Sunday, October 30th, 2016

Yesterday marked the third year in a row in which I helped push my aunt LaVonne in her wheelchair as she participated in the Iowa State Alumni Band halftime show for the homecoming football game.  I was never in the band or anything myself, but now you could say that I'm an honorary member.  Because the game's kickoff was set for 11:00, we had to start our day EARLY.  LaVonne, aunt Susan, and their friend Gail all picked my up at 5:30 in the morning so we could make it over to the practice facility by 6:00.  There we spent quite a while going over the formations and practicing the music for our halftime show.  This year it was pretty easy to learn because LaVonne and I basically stayed on the same spot of the field for the halftime performance (we were on the North 35 yard line).  Compared to past years where we had to move 5 yards this way, and 5 yards that way, it was pretty nice.  There was once where we did have to turn 180 degrees a couple of times, but that was about it.

Here I am with LaVonne as the band practices early in the morning.

I stood with LaVonne along the East sideline for the game.  This was our view of the game during the first half. If you look close you can see the ball in the air during a punt.  

Here is a photo that Susan took of the band during halftime.  LaVonne and I are at the corner of the "S" along the 35 yard line.

Here is LaVonne, her friend Gail, and myself standing by the Jack Trice statue near the football stadium.

As for the game itself, the Cyclones came up on the short end of the stick against the Kansas State Wildcats, 26-31.  I wasn't expecting much from the team as they have not done well at all this year (the team is now 1-7).  I enjoyed last year's homecoming game much better when ISU defeated Texas.

Monday, October 24th, 2016

So today was a fun day.  My season basketball tickets came in the mail, AND Elizabeth picked up my new custom license plate for my car!  I'm as excited as a kid on Christmas morning :)

Season basketball tickets!  Section 216, row 16, seats 7 and 8.

My new license plate :)

Also of note recently... the Chicago Cubs will be playing in the World Series for the first time since 1945 tomorrow.  GO CUBS, GO!

Sunday, October 2nd, 2016

Today Elizabeth and I took the kids down to Center Grove Orchard for a little family fun.  It's quite the fun place for kids.  When we first arrived, we headed for a big slide where you sit on a burlap sack while you slide down.  There was not too much of a line early on, so I went down twice with Nolan, and Elizabeth slid down once with him.  We didn't take Maxwell down as he seemed too little for it.

Elizabeth and Nolan going down the big slide.

From there, we headed over to... well, I'm not sure what you call it exactly.  It's like a bouncy castle, but not enclosed.  It's like a big bouncy floor.  Nolan jumped on that for quite a while, and it was hard to convince him to leave and do something else.

Nolan jumping on the bouncy-floor.

Next we stood in line a little while to wait to go on the hay ride.  The hay ride took us out to where you can pick your own apples or ride on a small train.  We didn't bother to pick any apples, but we did ride the train.  There was also a tractor pulling some small wagons that were made into seats.  We took a ride on that after the train ride was over.

Train!

Salton-selfie while riding the train.

At the same location as the train ride and tractor rides was the "combine slide"  It's basically an old worn out combine that they built a slide into.  There was almost no line for this, so Nolan probably went down it 6 times at least.  I went down with him the first couple of times, but he was getting grumpy and insisted that he could do it himself, so the last few times I let him climb up and slide down all by himself.  He's a "big boy" now I guess.

Nolan coming down the combine slide.

After the combine slide, we hopped back on the hay ride that took us farther down the trail to the pumpkin patch.  Thankfully this year Nolan only wanted a "small" pumpkin,  Unlike 2014 when I had to carry back the giant 76-pound pumpkin, this year we selected a 14-pound pumpkin.  I was pleased.

Next, we took anther hay ride back to the main buildings.  By this point we were getting a little tired and needed to head home soon.  We spent a few minutes looking at the animal exhibits, but soon we were on our way home.  It was a very fun day for sure :)

Nolan looking at the ducks.

Turkeys.

Monday, September 5th, 2016

Happy Labor Day 2016.  It's always nice to have a three day weekend and have an extra day to "relax".  Today the relaxing is mainly giving the kids some TLC as they are both sick.  Last Friday Maxwell was diagnosed with Hand Foot and Mouth disease.  He's got little blisters all over his hands... poor little guy.  Then just last night Nolan started to get a fever, so I'm guessing he has it now too.  So we are trying to give them extra cuddles and some rest because apparently there is not much you can do for it other than to let it run it's course.  It should clear up in 7 to 10 days.

This past Saturday I attended Iowa State's first football game of the season, and the first under head coach Matt Campbell.  The team did not look very good at all, losing to the UNI Panthers 25-20.  Besides the disappointment of the game, I did enjoy myself quite a bit.  The weather was beautiful, and I was able to tailgate from roughly 11:15 AM up until the 7:00 PM kickoff.  I met up with the Wide Right Natty Light group (Kyle Perkins, Dan Becker, Tim Nevins, etc), but later on I was joined by a couple of old Freddy Court neighbors, Kaitlin & Erin, along with Kaitlin's boyfriend, Zach.  We played plenty of games... flippy cup, beer pong, beer ball, and some Frisbee game.

This was the fourth time that I have seen Iowa State play UNI in football.  Sadly, the Cyclones are only 2-2 in those games.  I've seen Iowa State win in 2015 and 2011, but then the Panthers have won this year and also in 2013.

Tim, Kaitlin, Zach, Erin, and myself.

Here I am greeting Kaitlin and Erin.

Zach and I were the beer pong champions :)

Here is the view from my seat of the game.

Friday, August 26th, 2016

Today I am writing about Maxwell's first sporting event at Hilton Coliseum.  We were able to take the whole family to watch the ISU volleyball season opener against Wichita State.  The Cyclones ended up winning in straight sets: 25-16, 25-21, and 25-20.

Maxwell, Mommy, and Nolan getting ready for the game to start.

Here is the opening serve between Wichita State and Iowa State.

Maxwell got to meet Cy!!

I was looking back through my blog, and the first time that Nolan attended an ISU sporting event was on October 9th, 2013.  Similarly, his first sporting event was an ISU volleyball game.  Even better, the Cyclones won that match in straight sets against another team from the state of Kansas (Kansas State).  Nolan was also able to meet Cy that night as well.

Monday, August 1st, 2016

I just wanted to point out that today is special for us because little Maxwell is now 6 months old!  He's changing so much now.  He's basically army crawling now, but he can't quite crawl normally.  He can get up onto his hands and knees, but he will only wiggle around.  He still needs to figure out how to coordinate his arms & legs to crawl.

Maxwell at 6 months old!!

Another fun thing about today is that our friends Dan & Anne Becker welcomed their second child today as Lara Mae was born this morning :)

Saturday, July 2nd, 2016

Today we had a family photo shoot with Destri from d&orfs photography over at McFarland Park.  We have such a happy little family :)