Week 2: the Final Four = the finale of two

April 7-April 13, 2008:

So yes, I'm still not actually pregnant, but it's the last full week before I am. So it's really kind of the final week of just the two of us in one sense. And it's a good thing I'm not quite responsible for another life just yet, because we're having the type of fun that's not recommended for preggers. We're in San Antonio havin' a blast, y'all!

So you who know Jon know he is a sports fan. The sport to follow that just might be his ultimate favorite, though, is college basketball. This also happens to be one of the sports even I can get excited about and enjoy. Now, we both went to K-State, but Jon grew up near Lawrence, which is where KU lives. His dad also studied there. These things, combined with the fact KU basketball overall has been better than K-State's program (recent football events will not be discussed, thankyouverymuch), turned him into a KU superfan from a young age when it comes to basketball. Of course, if KU and K-State play, I force him to put aside his traitorous jayhawk love and root for our wildcats. Fortunately (kind of), K-State didn't make it into the Final Four tournament this year, so the rivalry didn't exist, and we didn't have a conflict. I asked Jon if attending a KU final four was in his top 10 things to do in life, and he said it was, so I sucked up my feelings of betrayal and financial prudence (luckily, this is the type of thing for which Jon likes to prepare our pocketbook so we can have impromptu investments), and we got great tickets off the Internet and went out to San Antonio.

On our way there, at first we were lost, and Jon was angry:

But we made it with time to spare, and he was happy:

Saturday, we watched the Memphis-UCLA game (Memphis won) and then the UNC-Kansas game (thankfully, Kansas won ... and well). We had so much fun! Jon was like a little boy at Christmas, and even I dressed the part of a KU fan so Jon knew I was willing to participate fully.

By the way, of the four, the Memphis tiger won my vote for best mascot:

My favorite band of the four was UCLA's ... so festive!


Jon liked the UCLA cheerleaders the best of the four (as an original California girl, can I blame him?); they also had the most outfit changes (sorry, I'm only giving one pic), so kudos:

This is fun stuff!

Afterward, we took a walk around town.

The Ripley's Believe It Or Not T-Rex:

The Alamo (small but neat-o):

The next day was my day, and Jon planned it beautifully. He started me off with my favorite: actual breakfast food!

Then we were on our way to Six Flags! I haven't been to a theme park since before we were married. One thing I wanted to do before getting pregnant again was ride roller coasters, which I love, and which one can't do while pregnant. So exciting:

We even fed the coi:

And Jon got feisty with the flamenco-dancing statue:

We were sad we didn't get to ride Goliath, which was still under construction. Oh well. Goodbye, Six Flags, until we meet again!

We wrapped up my day with an evening out ... Rosario's was pretty good, but the service was sssslllllloooooowwwwww. Time to retire; big day tomorrow!

Monday we started with lunch at Chris Madrids. The burgers were giant!



The food was yummy, but I feel huge now!

Then it was off to the Riverwalk. We watched KU's band come down river in a boat playing fight songs, and we got fired up!

To cool down, we went to Ben & Jerry's Alamoo and got some ice cream to share. Only Jon didn't want to share ... what? I only wanted a bite ... mmmmmmmm.


Next we got to go see one of my favorite musical artists, Bob Schneider, perform at the Big Dance:

Oooooo, dreamy! Bob's music is magic. We go to as many of his acoustic shows as we can, so it's perfect he's here to add another cherry on top of this trip! I even made it onto the big screen at the concert, though we didn't get a pic of that, of course.

Our tickets included entrance to Hoop City, which ended up being kind of lame, but we got to watch a bunch of kids (of all ages ... even in their 30s) learn basketball techniques.

On to the championship game! Let it begin!

The game stayed exciting, with several tied scores throughout; a basket in the eleventh hour resulted in a 63-63 tie, allowing for overtime:

Round two, fellas. Let's get it on!

And eventually KU pulled away and won. What a game!

Whew! This really was the best possible outcome: exciting games and the ultimate win. What a fantastic trip! It was totally worth it. After a late-night drive, we made it home to Houston ... and to bed. The rest of this week didn't quite compare, but it was good to rest -- and it was good to go back to being wildcat fans!

Oh, and here's another belly pic for those of you keeping track: