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Today the Holland family had a real treat - the Al Chymia Circus was in town, and we had a free day with fun money in our budget. Sooo, off we went to the circus!
There were lions & tigers, trapeze artists, clowns, jugglers, and MONKEYS & AFGHAN HOUNDS! I don't recall those two being among the usual circus fare, but they were highly entertaining!
Here is our close up of a circus butterfly and a ferocious tiger!
This is a shot of one of the trapeze artists on their dismount - none of these are in terrific focus, but this is a neat one...
No circus would be complete without an ELEPHANT ride!
This slide show includes tigers, afghan hounds & monkeys (as promised)...Unfortunately, I didn't get a shot of the elephants doing their tricks (awesome) and the hula-hoop artists. Two of them hula-hooped with so many at one time that they looked like human slinkys!
After 23 years, Memphis returned to the FINAL FOUR - mecca in college basketball!
The Mighty Sound of the South was primed and ready for our big splash in the final four, and made the most of our stay!
We first stopped in to one of Nick's favorite Tex-Mex restaurants on the PLANET...
La Fogata...
We had a VERY busy schedule in San Antonio, but began our trip with our first free day...here are some images from one of the most beautiful cities I know...Here's the famous River Walk - 
And of course, the Alamo!
I passed the time by feeding the pigeons in front of the Alamo, and actually had several land on my arm and eat potato chips out of my hand. That was awesome!
Our first official function for the Final Four was a TV shoot on the CBS "Early Show" Friday morning (and boy was it EARLY)! Later that day, we competed in the annual Final Four BATTLE OF THE BANDS. The winning band director received (and had to wear) the trophy - a GIANT sombrero. Guess who won, and see if you can spot me!
Finally came Saturday and our national semifinal game, against our tournament nemesis UCLA...finally we vanquished that bunch, and we celebrated our day off at Six Flag Fiesta Texas, and more fun on Monday.Our favorite event was the Final Four River Rally, which had both bands in the championship and spirit squads load up on barges and float along the river walk, cheering on our schools. What a hoot!
We were mere seconds away from a national title, but fell short against a furious comeback by Kansas, which tied the game with a three pointer with 2 seconds, and then blasted us in overtime. We had to only make 2 of 5 free throws down the stretch to ice the game, but could only manage 1, which opened the door for Kansas. Hat's off to the Jayhawks...they love the Lord, and 2nd place isn't all that bad!
I am DEFINITELY exhausted, and incredibly happy to be home from March Madness. It certainly was some of the most fun I've ever had, but was also very difficult to do without my precious family. It's good to be home!
Hopefully we'll get 'em NEXT YEAR!
March truly was MADNESS for the Holland family this year, and what a wild ride it was!
The Memphis Tigers crushed our CUSA competition, again, and won our second straight CUSA Men's Championship. Also, our 2nd straight season without a loss in the conference! Poor guys...
The CUSA tournament featured Caroline's conducting debut, shown here...and Nicholas posing with Tiger great, Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway!
Every year, Nick invites the traveling pep band (the "road band") over to the house to watch the selection show (29 people plus us crammed into our house...yikes!).
Here we are anxiously & eagerly awaiting our seed...
Then we were off to Little Rock, Arkansas for our 1st & 2nd round games, against Texas-Arlington, and then Mississippi State. Other than our first game, I thought we could definitely lose every other possible game in the tournament - boy was I wrong!
We were away for Easter, which was sad for us, but I made the most of it and had "church" with 18 of my students at the Hilton in Little Rock. We had a sweet time together that morning, and managed to beat Mississippi State later that afternoon.
Off we flew to Houston, Texas for the region semis & finals, which meant more meal money for the gang! Here I am passing out envelopes on the plane! 
Houston was grueling, but we had a great time. We visited the Johnson Space Center with NASA, and after dismantling Michigan State, we enjoyed an evening in Kema, Texas which is a really neat "carnival" type boardwalk area on the Galveston Bay.Here's me flying a simulator with the Space Shuttle program...and yes, I'm shuttle simulating and talking on my cell phone...
Before our last pep rally in Houston, I snuck a bite away from the crowd...we were about to face UT in Texas (U-texas that is), and I didn't think we had a prayer...until we hooked 'em!
Check out San Antonio...
We had to share this photo of Caroline and her best friend Kennedy Williamson at "Pajama Day" at Sycamore View Pre-school.
And how about a hearty shout out to the team at Sycamore View...they just received their highest accreditation score EVER!
(I think it's because Karen added a "science unit" when she mixed her tea-to-go in her bottle of water)
Seriously though, let's hear for the outstanding teachers at Sycamore View Pre-school! They are truly amazing ladies!
Finally! We had a snow day in Memphis this year...What a hoot!
It came on Friday night, while Nick and the Memphis Pep Band were on our way home from Orlando, Florida. When he got back to Memphis at midnight on March 8th, there was between 4 & 6 inches of powdery snow!
Saturday morning, Nicholas, Caroline, & Dad played in the snow before having to go to the last men's basketball game at home. Karen was stuck having to work, and made her first solo flight/drive in the white stuff...the van came home without a scratch! It was too powdery to make a snowman, believe it or not! We actually had a hard time making snowballs to throw at each other. The next day, there was just enough to toss some at each other when we got home from church...
Check out these photos from our Snow Day 2008!
