Wednesday, October 22nd, 2014

Tonight we were able to take Nolan to our first volleyball game of the season where we saw Iowa State defeat the Kansas Jayhawks in 5 sets (18-25, 25-16, 25-17, 21-25, 15-12).  We had to leave before the end of the match (it was past Nolan's bed time), but it was still fun to take Nolan to a game. 

In a funny coincidence, an ISU player named Nolan (Caitlin Nolan) set an ISU record and tied a Big 12 record with 43 digs.

Saturday, October 18th, 2014

Tonight Elizabeth and I took Nolan over to Hilton Coliseum to watch the first annual "Hilton Madness" event.  It showcased the men's & women's basketball teams as they get ready to start their seasons.  There were team introductions, unveiling of the NCAA tournament banners for each team, a 3-point contest, and a dunk contest.  Kourtlin Jackson was the winner of the dunk contest, although it seemed to me that Jameel McKay had the more exciting dunks.  Naz Long had the highest single round score in the 3-point contest (22 points in the semifinals), but he ended up losing to Brynn Williamson of the women's team in the finals.

Here was a little bit of the action that I was able to take with my cell phone:
Naz Long's first round of the 3-point contest
The ISU Men's team warming up
Jameel McKay dunks after bouncing the ball off the side of the backboard
Kourtlin Jackson's final dunk

Sunday, October 5th, 2014

Well, it's Sunday night... and I just wanted to share what we did on our fun weekend with Nolan. 

On Friday after work we went out to eat at Hickory Park.  We ordered some chicken strips for Nolan and also tried to feed him some macaroni & cheese, some of Elizabeth's grilled cheese sandwich, and some french fries... but he was being a very picky eater!  He ate a little macaroni, but he mainly wanted to eat plain ketchup that we were dipping his fries into. 

Then on Saturday we took Nolan to a pumpkin patch to pick out a big pumpkin and have a little fun.  The name of the place was Center Grove Orchard.  There was a big "corn pool" where kids could swim around in corn, lots of farm animals to see, some exhibits (like the houses of the three little pigs), a hay ride, and of course the pumpkin patch. 

Nolan found an outhouse that was just his size!

Elizabeth and Nolan found the perfect pumpkin for us!

Carrying our 76 pound pumpkin back to the hay ride.