Saturday, September 2nd, 2017

Today I celebrated the return of the college football season by watching the Iowa State Cyclones defeat the UNI Panthers, 42-24.  I headed over the the tailgate lot around noon and had plenty of time to enjoy some tailgate festivities before the 7:00 kickoff.  Elizabeth brought the kids over to the tailgate after the boys had finished their naps, and then I took Nolan into the game with me.  We met up with Mike & Jamie and their two kids, Maddie & Drew.  Nolan really enjoyed watching the game with friends.  This was the second time that Nolan has been to a football game (the first time was another Cyclone victory over UNI back in 2015).  This was also the fifth time that I have seen the Cyclones play the Panthers in football.  I've seen ISU win this year, in 2015, and also in 2011.  The Panthers came out on top in 2016 and in 2013.  

Nolan enjoying the football game from my shoulders.

Nolan and Maddie had fun sitting with each other at the game!

Our view of the game from the North-East hillside. 

Friday, August 25th, 2017

Tonight our family enjoyed a trip to Hilton Coliseum to watch the ISU volleyball team defeat the Kent State Golden Flashes in 3 sets (25-19, 25-23, 25-18).  This was the season opener for the volleyball team.  We also went to the season opening match last year as well :)

The boys still do not exactly sit still and watch the match.  Basically right when we sat down in our seats Nolan began to beg and cry and plead for us to buy some ice cream... so eventually I took him to buy a Clone Cone that was big enough for the family to split.  A few minutes after finishing our treat, the boys get antsy and want to run around.  So Elizabeth and I took turns following them around as they ran around the concourse that encircles the court.  We did manage to catch most of the first two sets of the match and a bit of the third despite all of this, but then we decided to home early as we were doing as much running circles as we were watching the match.  Still, it is always fun to go to an ISU sporting event, and now that the fall sports are starting I should have plenty of entertainment for the next few months!

This was the opening serve of the match (and season).  Kent State won this point.

Nolan was happy after he filled his belly with ice cream!

Sunday, August 6th, 2017

Today we got back home after our first true vacation as a family of 4 (trips to relatives don't count).  Elizabeth, Nolan, Maxwell, and myself enjoyed a fun-filled trip to Branson, Missouri.  We left on Wednesday after work, so it was late getting down there (like 2:30 in the morning).

On Thursday morning we went out for breakfast at the Uptown Cafe.  They had a man playing live music while we enjoyed a nice breakfast buffet.  He played Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire among other things.  After breakfast, we "rode the ducks" around Branson and out on the water.  The "ducks" are really an old army vehicle that was spelled DUKW but pronounced "ducks".  They are basically like a big boat with wheels that go from land to water easily.  Later on that day we checked out the local fish hatchery, Shepherd of the Hills Fish Hatchery.  They showed us a short video that explained the general operations at the hatchery, and then we had the kids toss some fish food to the trout.  That night we also went swimming back at where we were staying, and we went out to eat again at Mel's Hard Luck Diner.

On Friday we had Krispy Kreme doughnuts for breakfast before checking out Talking Rocks Cavern.  The cave was really fun for us to explore.  We walked down a series of steps down to the bottom of the cave, then they turned off all of the lights so we could see how pitch black it was.  Next there was a little music and light show before we hiked back up to the top of the cave.  All of the rock formations were very beautiful, and it was interesting how it took thousands and thousands of years to form most of them.  Later on that day, Elizabeth took Nolan with her to the Titanic Museum while I stayed with Maxwell at the condo during his nap.  That night we went out once again for supper.  This time we stopped by the Fall Creek Steak & Catfish House.  I enjoyed the catfish dinner, Elizabeth had a burger with onion rings on it, and Nolan & Maxwell each basically ate only french fries and dinner rolls even though we bought them each a meal.

Saturday was another fun-filled day.  That morning we went to The Runaway Mountain Coaster, where Elizabeth & Nolan enjoyed a quick ride.  I guess that Nolan kept telling her to go "faster", but she was going fast enough for her liking already :)  Next, we stopped by Curling Vine Winery where we sampled a few of their wines before buying four bottles to take home as souvenirs.  The Chambourcin was my favorite.  The main attraction that we went to on Saturday was Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede.  It was quite the show and meal.  For the meal they served us whole Cornish game hens, pork loin, creamy vegetable soup, biscuits, corn on the cob, potatoes, and an apple turnover for dessert.  The show had so much going on that it's hard to describe.  The audience was seated in a large arena with the North half being the "Union" and the South half making up the "Confederate" side.  This way we could cheer against the other side during competitions during the show.  There was a lumberjack competition, a pig race, a chicken chase (little kids from the audience chased them), a dog show, barrel racing horses, etc.  The program also had trick riding of horses... one lady rode two horses at once while standing up (one foot on each horse), and then she jumped the horses through a burning ring of fire.  There were also buffalo, doves flying, singing, dancing, all kinds of stuff to watch. Naturally, the North ended up winning the competition (the same side that we sat on). After the show (and after some naps), we took the kids downtown to check out Branson Landing.  There was live music and a water show, but we did not stay very long for this.

Today we headed home, but we did manage to stop by Fritz's Railroad Restaurant in Kansas City.  It was a neat place to eat as small train engines delivered your food to your table!

Elizabeth and the boys outside of the Uptown Cafe

Nolan had fun blowing his "quacker" 

Nolan and I riding the duck

Here Nolan is checking out the trout at the fish hatchery.

I am sneaking through a narrow opening in the cave.

...more cave pictures...

Here I am holding Maxwell outside of the cave entrance. The kids enjoyed the playground pictured here.    

My catfish dinner.

Curling Vine Winery.

Getting ready for our meal at the Dixie Stampede.

