Rice Basketball game

Derek got season tickets this year to the Rice basketball games. I'm happy that he is supporting his alma mater, but it was time for Justin to go to his daddy's old school. The games are either late on a weekday night or right in the middle of his nap or during a birthday party. So my parents came in town and we all went to visit the newly redone stadium. The old basketball stadium looked like an old high school gym - I'm not kidding. Apparently the locker rooms are unbelievable (we obviously didn't see those this visit), they have a new VIP room for special ticket holders to go eat and drink in, and there are new seats where an old curtain used to hang. Let's just say it looks more collegiate now.

Here's our little Rice Owl fan with his hat on.


I'm sad that his old Rice shirt is too small. The store at the game didn't have his size, so we will need to find a new shirt that fits Justin.

Justin's favorite thing at the game - the Owl mascot. He was waving at him the entire time.

Here he is giving him a high five. Side story - the Owl went to the new bleacher/student section to sit in a penalty box. Justin really wanted to go say hi again. So my mom takes him all the way up to see the Owl. At that very moment the Owl busts out of the box, part of some skit they were doing. He then runs down the bleachers and falls down the remainder in the process. It was a total wipeout. There were only about 250 fans there, so everyone saw the poor mascot fall. Justin was still shocked form the Owl breaking the box he was in, and then was extremely concerned that, "The Owl fell down." Can't tell you how many times we heard that the rest of the game.


My dad making the Owl sign. Derek sits on the floor on the first row from the court. We were able to borrow another ex-basketball player's tickets, so we all got to sit in the prime time seating.

The Michaelis boys saying cheese.

Justin clapping after the team scored.

Justin had an absolute blast at the basketball game. He still talks about the Owl falling down....