hot breakfast downstairs and try my luck with stadium food, "doll up" for the game, and proceed to Taco Bell Arena. With a sea of Aggie blue swarming the entire Bosie State campus, it was hard to not contain the excitement! Pick up our tickets, chat with Palmer (Jeff's best friend, and for all you ladies out there in need of a polite, business owner, and all around good guy he's single), and head to our seats. Once inside I realized that both Jeff's parents and Palmer hadn't pushed the button on our camera hard enough to take a picture of us in our Aggie gear and ready for victory...so we asked the guy behind us to do the honors. For the next 2 hours, we screamed, cheered, moaned, clapped, and held our breathe as the Aggies played a lousy first half then ripped Marquette to shreds in the second. It all came down to the last few seconds and then, well let's just say we cried, swore (ok so Jeff just swore), and cried out "NOOOOOOO!" To console ourselves, we bought Jeff a tee-shirt, risked our lives and limps trying to get through the crowds to find something to eat (I was ready to eat anyone who stepped in front of me, remember I skipped breakfast), and then learned that my husband wasn't kidding when he said we were spending the entire day at the arena. Oh well, I had a little nap during the next game.

Meanwhile.... Pearl suckered her grandparents into taking her to McDonald's, the Boise Zoo, and buying her a new giraffe stuffed animal. She had a great time and was really excited to run and show us her new surprise when we finally found the zoo. Too bad the first picture was right as a duck flew over her head and scared her half to death!
Friday continued... Drove back to crappy hotel, ran up and down the halls with the munchkin until Jeff returned with swim diapers (that I forgot to pack). Watched in amazement at my wonderful husband as he took Pearl swimming in the ghetto "hot tub" since the real pool was ice cold while I tried to fiddle with my new camera. Guess I need to pull out the user's manual! Yelled at Pearl to stop running around the pool, cleaned up, popped in "animals" (aka Madagascar 2) again, and everyone but Pearl had a nap. Realized at 6:30 pm we better stop feeding Pearl junk food and get some dinner before "ugly hour" hit. Just missed complete meltdown at Fudruckers (although we came darn near close to one), played video games, suckered Grandma and Grandpa into more candy, headed back to the hotel, and screamed at Pearl to lay down for at least 45 minutes. Hit complete meltdown trying to put her to bed (both mom and Pearl). Again, slept half-way off the bed but at least this time she was too tired to kick the covers off!
Saturday: Woke up, skipped the breakfast again at Jeff's suggestion, scanned both rooms for missing toys, cups, clothing, and diapers, packed up the van and headed for Twin Falls. Luckily, whining was minimal this go around because Jeff and I took turns sitting next to Pearl in the backseat. Stopped for lunch then drove to Shoshone Falls to let Pearl get out the wiggles. Too bad "Little Niagara" wasn't flowing in full steam yet. Managed to chase Pearl up and down the stairs, have flashes of horror thinking she'd slip through the fences and plummet to her death, and totally wear out my adorable little girl. All of us but Jeff, who was driving, had a much needed nap before devouring the rest of the snacks. Dropped Grandpa and Grandma off in Logan, unpacked the van then repacked the truck, explained unsuccessfully to Pearl that we had to drive another hour before we were home, and tried to be patient with each other for the next 100 miles. I finally gave in to Pearl's whining and successfully stripped her down to her diaper without undoing her seat belt! Got home, unpacked, heard on the news that a winter storm will be here tomorrow, and have just now realized it is 12:30 in the morning!
One point, that's all it would have took for a good weekend to have been great.