The lady jumping two horses through a ring of fire!

...more Dixie Stampede.

Posing at the Runaway sign.

Elizabeth and Nolan just finishing up their ride.

Friday, July 14th, 2017

Happy 4th birthday Nolan!  For the time being I am stuck blogging on my phone because the laptop is having problems, so i apologize for not having birthday photos here.  Anyways, our big boy is four now!  Elizabeth took the day off from work to stay home and play with the kids.  She arranged a play date with Maddie over at Reiman Gardens, and Maddie gave him a little yellow toy transformer/car that it has been hard to get him to put down all day.  We ordered a "blue superman" cake from Hy-vee, which is what Nolan has been asking for this past week.  Nolan blew the candles out himself but may have gotten a little spit on the cake too.  For his birthday presents we got him a tee-ball set, Hungry Hungry Hippos, water balloons, and some coloring books.  Grandpa Eben came down tonight and gave Nolan his very own fishing pole!  He'll have to use it when we go fishing in Minnesota in September.  He also got to stay up way past his normal bedtime.  I'm sure that he enjoyed his fourth birthday quite a bit :)

Monday, May 29th, 2017

Memorial Day 2017

It's always nice to have a three-day weekend.  Friday after work I drove the boys up to Grandpa Eben's farm for the weekend while Elizabeth drove to Chicago to visit friends.  It was quite a fun weekend on the farm.  Saturday morning Eben and I took the kids boating on Silver Lake.  It was the first time that either of the boys had been boating.  The waters on the lake were very calm, and it was a fun ride for us all.  Nolan enjoyed counting the pelicans that were on the lake.  That morning we also showed the boys Eben's cows.  Nolan was able to pet one of the little calves.  We also went up to visit Great-grandma Natalie at her assisted-living home in Ruthven.  On Sunday, we took some flowers over to Lynn's grave at Logan Township Cemetery.  I planted some orange marigolds by her headstone.  Last year I planted some Asiatic Lilies, and two years ago I left some daisies at mom's grave.

Nolan petting a baby calf

Cheese!

Moo.

Maxwell was happy to be wearing his life jacket.

Nolan on his first boat ride.

Grandpa Eben with Maxwell.  He even let Maxwell steer a little bit.

Here are the marigolds that I planted.

Sunday, May 14th, 2017

Happy Mother's Day!  Today I drove back from a weekend fishing trip up to Yellow River in Northeast Iowa.  Elizabeth was nice enough to watch the kids while I was up there.  So after I got home I took the boys to the grocery store and had Nolan pick out a bouquet of flowers for her, and I also made some homemade chocolate-covered strawberries.  Then we had some sushi tonight to help celebrate Mother's Day.

As for my fishing trip, I drove up Thursday night and spent the weekend camping with the Seago brothers (Jon, Matthew, and Jeremy), their dad Clyde, Tyler & Jordan Wright, and their friend Keith.  Three of them were also turkey hunting earlier this week (Keith, Matthew, and Tyler), and by the time I arrived at camp each of them had already bagged a bird.  Combine that with the fact that we were pretty successful fishing, and it was a pretty good weekend.  

I only went fishing on four short trips (about an hour to an hour and a half during the mornings and afternoons each of Friday and Saturday).   I caught two brook trout on Friday.  The first was at the Little Paint site, but way towards the back of the path along a rock ledge.  The second one I caught in the afternoon when we drove to a spot on Big Paint.  It seemed to be a pretty good sized one. I was fishing with pieces of night-crawlers.  Matthew and Tyler both caught their limit of 5 trout that day, and Tyler caught 3 big brown trout.  I think he said that they were 18", 17", and 15.5" in length.  Those were the biggest trout I had seen caught up there.  He caught them while wading in the river along the equestrian trail.

On Saturday morning I woke up around 8:40, walked down the path at Little Paint by myself to the first fishing hole around 9:15, and within 10 minutes I had caught a rainbow trout.  I kept trying a few spots back there for another 45 minutes or so, but no other bites.  Later on that evening I walked back to the same spot with Matthew, and I caught two more rainbow trout.  So in total for my trip I caught 5 trout (3 rainbows, 2 brook).  I suppose if I was really trying to fish most of the time I could have done better, but quite a bit of our time was just spent sitting around camp trying to heat up the fire to cook or just spent relaxing.   It was quite relaxing just sitting around the campfire, listening to the sounds of the stream behind us, and seeing the stars at night when it was nice and clear skies.  

I'm not sure how many times I have been up here fishing... maybe six or seven times.  I did blog about past trips in 2014, 2013, and 2012 at least.  

Here is the Harpers Ferry sign... the closest town to where our campgrounds are.

The Little Paint campgrounds sign where we stayed.

Matthew with a stringer of fish at Big Paint on Friday (I think that one of those was mine).

The rainbow trout that I caught Saturday morning.  

Saturday, May 6th, 2017

This morning Elizabeth and I took the kids down to Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines.  We bought a family membership this year so that they could experience some new animals and learn about them.  If we don't see the whole zoo in one day it's no big deal because we can come back whenever we like, which is nice if the kids need a nap or whatever.  Some of the animals we saw today were the red panda, tigers, lions, giraffes, snow leopards, sea lions, and wallaby.

Here Nolan is "driving" the Jeep while we are on an Africa safari...

Lion!

Snow Leopard

Elizabeth and Nolan with Wallabies in the background.

A wallaby.  Nolan kept calling them "kangaroos".

Giraffes

It was a really nice day to be in central Iowa.  After the zoo we drove over to Gray's Lake in Des Moines and had a picinic.  After we got home (and the kids had a nap) we got our sprinkler out so that they could have some fun in the back yard and cool off.