an evening with the Trailblazers

we were given a very special treat this week: passes to the Portland Trailblazers Player Palooza, a give back by the players and coaches to the fans.  And even better, we happened to have T's friend Dean staying over for the night and were able to take him with us.  They had a blast.  Gotta say, I really admire the players for doing this. Very commendable to give back to these young kids that dream of being just like them someday.  

The boys got started by trying to make a basket over Nolan..

THAT /\ is celebration my friends!!  

Dean scored over Nolan and he was STOKED!

I turned to T and said "who has a kickbutt mom?"

T said "I do"

I said "Then take a picture with me."

"fineeeeee"

hey!  I'll do what needs to be done to get a pic with this tweenager of mine.  ;) 

and with that, we hit the backstage tour through the locker room.. 

standing in front of the Blazer's All Star, Lamarcus Aldridge's locker

and we walked through the broadcasting area... 

which is intense!!!  

A LOT goes on behind the scenes.  Cool for the kids to see it.  

the boys hit the concourse,

with me and my camera trailing behind them,

to find some ball players.. 

"you're gonna have to get down on your knees bro!"

T: "I felt like a midget next to him!"

mama had fun too! 

I know the boys enjoyed every single moment, 

but I think the favorite was when they got to shoot around,

on the same court they watch these pros play on.

pretty dang cool

what a night!

so fun!

they played hard.  

so hard that about 30 minutes after we got home,

I went to check on them,

and they had put themselves to bed. :)