Weekend on the Mountain

I'm back at work with a definite case of the Mondays after my fun, relaxing weekend with my favorite boy and my favorite adopted family :). It was so great to take off half of Thursday and all of Friday and get to see two of Wade's basketball games and hang out with his friends and family all weekend!

I rode up with the Tapps on Thursday, and we went straight to Berry College in Rome, Georgia, where the first game was played. The college had a really pretty campus, and we drove around it for a little bit just as the sun was going down. There were deer everywhere, in all the open spaces around the buildings. We pulled in just as the basketball guys were arriving in their team vans, so I got to see Wade in his cute little matching team warmup suit (ahem, I mean, large, manly, professional warmup suit) and give him a hug before the game.

The game was really good - one team would go on a run and take the lead by 6 or 7 points, and then the other team would go on a run and regain the lead... Being 6'7", Wade is a post player, meaning his main roles are rebounding, blocking shots, and some scoring inside (i.e. under the basket) for those of you who may not be basketball savvy...I'm learning a lot more these days about the terminology :). But because Covenant's team is not very deep - due to injuries, ineligibility, and just a lot of freshmen - this year he's having to play 30+ minutes a game, and score from the perimeter a little bit more. But, he did great Thursday night, with 5 rebounds and 10 points, and Covenant pulled out the win by 7 points in the end! I was so excited for them :).

Friday morning Wade had to do some homework and go to chapel and class, so I worked out and then took his car back to his house to shower and get ready and then pick him up when he got out of class. We had a late lunch with his parents at a cute little southern-cooking restaurant down at the bottom of the mountain (in Chattanooga), and then we milled around until it was time for him to go back up the mountain and meet up with the team for their Friday night game. I took a nap in the Tapps' hotel room, and woke up just in time to leave for the game (which was just a few minutes away in downtown Chattanooga). Wade's sister Whitney also drove up that afternoon from Auburn, so she joined us for the game, which was against UT-Chattanooga.

I won't go into a lot of details about that game, because, well, it wasn't the best experience they've ever had on the basketball court. It was pretty much expected though, since UTC is a Division 1 NCAA school and Covenant is a Division 2 NAIA school - vast difference in how much money goes into the athletic programs and therefore very different levels of skill and athleticism the schools are able to recruit. The UTC guys practically looked like they were in the NBA, and one of their post players was 7'1". BUT, I will brag that Wade had 14 points - 10 in the first half - and the next day there were 2 pictures of him in the Chattanooga paper, including one on the front page of the Sports section.

Saturday morning, the Tapps came up and cooked breakfast for us at Wade's apartment...mmm, banana and applesauce pancakes, eggs and sausage :). Whitney left to get back to Auburn to watch the Auburn-Georgia game, and we chilled out on the couch, watching football and Wade writing a paper and me editing his paper. It was a sad day for football, as UNC lost a close game to NC State, Auburn lost to Georgia, and South Carolina (Mr. Tapp's alma mater) lost to Florida. Oh well...what can you do.

That evening, we had a great dinner with the fam and 4 of Wade's friends at Big River...the same place that screwed up my order the last time I visited Wade, and this time, my food again took a really long time to come out, probably 20 minutes after the other food had come out. So, I'm not super impressed with Big River, but my gorgonzola pear salad with hazelnut encrusted chicken still tasted good :).

Sunday morning, we went to church and had a yummy lunch afterwards, before hitting the road to get back to Charlotte. Unfortunately, I took no pictures this weekend, so sorry I can't provide visuals for any of these events :(. That was really dumb of me, I know. I'll try to do better in the next few weeks!