SOMO News

Saturday:
Holy Cow this weather is gorgeous. It was almost dare I say, chilly here. No choking humidity. I got some sleep last night but my body was definitely on Missouri time. At 6 a.m. here, I was like wide awake. We went down and ate in the dining hall for breakfast. Then Brandon and I tried to get my credential. No luck, it wasn’t ready for some reason. Brandon took any team who wanted to, on a walking tour of the campus. He was great tour guide haha. We got to see most of the sporting events. The University of Washington campus is gorgeous. There is so much nature. There are also there tiny little hidden gardens for people to study. We took a picture in front of this beautiful waterfall. At the waterfall, they had a ramp for the ducks to go in and out of. One was sitting there posing for us. Brandon, Allison, and I went and got our media credentials. We are officially official. After our tour, we got on the Light Rail and went downtown Since I still didn’t have my regular credential, Shaffer got me a day pass on so that I could ride with the team.
We got downtown and everyone split up with their team. I ended up sticking with the softball team. We went to the fish market. It was pretty cool watching the guys throw the fish but it was extremely crowded. At the Community Center back home, I had to watch a training video on ethics and being a team. That video was based off the Pike’s Place Fish Market because of how great their system is and helps them be successful. It was cool to say I had been there now. The softball team ended up going to Hard Rock Cafe for lunch because it wasn’t as busy. I ordered wings but didn’t know they were on the bone still. I had to pick the meat off because I can’t eat it easily with my braces. Wyatt ordered a slab of ribs and a piece of cheesecake and that boy didn’t leave anything on his plate. Don’t know where he put it all. Amy ordered a piece of cheesecake for the coaches and I to share and it was delicious. We walked by the gum wall which was very gross. Thousands of pieces of chewed gum just sticking on a wall.

We went down to the pier and looked around. It started sprinkling then and definitely got a little cooler. We all got some ice cream that was pretty good. There was a gift shop, so we went in and looked around for a while. The whole team met back up to go on a cruise around the harbor. It was so pretty to see the Pacific Ocean but it got really cold on the boat. We got to see the Space Needle and the Seattle skyline. A guy spoke while we were on the cruise and Seattle. It was very interesting. We got to see a huge cargo ship that is longer than any of the buildings in Seattle and was covered in containers. We were pretty chilly by the end of it. When we got off, Brandon and I went and ate at Cutter’s with golf team. It was amazing. I had shrimp fettuccine and was definitely full by the end. We gave the waiter a Mo Magic pin and he was so touched by it. It seemed like a long walk back to the Light Rail on a full stomach but we made it haha. When we got back to the dorms, I skyped Derrick. Luna, our cat, came in and out of the frame. Then we had a coaches meeting. I worked on photos. Surprisingly I got to bed in decent time.

Monday:
Today was the first day of competition. Breakfast was again crazy to get through but it was really good. I speed walked over to Alaska Airlines to get there in time for our Unified Basketball team’s first game against Washington. Washington had a 7’4″ guy. Our team could not get the ball away from him once he got it. Washington had a very good team and won. On a time out, NBA Hall of Famers, Gary Payton and Detlef Schrempf, talked to the athletes. It was awesome. I hurried to find a pen to write with but my pen was broken. Mark Musso was sitting next to me and he couldn’t find a pen. Shaffer thankfully had a sharpie. I had a notebook so I took it over and Detlef and Gary were nice enough to sign it for me. I got their autographs for Derrick. Another lady was nice enough, to take a picture of me with them. Then I returned the favor and took one of her. I didn’t have enough time to ask Detlef who his favorite Parks and Rec character is. I tried to get them to stay until the end of the game so the team could get a photo with them but they had to leave before it was over. At the end of the game, the Missouri fans made a tunnel for both Missouri and Washington teams to walk through.

I had a little bit of time before tennis started, so I ran over to the media center quick to upload some of the basketball photos. They have a really nice media center set up. I went to tennis after and got to be on the sidelines with the players and coaches. Kris was the first game and he played great. He won. Then Simon and Lucas played on courts right next to each other so Ashley had to like swivel back and forth on the bench to coach them. Both of the guys lost, but they had hard fought games. Simon played against a guy from Virginia.who he has played against multiple times. They rallied very well back and forth. I got to meet and talk to some of the tennis parents. Kris’s dad gave me a Microsoft pin that he had gotten because my brother in law just started working at Microsoft not long ago. It was very nice of him. The tennis team went through the row of sponsor booths after their games. Simon loved the WWE booth. He had so many questions for Mark Henry. He was a riot. They had a great time going through the booths. We were almost at the end of the row when it started raining hard. We ducked under the Brooks booth for a bit until it calmed down. I was going to eat a box lunch they had out by Bocce but we all decided to walk back to the dorm and eat in the dining hall. The food there was a much better option.

I ran up to my dorm quick to get some things. You know those muffins I worked so hard to save? All moldy! Ugh oh well. I headed back over to the stadium. I skyped Derrick the whole walk over which worked out really great and he got to see the campus. I went to Bocce and was able to catch the end of James and Lisa’s last game. Then I went back over to tennis to watch Kris. He had another great game. I went to basketball’s second game. This time they were playing Florida. There were even more Mo Magic fans this time. Linda and the Byland’s came over and sat by me. Missouri played another great game. It came down to the last second. They won 18-16. The fans made a tunnel again as they left. I walked with Bowling back over to the dining hall to eat and then came upstairs and got started on the photos for the night. It has been a great long day and I know we are all ready for bed.