A Weekend In Hawkeye Territory

Heading to the BIG game. Look how excited this bunch is!

(Tyran hangs with us on the weekends sometimes - he's on Jake's 6th grade team)

We're here!


Now, let me say that these game time pictures certainly don’t tell the full story of the night! Let’s rewind back to the hotel lobby as we were heading to dinner before the game. As we were getting ready to leave the hotel we ran into Diante Garrett, one of the star players for Iowa State. As Jake was chatting with him, he decided to introduce Diante to JJ. Jake told JJ that this was one of the guys who plays for Iowa State, and Diante reached out to give JJ a high five. And JJ gave him a high five, looked him in the eye and said, “Go Hawkeyes!”. AHHH! As always Jake was able to make light of the moment, but oh my goodness that one will go down in history in the Sullivan family! :) The reason JJ likes the Hawkeye basketball team so much is because 3 of Jake’s former Kingdom Hoops players are on the team….Zach McCabe, Eric May, and Branden Stubbs. JJ followed each of their whereabouts the the entire game! During warm-ups Justice also decided to go for the Hawkeyes because the Hawks went through a 5 minute dunking drill, and Justice LOVES dunks! So, that was the clincher for him. So, all through the game, both Justice and JJ were cheering for the Hawkeyes (while also dressed in their Iowa State gear mind you)….but then, when Iowa State started pulling ahead in the second half, wouldn’t you know it, my two lil Hawkeye stinkers switched back over to the good side. Is that even legal? Well, despite my 'unloyal sons forever true', we sure had a lot of fun at the game! The rest of our weekend was spent with Jake’s teams as they played in the Hawkeye Shootout….

If the teams make it to the championship game, they get to play on the floor at Carver Hawkeye arena! 3 of the 4 championships were played by Jake's Kingdom Hoops teams so imagine the excitement of JJ and Justice getting to go back to the court and actually set foot on it this time!

Jake's teams took home 3 of the 4 championship titles!
7th grade boys

8th grade girls

The two 8th grade boys teams had to play eachother in the championship!

So long til next year, Hawkeyes!

Pics from the Road

From Minneapolis to Milwaukee to Chicago....

Jayla was a hit with the 7th grade girls team at AAU Nationals in Minneapolis!

Daddy gets some help with his post game speech.

In Milwaukee Daddy coached his boys' teams. Those are college coaches sitting there on the back bleachers. We are now in the 'live period' so college coaches can attend the games and recruit.

A new way to sit on the bleachers.


JJ checks out the Lebron shoes at the Joy of the Game facility in Chicago.

Jayla colors with Coach Clark....yes they are coloring with PURPLE crayons!

JJ took this picture!

Jayla made friends with Ezekiel on this trip!

Daddy takes a break by the pool after the Chicago tournament comes to an end.

Sam

JJ can hold his breath under water now! GOOD JOB BUDDY!

Jayla tried to copy big brother and hold her breath under the water, but she couldn't quite gather the guts to put her whole face under. :)

Sam & JJ :)

JJ took this picture too!

Some of the Kingdom Hoops coaching staff and assistants (plus Ezekiel).

Minnesota Trip Picture Overload

This past weekend we went up to the frozen tundra (Minnesota) for a tournament. It. Was. Freezing. Seriously….kind of like going through winter all over again! :) We went up a day early so we could squeeze in some time with Grandpa & Grandma Sullivan before the games started for the weekend. Here’s a picture of ‘all of us’ minus Grandpa Sullivan and me of course:

That’s Uncle Nick (Jake’s bro) dusting off his basketball skills in the driveway with Yaw and Sam. Did you notice Daddy up in the tree?

Check out Uncle Nick’s ups…

He can still shoot it too!


Jayla & cousin Dakota


Brothers


Grandma Jane & Jayla


Grandma Jane & JJ


On Friday morning Jayla decided it was time to potty train her baby. My mom told me this was coming and I guess Friday was the big day for baby. She did good. :)

Then we were off to the Mall of America! I think we hit up every single sports store on every single floor. The boys’ favorite store was Champs! And of course we had to take our annual trip into the amusement park at the mall. They have the best rides for little kids.

Checking out the rides...


Diego's bus


Jayla’s favorite was the carousel. She was so excited to ride the horse!

The boys did the log ride and JJ got absolutely soaked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Saturday and Sunday was all fun and games at the gym.

Here is the tournament gang. From the left it is Jayla, Nyla, lil JJ, big JJ, and Keayla.

They played this roll the ball game over and over all weekend. Jayla would get rolling with laughter whenever the baseball would bounce. It was one of those things that she thought was so funny and we don’t know why!

This is Coach Clark with Jayla. He has a golden retriever and Jayla loves to go through the pictures of his ‘puppy’ on his phone. The minute she sees Clark the first thing she says is ‘puppy’ and then Clark brings up the pictures and she browses through them. Someday we will have a puppy Jayla! Someday!

Colorin.

And that was our trip! So far this year we have been to tournaments in Wisconsin, Arkansas, Kansas, Minnesota, and the boys have also gone to Texas for a tournament. Coming up this weekend Jake is hosting a tournament at the facility in Ankeny so we get a little break from traveling. JJ is absolutely LOVING all this traveling. Last week when we had gotten home from Kansas I literally had just finished putting away the laundry on Monday and he asked me when we were going to pack up again! At least he adds a little enthusiasm into the packing routine for me.
:)