Ramses Geer.

About 2 weeks ago I had an appointment with Amanda to get my hair did. I asked my sister if she could pick up Deuce from Ed's parents house and occupy him for about an hour so I could go to the salon. She picked him up and took him to University Mall where they roamed around for awhile. There is still a Roses in the mall and they have a huge selection of Carolina gear. So naturally Deuce left the store with a new purchase, thanks to Aunt Wawa. As it turns out, he walked away with a musical Ramses that is the exact same one that Harrison has. Laura said he walked up and down the mall playing the fight song and fist pumping the whole way, just like Harrison does.

Ramses has not left Deuce's side since Deuce adopted him and I started sending Laura a daily picture of Ramses & Deuce. Here are a few shots. Deuce props him up in the seat and talks to him, explaining that they are watching Elmo or Toodles.

We had dinner with Harrison last night and both boys had a great time playing with the Ramses'.

Hopefully the Heels will be able to come away with the ACC Tournament Championship this weekend to go along with their regular season title!

First Baseball Game

We took the boys to Boshamer Stadium this weekend to watch the Heels play the 3rd game in the series against No. 1 Virginia.  We had won the two previous games and needed this last win to complete the sweep. 

The sun was out in full force with very little cloud cover and practically no breeze.  I was prepared for this.  Strapless shirt and some SPF 8 oil for this pasty momma and a hat and some SPF 60+ for the babe. 

The hat was a total no-go.  I even brought 2 kinds to see which one he liked the best.  A bucket hat and a baseball cap.  He disagreed with both of them.  It was a fun game for him to take each hat off and throw it on the ground.  Over and over...and OVER again!  Okay, no more hat.

Without dumping the entire bottle of sunscreen on his head I was afraid that he would have some major scalp burn if I let him sit in our seats {with his natural mohawk & all...} so we stayed up in the concourse for most of the game.  Ed & I switched off every inning.  I had to make sure I spent some time in the sun!!  

Overall, I think he had a great time.  By about the 7th inning he was getting hot and cranky and was really tired from not having his afternoon nap.  I finally had to take him to a shaded corner of the stadium, by an exit that was closed off, to let him scream his lungs out for about 5 minutes while I held him down tight until he just gave up and passed out for the rest of the game.  We sat in the shaded corner for the last 3 innings.  The Heels won 3-2 and it was a great day!

Carolina Spring Football Game

Saturday marked the end of the Spring practice for the football team so we went to our favorite place on Earth, Kenan Stadium, to watch the annual spring Blue-White game.  Deuce had a blast!  He is at the perfect height to reach the back of the seats in front of us so he spent the entire game walking back and forth along the bleachers.

He was so proud of himself and kept wanting daddy to watch him as he walked along.  He laughs and squeals like a little chimpanzee and all of the people around us enjoyed watching him.  He smiles at anyone that he sees.

The team looked good and it got us really excited for the start of football season.  Although it was chilly, the game was complete before the rain set in and I think the attendance was around 16,000.

The defense is looking strong, even with the loss of so many seniors.

And Renner looked like he was stepping up to the challenge to lead the team this year.

Oh and remember my child that I was having problems with getting to sleep?  Well not so much anymore.  It really was me that was the problem.  I have taught him that sleep is wonderful and he has now become a mini version of me in the mornings.  He doesn't want to get up.  No matter how many times you call his name he will ignore you and turn his head the other way.  He sleeps like a little frog with his legs tucked under and his butt stuck straight up in the air.  I literally have to pick him up in the mornings because he will not wake up.  He is sleeping almost 12 hours now!!

The Invasion of Big Orange Country

I have waited for this game for years.  WE have waited for this game for years.  And when I say years, I really mean a lot of years.  Carolina had not played UT since 1961.  That's 20 years before I was born.  The Geer/Edgerton - UNC/UT roots run long and deep.  Let me explain...

I have both aunts, uncles and multiple cousins that live in Knoxville.  Die Hard UT fans.  They feel about UT just the same as we do Carolina.  They go to every football game, every basketball game, baseball games and they travel where ever the team is.  They are either alumni or current students, big time members of the Tennessee Fund and are very close with several members of the coaching staff.  They love UT and I love that about them.

Ed's parents both worked for UNC so he and his brother both grew up die hard Carolina fans.  They were the kids you saw crying in the stands when Carolina lost.  When Ed's brother got a scholarship to play basketball for East Tennessee State University, he left Chapel Hill in 1987.  After graduating, he moved to Knoxville...where he lives only a few miles away from my aunt and uncle.  He is a Carolina Fan surrounded by a sea of orange, much like anybody that comes to live in Chapel Hill is surrounded by Carolina blue.  He has been waiting for 23 years for this game to take place.

