Saturday, October 31st, 2015

Happy Halloween, and HAPPY VICTORY VS TEXAS!! 

Tonight I witnessed a huge homecoming victory for the Iowa State football team as they shutout the Longhorns, 24-0.  This was the first time ever that the Cyclones have beaten Texas in Ames, and it was also the first career start for Iowa State's quarterback, Joel Lanning.  

I watched the game from the sideline since I was part of the ISU alumni band that played on the field at halftime.  I pushed my aunt, Lavonne, in a wheelchair as she played her clarinet.  It was actually quite a bit of work pushing her up and down the hills around the stadium and then onto the field.  We also spent quite a bit of time before the game practicing our formations that we would go through for the halftime show.  It was all worth it though to be able to see this great game from the Cyclones tonight!  Maybe I am a good luck charm as part of the alumni band.  I also pushed Lavonne for the homecoming game last year when ISU defeated Toledo.  

This was the first time that Texas has been shutout by an unranked team since 1961.  

Friday, October 30th, 2015

Today was beggar's night in Ames, so it was also the first time that Nolan has actually gone trick or treating!  Elizabeth took him to do daytime trick or treating on main street, and then tonight they went around to a few of the neighborhood houses to collect candy.  I stayed at the house and handed out candy (M&Ms, Reese's peanut butter cups, and Hershey's cookies & cream bars) to about 34 kids.

Here is Nolan trick or treating in his Buzz costume on main street.

Elizabeth and Nolan getting ready to head out to the houses on our street.

Buzz Lightyear!!

Wednesday, October 21st, 2015

Happy back to the future day!  Yeah, it's kind of funny that in the 1989 film, Back to the Future Part II, Marty McFly and the Doc travel in their time machine to October 21st, 2015... today.  When I was a kid growing up, I always wanted one of the hover boards from that film.  Alas, they are not something that people use today :(

What I really wanted to blog about tonight was the volleyball game that we went to see.  The Iowa State women defeated West Virginia in straight sets, (25-20, 25-11, 25-16).  Elizabeth and I took Nolan to the game, and we stayed for the first two sets before it was time to come home and put the little guy to bed.  He still has a hard time sitting still to watch a game.  He mainly wants to run around the concourse of the stadium or climb over seats.  The best part of the game for us tonight was having Nolan meet Cy before the game.  Nolan gave Cy a big high five and posed for a picture.

It's CY!!!

Nolan was so happy getting to meet Cy, and he wasn't super shy or scared like some other times when he has met him.

We watched the match from the end of the stadium where there was plenty of empty seating for Nolan to run around and not get in people's way.  It's not as good of a view, but it's better to have some free space with Nolan.

Saturday, October 3rd, 2015

This morning I got up bright and early (at 4:00) to get ready and be at the tailgate lots by 5:00 so that I could have a full day of fun with our tailgating group before the football game kicked off vs Kansas at 11:00.  I met up with Dan Becker, Tim Nevins, Kyle Perkins, and everyone at the WRNL tailgate.  Dan made everyone omelettes which was pretty cool of him.  Elizabeth and Nolan stayed home today and got some extra sleep.

Today was the fourth time that I have seen Iowa State play Kansas in football, and I'm happy to say that all four of the games have been Cyclone victories (today, 2013, 2011, and 2002).  Today's final score was 38-13.  Iowa State looked alright, and our freshman running back, Mike Warren, ran for whopping 175 yards and two touchdowns.  On one play in the third quarter, he ran up the middle for a 62-yard touchdown.  However, it seemed that Kansas was just a bad football team in every phase of the game.  Hopefully this game can give the team a little confidence heading into the rest of the conference schedule.

The view of the game from our seats