Sunday, July 28th, 2024

 Today I took Eben, Nolan, and Maxwell down to Des Moines for an Iowa Cubs baseball game.  I'm sure that I have been to an I-Cubs game before, but it's been so long that I have no idea when exactly.

I think that the boys had fun at the game.  Nolan got to meet the mascot, "Cubbie".  I got the boys some "Dippin' Dots ice cream, which they were pretty excited about.  I also picked up a souvenir baseball for Maxwell.  As for the game, the Cubs ended up losing to the Indianapolis Indians, 9-8.  The Indians scored all 9 of their runs in a terrible 6th inning for the Cubs.  We ended up leaving in the 8th inning when the score was 9-3... but the Cubs would rally with 5 runs in the 9th that we missed!  That included a grand slam!  Oh well.  

It's become a bit of a tradition to take grandpa Eben to baseball games.  Last year we went to a Twins / Red Sox game, and in 2019 we went to a Royals / Twins game.  I'm thinking that next year I would like to take dad down to a St. Louis Cardinals game!  

Sunday, July 14th, 2024

 HAPPY 11TH BIRTHDAY NOLAN!!

Nolan is now old enough to be considered a "wizard", at least in the world of Harry Potter.  Right after breakfast (I made a We Will breakfast pizza), Nolan took the online sorting hat quiz to see which magical house he belongs to.  It turns out he is a Gryffindor, just like me!  

Yesterday while Elizabeth and Nolan were at Adventureland, it was up to me to bake him a cake.  I stayed with the Harry Potter theme and made a cake in the same fashion as Hagrid gave Harry in the movie.  "I baked it myself, words and all."  I had never tried to write with frosting on a cake before, so I'm afraid mine did not look quite as nice as Hagrid's!  

For his birthday lunch Nolan requested that we go to Blaze Pizza.  He had his regular order of pepperoni and mozzarella with a spicy red sauce.  

After lunch we took the kids down to Urban Air in Ankeny.  They probably played around there for a good two and a half hours.  Today was the first time that Maxwell actually tried the zip-line thing there.  He was nervous at first, but once he tried it he really enjoyed it!  He must have gone on it 8 to 10 times in a row.  

Then this evening a took the boys out for a movie.  Nolan chose to see Despicable Me 4.  The kids both got a kick out of the movie.  

Finally, one we got home from the movie, Nolan opened his presents.  He got a little nerf target practice thing, some sandals, some water balloons, and a "Kids Against Maturity" card game.  I think that he had a pretty good 11th birthday overall.

HAPPE BIRTHDAE NOLAN!