I was born in Hampton, VA.  Not very close to either UNC or UT.  BUT, my dad has been a Carolina fan since he was a kid.  He was the only Carolina fan in a house with 8 people...all of whom were NC State fans.  Plus my cousin was the quarterback at Carolina during the late 70's-80's (during the time I was born) and my mom's brother was a UNC graduate and he lived in Chapel Hill so naturally I was just born a Carolina fan too.  We have instilled this in our children.

Again, this game was a long time in the making.  Carolina/UT have been scheduled to play each other for awhile now, in Chapel Hill in 2011 and in Knoxville in 2012.  Our families had been planning the tailgating and all of the family happenings for these games forever.  Then before this season started, UT pulled out of the contract, cancelling both games.  We were so upset.  So when the season was over and the bowl games were announced, I don't need to explain that tickets were purchased to the Music City Bowl within minutes of the announcement.  Even better, the game was in Nashville, close enough for us to stay with the family in Knoxville.  We love Knoxville.  We love that when we go up there we can see both my family and Ed's.  We love that my Aunt Rita & Uncle Jeff are so welcoming to Ed's family that we all do everything together and avoid the "we have to do this with your family here and my family here" thing.  We jump on every opportunity we have to get away and go to Knoxville.

 

I must say, I loved Nashville. 

Love country music = Love Nashville

I want to go back.  Soon.  For vacation.  When we have time to visit places and when I have the chance to drag Ed around to try and find Tim McGraw's house.  He would do it if I wanted to.  He is that good to me.

We started out the day at the Wildhorse Saloon where we met up with some fellow Chapel Hillians.

This place was awesome.  Not so sure if everyone else liked it but this country girl did.  I even participated in the line dancing with Deuce on my hip, a la Gretchen Wilson's Redneck Woman.  It was so much fun.

 

This is my niece Chanler holding Deuce at Wildhorse Saloon.

Then we walked across the river to the stadium.  It was beautiful.  The Titans stadium was on one side of the river and the Nashville skyline was on the other.

Deuce took a pregame nap while we tailgated with the family.

I was so excited that Trace Atkins sang the national anthem.  Ed was like "who?  Oh, you like him?"

So anyway, this was definitely the craziest football game I have ever been to. 

I don't know what else to say about the game except that we won. You know there were only 10 Carolina fans in Nashville and we were 7 of them so we were surrounded by all UT fans.  That didn't bother me.  But at the end of the game there were some pretty unruly ones that were truly upset about what was taking place.  TJ was crying that he wanted to leave because he thought we were going to get beat up.  This was before the game went in to overtime.  Once it went in to overtime and then we won, you should have seen him.  He thought he was 10 feet tall.  Comical.  I got a text from my Aunt Rita that said we were going to have to find another place to stay after the game.  They were staying the night in Nashville and we drove back to her house in Knoxville, because yes we are too cheap to get a hotel.  I wrote her back that we were going to go back to her house, eat all of her food, paint all of their orange stuff blue and then leave by the time they got back the next morning.  They were good sports about the game and we all agreed that the officiating on BOTH sides was pretty terrible.  But I won't say anything else because....we won!

The next day, New Year's Eve, we had the opportunity to go to a UT basketball game.  I had never been to Thompson-Boling arena and the last time Ed was there was when his brother was playing for ETSU and they played Ga Tech in the NCAA tournament.  He was little then.  The arena has recently been renovated and my uncle's steel company did a lot of the steel work.  The place was beautiful!

This was Deuce's first collegiate basketball game.

Me, Ed & Deuce sat with my cousin Ricky while TJ got special treatment and got to sit in the coach's box with Aunt Rita & Uncle Jeff.  He had a blast. 

After the game, we were treated to a behind the scenes meet & greet with the players.  They were all so nice and more than willing to take pictures.

John Fields & Kenny Hall

Kenny Hall & Jeronne Maymon
Jeronne was so nice and kept saying how beautiful Deuce was. He told me & Ed that we "made a beautiful baby."

Scotty Hopson
TJ told me "his string was in my face but I didn't want to be rude." 
I guess his manners are starting to kick in.

Trae Golden

Melvin Goins

Tobias Harris

TJ with Melvin.  He liked Melvin because "he plays the point just like me."

TJ & Tobias

Josh Bone

The boys with Coach Pearl.  We didn't get the chance to talk with him that day.  I don't think he was too happy, they had lost and he had been kicked out of the game with 2 techs.  TJ thoroughly enjoyed talking to his parents and his wife though...lol!

Thanks to Aunt Rita & Uncle Jeff for making TJ's day.  He will never forget this.  And of course Deuce will love looking at the pictures when he gets older (and the fact that i had his UNC paci clip on him in every picture, hee hee.  Sorry Aunt Rita!)