Good times with Jay's college buds

Hey everyone! Just wanted to post about our fun weekend in Edmond. This spring marks the ten-year-anniversary of Oklahoma Christian's men's basketball team being ranked Number 1 in the country, which happened to be Jay's junior year. So his coach, Dan Hayes (who's still the coach) organized a reunion for Jay's team, last Saturday. Jay, Claire, and I went up Friday afternoon and ate dinner at Chileno's with Jay's old college buddy and current fishing buddy, Eric and his fam, which includes two adorable boys and another on the way.

We spent the night with another of Jay's old college buddies and current fishing buddy, Nate, along with his wife Ashley and their kids, a two-year-old boy and a baby girl. Fun times playing some golf (card game) and in the morning, seeing Claire play with the kids. She loves babies!

We had been planning on going to the Oklahoma City Zoo on Saturday, but we woke up to temps in the 30s with 20 mph wind! I would have pushed on had it not been for that wind--we'd been telling Claire about it all week, and even checked several zoo picture books out of the library. But alas, the zoo will have to wait. I feel fairly sure it will still be there in a few months when the weather is reliably stifling.

So, guess where we went with Jay's two fishing buddies and their three sons? That's right folks, Bass Pro! At least Claire got to see a tankful of catfish, bass, and alligator gar, and a bunch of stuffed animals, including raccoons, chipmunks, coyote, buffalo, a bear, and of course, a bunch of deer. We had a fun time, anyway! I can't complain either, because after lunch, Jay dropped me off at Gordman's while he, Claire, and the buddies went to yet another sportsman's store! Color me contented though, because shopping solo in a discount store we don't have in Sherman equals bliss! I got some decorative stuff for the top of our new entertainment center and some Easter decor. Then it was back to Nate and Ashley's house for naptime. Before heading over to the Eagles' Nest that evening, we even squeezed in an hour at Super Target!

At the gym, we went up to their little event room, where we found seven of Jay's former teammates and (some of) their families! It was so neat to meet them and to see Jay get to reconnect with them. We all went down to the gym at the end of the girls' game and sat together until right before the boys' game, when Jay and his teammates went down to the OC bench and the announcer announced that tonight was a special night in history and told the whole spiel. Then they killed the lights, played some music, shined a spotlight around, and announced the team individually like they were about to play! They even put their player pic and stats on the big screen! It was kind of silly, but also exciting, because for me, it was a little glimpse of what it would have been like to actually see Jay play. (We met after his playing days were over.) The current students even knew Jay, because when they announced him, the student section let out a big cheer! After that, they played a clip of the last two minutes of the game that made Jay's team Number 1! It was so cool to see Jay playing on a big screen! I kept telling Claire daddy was on TV, but she just kept saying "Daddy," and pointing to him down on the floor.

Then they annouced a big surprise for Jay and I--he's going to be inducted into the OC Athletic Hall of Fame in November! Yay Jay! So we'll be heading back up to the Eagles Nest this fall.

We got back about midnight Saturday night. Then it was church in the morning (barely!) and my cousin James' wedding shower that afternoon in Coleman! Whew! No wonder Claire and I got home and slept until 6 p.m. that night!