Donkey Basketball

A few days after the big snow storm, Donkey Basketball was on the schedule.  Ryker had already had a long exhasting Saturday full of lots of activity but he didn't want to cancel our outing.  It didn't start until 7:30 and he convinced me that he would close his eyes and take a nap on the way there.  He knows it is a 30 minute drive.  I figured waking him up might be rough, but we left Seth and Kya and headed out.  He asked me a few questions and asked me to turn his music on and stop talking because he needed to get started napping if he was going to get enough rest.  I know that sounds weird, but he will promise to take naps in the car as long as we stay on the go and he doesn't have to miss anything.  We rolled up to the gym about 10 minutes early and there were only a couple of cars in the parking lot and no donkey's or horse trailer in sight.  I quickly checked my tickets to see that I had the date, time and place correct and I did.  I was getting a little panicked because he was not going to be a happy camper.  He had been looking forward to this for weeks and he was going to be a little tired and cranky when he woke up.  I checked all the doors for a sign, then called the Eagles since they were sponsoring it.  Sure enough, they had postponed it for a couple weeks.  I'm not quite sure how they expected ticket holders to know that.  There was no notice in the paper or signs around town, so I guess if you don't frequent the Eagles, you were SOL.  Probably not a big deal for most people that live in town and didn't just drive 30 miles with a kid that might possibly turn into Varuca Salt when he woke up in a car headed in the opposite direction as Donkey Basketball, but for me, this was not good.  I quickly gathered my witts and went into damage control mode.  I drove to the Red Box and rented him a cartoon and we headed home.  Luckily he didn't wake up until I pulled into the grocery store a couple minutes from our house and woke him up.  I told him the bad news and asked him if he wanted to go in and pick out a treat.  I normally don't bribe him, but this wasn't just about Donkey Basketball.  He'd been looking forward to going to this "big kid" stuff with just him and I for weeks.  We went in to look around and what to my wondering eyes did appear?  Magic Shell!  I explained to him what it was and of course, he was in.  When we got home, Kya was in bed.  I got Ryker some ice cream and let him put the shell on.  Then I started getting mine.  I hadn't been eating any crap so Seth gave me a surprised look.  I explained that I was pretty disappointed too:)  He hadn't been eating anything unhealthy either, but apparently Magic Shell broke him.  Who knew a little Magic Shell could save the day?!  Lucky for us, it has a shelf life of about 6.2 years even once it is opened so we'll have it for the next crisis.

What donkeys?  That frown turned upside down with one bite!

Donkey Basketball: Take Two

This time, they showed up and Liz and Colton were able to join us so it worked out even better.  Seth was out crabbing so we ditched Kya with Grandma and Grandpa (sorry Kya) and met our crew at the Pizza Factory for a little pre-game carb up.

Favorite part of the game?  Any guesses?  Come on, anyone? 

Unfortunately, only one donkey forgot to use the restroom before the game, but that was enough to make it Ryker's most talked about highlight.

Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention Ryker's cowboy boots with his cargo pants.  We couldn't find his one pair of jeans (his quads are so big, jeans don't fit him), but he was set on wearing his boots.  First, they are the coolest, but most importantly he got them from Jake and he's a big kid!  If anyone ever tells Ryker that hand me downs are not cool, I will leave a rotting humpy in a crevis of their house that they will never find.  This kid thinks that used stuff is the only way to go.  Who wants something new, when you could get something that was so cool that the only reason the big kid that came before you gave it up was because they outgrew it?

So as far as the game itself?  I have not seen a more unathletic group of men in a long time.  Ryker kept yelling "whoa, what a terrible shot" and laughing.  To be fair, there was 2 or 3 that appeared to have touched a ball before and I know they were on donkey's (the ones that could get on), but wow.  There were also quite a few wardrobe malfunctions involving a pot belly, an undersized shirt, and numerous pairs of oversized jeans.  Hanging off the side of a bareback donkey is not the best look when your jeans are saggin'.