Let's Go Mavs!!!

Part 2

I'm so excited that the Mavericks won game 2! I'm glad they came through at the end! I hope they win tonight, too!!!!

And now, back to our tour of the Mavericks practice/warm-up facilities. Donnie Nelson let us come in his office and talk with him.

The walls of his office are huge white boards. He has every player of every team in the NBA written on one wall. They are organized by position. He said his office is where all the trade talk happens. He comes up with lots and lots of trade possibilities, and of those, only 1% come to an actual possibility. Of that 1%, about half actually go through. On another wall, he has begun working on the draft. It was interesting to see all of this!

We also went to the locker room! Here's the floor in the middle of the locker room.

The ceiling

We were allowed to look at the lockers and to sit in the chairs, but we couldn't touch any of the players' personal belongings. The guy who showed us the locker room said that, before each game, each player will have a 5 minute video to watch about whoever he is guarding that night. The players watch the video right in their lockers. Here we are in Chandler's locker.

And here we are in Kidd's locker. (Can I just say that I can't really believe that he's still playing?! I'm glad he is, but I remember when he was on the Mavericks YEARS ago!!!)

On the top of some of the lockers, the players have some things on display. Beaubois has a bobblehead and some autographed shoes.

Dirk has a bobblehead of himself.

And Barea has some bobbleheads, but he also has this LittlePeople toy, which was given to him by his teammates as a joke because he's so short. AWESOME!!

We got to wear actual Mavericks warm-ups, too! So Marshall and I got some pictures in front of Dirk's locker.

Let's go Mavs!!!

Hervey Dairy Road

On our way home from Dallas, we decided to stop by my aunt and uncle's house outside of Shreveport. I think they were pretty surprised to see us, but I'm glad we stopped and said hello.

Here is some of the farm land near their house.


Here are the remains of one of the barns that was recently demolished. I know my uncle was sad to see it go.

We just had to pose for a picture with this family landmark!!!

Over Christmas, Jordan went to the farm with my dad, Peter, and Chris, so he got a picture with this Hervey landmark, too!

Cabinets

Has anyone been in a cabinet lately?


Claire has!

She made quite a mess...

but she completely emptied the lower, right side of this cabinet at my parents' house!

Earlier this year, when we were in Houston, she basically did the same thing at Jordan's parents' house. I guess there's a certain amount of satisfaction knowing you've gotten everything out of the cabinet, you've looked at all of it, and now you can decide what you want to play with!

Let's Go Mavs!!

Part 1

My brother Marshall always seems to have connections. Through his work, he knows a lot of people, and sometimes he scores some great tickets/opportunities/fun times. For example, Marshall was a key player in getting some tickets to the Cotton Bowl when A&M played LSU. Also, he has been the beneficiary of a free night's stay at the Adolphus in Dallas. Those are just a couple of examples. I'll stop before I spill all of his secrets! It certainly is nice having a brother with connections. (Thanks, Marsh! --But I'm glad you're my brother - with or without connections!)

So his latest connection opportunity (that I'm aware of) came when I was in Dallas last month. Donnie Nelson, GM and president of basketball operations for the Mavericks, is also a co-owner of the Mesquite Rodeo, (where Marshall works). Donnie Nelson invited the Rodeo employees and their sponsors to come to the Mavericks practice court, locker room, and weight room. Marshall signed up to go, and he got to bring a guest. (Here's where it's great to be around for opportunities from Marshall's connections!!!) I got to go with Marshall! I was so excited!

We were instructed to wear rubber-soled shoes and bring a camera. Marshall knew he didn't need to bring a camera, though, since I was coming! I took plenty of pictures! - And so this will be a three-part series. :-)

I'll start with the weight room/training room. They have what they stand for posted for all to see as a reminder.

The weight room - with weights I can't even imagine picking up -- with two hands!!

I liked the brick everywhere. It looked a bit old. The facility we were able to tour is actually connected to the American Airlines Center, which is where the Mavericks play in Dallas. I wonder if the brick was already there when the American Airlines Center was built. I wonder if they just kept it and used it instead of tearing it down. I'm not sure, but that's what it seemed like to me.
Then we saw the training room. (I'm not really sure what to call this room, but it's where the trainers work on the players, so you get the idea!)


This board was funny. The Mavericks had just beaten the Lakers for the series, so the Mavs players had posted funny signs of the Lakers players "going on vacation," "going fishing," and even "modeling" for Dolce & Gabbana. It was awesome!

The hot tubs... I love the no diving sign back there!

And an underwater treadmill. I didn't know they existed, and I think they're pretty cool!

Then we saw the fun, play area. The guy giving us the tour kept emphasizing that what we were seeing is the Mavericks players' home away from home. (And we were also told that the press would be so jealous to be where we were and to see what we were seeing!)

The Mavericks pool table

A big tv and game stuff

A Mavericks chair with a PINK controller, (which I think is awesome and hilarious!!!)

And Marshall with current pictures of all the Mavericks players

Stay tuned for more Mavericks awesomeness! And LET'S GO MAVS!!!!!

DeGray Lake Golf Course

On Wednesday, we went to DeGray Lake Resort State Park so Jordan could play a round of golf in Arkansas. He was loosened up from his bath that morning!


Some geese greeted us.

And they didn't seem to mind the golf balls too much.

Jordan had fun playing golf, and I had fun driving the cart!

After golf, we made our way back to Dallas, and we got to see Claire before she went to bed for the night! It was so fun to see her again! We both missed her while we were gone, but it was so nice to get away for a couple of days. Thanks, Laura, Matt, and Mom, for babysitting for us!