purple and gold 4 lyfe

i need a break from the election right now, so i'm just going to go back to last weekend, when we got to join in on a fun celebration for my friend kelley's son.  he's a huge (YUGE.  too soon?) lakers fan, and they had booked one of the hospitality suites at staples center for one of the games.  not only that, but they got one of their friends who owns a bus to drive everyone all together.  how sweet is that?

we met up at their house, where they were serving up pizza and having the kids make signs to take to the game.

and then when the bus arrived, it was decorated from the outside in.  look at the marquee:

and inside:

everyone was super excited and looking forward to a great evening.

 it was a nice, easy ride to downtown l.a. with surprisingly very little traffic.

and then we were dropped off curbside right outside of the entrance to the suites, like the VIPs we were.  heh.

 and this is where we got to hang out, eat snacks, drink, and enjoy the game in comfort.

 we had a pretty sweet view of the basketball court, where the lakers were getting their warmup on.

and you could send text messages to be displayed on the marquee at center floor.

it also happened to be a girl scout night, and a handful of chosen girls of varying ages had been selected to bring out the colors and flag for the singing of the national anthem.

a dramatic introduction and entrance for the lakers:

and then the game began.  it was really fun to watch, and the kids were super pumped and did everything they could to get the attention of the camera guys for the jumbotron.  they never did make it up there, though.

of course, we took pictures.

the restrooms on the suite levels are stocked with good supplies.

and the hallways are lined with framed photos of past events at staples.  hiiiiiiii JT...

about halfway through the game, the dessert cart came.

when it was kiss cam time, the bean and i both planted big smooches on the old lady, who was seated between us.  heh.

towards the end of the game, i looked over and the bean had clearly started losing steam.  she'd gotten all her energy out and it was a couple of hours past her usual bedtime.

yay for a laker win!

a nice way of saying "game's over.  get out."

then it was back on the bus for the ride home, during which we both fell asleep.

such a great time, and the girls both enjoyed themselves.  it was their first laker game ever, and now i fear that bringing them back to sit in the regular seats will be quite the letdown.  getting to hang out in the suite is pretty sweet, i gotta say.