When we told people that we were celebrating E’s 4th birthday in Durham, North Carolina, rather than having a party, they looked at us a bit strangely. No one quite believed us when we said E. had one wish for her birthday — to go to the Blue Devil’s house.

But that’s all she wanted. So, after some quick travel research, her father was happy to oblige and take her to his alma mater. We discovered that Allegiant now flies between Orlando (Sanford) and Greensboro, N.C. It’s only about an hour or so drive from Greensboro to Durham and the best part? We got our tickets for about $80 roundtrip each. Durham here we come!

We first spent Thursday night at my sister- and brother-in-law’s home just outside Charlotte. And not only were they fabulous hosts who took us to an amazing place (Discovery Place, which was a giant preschool play area with a kid-sized pretend grocery store, farm, race car, submarine, vet’s office, ambulance and much, much more), they also gave E. what could be the best gift ever — a big box full of Star Wars goodies.

There were pancake molds:

a Darth Vader spatula:

an apron:

and TIE fighter and Millennium Falcon sandwich cutters!

Yeah, E. was pretty psyched. On Friday, we kept the Star Wars theme going by seeing Star Wars: Episode 1 in 3D (which is awesome, by the way). Since it was her birthday, we let her get a popcorn and I didn’t monitor it as closely as I normally do. Big mistake. Toward the end of the movie, she started saying that her belly hurt. She made it through the end, but as soon as we got out in the parking lot, she threw up everywhere. Oops! Thank God she did it in the parking lot, rather than in the rental car and her car seat. What would we have done with no washing machine? Glad I didn’t have to figure that one out.

After relaxing at the hotel for a few hours, we met up with some of DadJovi’s college buddies for dinner. It was perfect — all three have girls within a year of each other and they got along great.

By the way, E. is driving me crazy with her new thing — the side-eye. She refuses to look directly into the camera. Coy? Torturing her mother? Afraid the camera will steal her soul? Who knows.

After dinner, there was a very special birthday dessert.

Yes, that is a Blue Devil cake. The brainwashing is thorough my friends. Very thorough.

Really? More side-eye? Sigh.

Friday night, the birthday girl got nearly 13 hours of sleep (and Mommy finished “Room,” my next book club selection. Intense!). On Saturday, we hit one of DadJovi’s favorite places — the Duke Gardens. We’ve been there on previous trips and this time, we couldn’t believe all the improvements they’ve made. They’ve always been great, but now, they rival the Botanical Gardens in Atlanta or any other city’s gardens. And they’re free to visit because students often cross them to get from one side of campus to the other.

You can see the top of the Duke Chapel in the distance. The gardens cover 55 acres and there are several different sections — the Asiatic gardens, native plants, and the terrace gardens. Even in the middle of winter, there were beautiful things everywhere we looked.

After a couple hours in the gardens, we headed over to campus for a quick lunch at the Washington Duke Inn (and to use its parking lot for our car), and then we walked up to the main attraction:

It’s been about five years since we’ve been to a game at Cameron, so DadJovi was excited, to say the least. Hey, here’s a fun fact for you. Did you know that he lobbied HARD to name E. Cameron Indoor. Yes, he wanted Indoor as her middle name because he says “no one cares about middle names anyway.” I actually like the name Cameron (having nothing to do with Duke) but thankfully, friends of ours had a baby a few months before us and stole DadJovi’s baby name. Problem solved.

We also took E. over to one of the spots that makes Duke Duke — KVille.

If you’re not familiar with Krzyzewkiville, it’s named for Duke’s Coach K and it’s where the students basically have to live during basketball season. It’s a complicated system involving tent checks, numbered tents, bracelets and one student needing to be present at all times. I have no idea how DadJovi did this for four years, but that’s how the Cameron Crazies get crazy! E. loved it, by the way.

While we were waiting for our appointment with the Blue Devil, we walked over to the Duke Chapel — the most recognized landmark on campus.

Then, after all the build-up, it was time for the main event of the weekend — meeting the Blue Devil! When we first decided to go, the one thing DadJovi was most worried about was how could we possibly get a photo with the Blue Devil. Clearly, he forgot who he was married to. Thanks to some fawning tweeting on my end to the official Blue Devil mascot account, I finally got the response we’d been waiting for — he sent me his email address. I quickly emailed him about E’s love for him and all the ways her father has brainswashed her (Blue Devil = Santa’s helper Tar Heel = toy stealer) and I got this response:

 That is awesome.  I would be more than happy to meet with you and your daughter at some point.  I think the best way to handle this is as we get closer to the game, send me another email and I will connect you to my handler who will make sure that I can meet up with you guys at some point.  

Always #1,

}–The Blue Devil–{   

On game day, I emailed his handler back and forth and we had a meeting time set up. But then, about an hour before we were supposed to meet, we saw The Blue Devil himself walking from the gym to Cameron. I decided there was no time like the present and pointed him out to E. Without even hesitating, she hurtled toward him:

Think she was excited?

You know we go to Disney a lot and E. is on a first-name basis with the princesses. I’m telling you, my girl was flat-out starstruck and tongue-tied. It was a pretty kick-ass moment. Otto is always No. 1 in my heart, but the Blue Devil will always have a tiny piece of my heart now for being such a good sport and making her birthday wish come true.

After we met the Blue Devil, E’s first question was, “Can the Crazies paint my face now?” We had seen some of the students painting faces earlier but I told her no face painting until after our Blue Devil meet-and-greet. We set out to find our artists.

I think they wanted to adopt her as their mascot, and I’m pretty sure she is now on about 35 kids’ Facebook pages. They were all snapping away. Oh well.

We also found E. and her father’s second favorite Duke “mascot” — the Storm Trooper who sits in the front row of every game.

E. also loved these girls.

Dear future E: If I ever see a picture of you dressing up as a Smurf by painting your body blue and only wearing a white tape dress, I will come to Durham and bring you home. Just try me. But they were sweet girls and I’m sure they were on TV a lot. They got good seats inside Cameron.

The game itself was so much fun. We got great seats, although seeing as how Cameron only seats about 9,000, there really isn’t a bad seat in the house. It’s tiny! My first time there a few years ago I couldn’t get over how small and cramped it is, especially compared to the Carrier Dome. But it’s got an atmosphere like no other place.

E. was mesmerized by the cheers, the band and of course, the Blue Devil.

And, oh yeah, there was a game, too!

DadJovi loved teaching E. all about the game and of course the Duke cheers. I heard she’s now harassing the kids playing basketball at preschool by sticking her arm out, waving her fingers and yelling in that monotone way the Crazies love to do.

And my streak of only seeing Duke losses at Cameron finally ended! I think DadJovi was about to ban me from the building.

And just in case you were wondering if all of this was necessary for a 4th birthday, allow me to tell you the very important question E. had after the game. “Daddy, when I get big, can I go to college at Duke, too?”

Hook, line, sinker.

She claims she wants to go to Syracuse for her 5th birthday but I’m afraid if I take her to Syracuse in February, she’ll never want to go back. Too bad they don’t play basketball in the summer.

How are we ever going to top this birthday?

What’s the first sporting event you remember attending? And did you adopt your parents’ favorite sports teams or did you do what I fear E. will do — choose to root for their rivals?