HOW LONG???

So, Brendan LOVES LOVES LOVES Yu-Gi-Oh!! He has been really into it since 1st grade. About 3 months ago he discovered that there was a regional tournament at Seattle Center -- for today. The entry fee was $15 -- I figured if I told him he had to earn the entry fee himself he would either bag it or spend the money on something else. He has worked ALL summer to earn money --- 1/2 of all money he earns or is given he has to put in his college fund. Not only did he manage to save the money for the tournament but he also was able to buy a new deck of cards. This morning dawns.........we ALL get up and get ready............load into the car...........take Ginger to work..........and head to Seattle Center.........There are 178 people that are entered into the tournament. I would say that 85-90% of the people there were over the age of oh...................15!! Most were adults. I assumed (remember was assume means: When you ASSUME you make an ASS out of U and ME) that it would be something like a double elimination or triple elimination right -- a couple of hours we would have some lunch and check out the center. There were 8 -- YES 8 rounds!!!! Each round was about 40 minutes long -- it consisted of 2 duels and then there was about a 20 minute break in order to let them get the winners in the computer (for those of you who aren't counting that is 1 hour for each round ----- 1 hour times 8 rounds = 8 hours!!!! When I found this out I thought I would pass out. Brendan was on edge --- he didn't know what to expect --- HE DID GREAT!! OK so out of 8 rounds he won 1 - but, he had such a great time and he learned A LOT. He is already talking about the next tournament in October. Grandma came and stayed until almost the end -- Whitlee only had 1 minor meltdown (although there was the incident of her running off in and getting lost in the center house --- talk about freaking out!!!!!) I took lots of pictures I'm going to download them tonight and I'll post them later. It was a beautiful day and we all had a good time.