Saturday, October 27th 2018

Happy Homecoming Cyclone Nation!  What makes today's homecoming especially happy was ISU's victory over the Texas Tech Red Raiders, 40-31. 

Since this was the homecoming game, I was an honorary alumni band member for the day and pushed my aunt LaVonne during the halftime show.  Today marks the 5th straight year that I have helped with the homecoming halftime show.  Last year's win vs #4 TCU, the Cyclones' 2016 loss to Kansas State, the 2015 win vs Texas, and the 2014 win vs Toledo were the previous homecoming games that I helped with.  Today's band performance was pretty easy for me.  All we had to do was march onto the field at the south 35 yard line, wait for the band to play a couple of songs, and then march off on the 35.  In years past I would have to move 5 yards here or there, but today there was no choreography to remember. 

As for the game, the Red Raiders got off to a fast start and led 10-0 after the first quarter thanks in part to a blocked punt that they recovered in the end zone for a touchdown.  Texas Tech would also score another defensive TD late in the game.  Despite this adversity, the Cyclones were able to make enough big plays to come away with the victory.  Hakeem Butler hauled in a 48-yard TD pass from Brock Purdy to seal the win for Iowa State. 

This marks just the third time that I have seen ISU play Texas Tech in football.  The last time that I was in attendance for an ISU victory vs Texas Tech was in 2002, which is best known for Seneca Wallace's "The Run".  Of course, I also saw the Cyclones lose to the Red Raiders back in 2012. 

Eben brought Linda down for the game, and then afterwards he took us all out to eat at Hickory Park.  I had a 1/4 chicken dinner with fries and buttered corn.  Nom nom nom. 

My view of the field during the first half.  I normally sit with LaVonne at field level right by the corner of the end zone!

Nolan being silly at Hickory Park.

Maxwell posing with Cy.

Saturday, October 13th, 2018

Tonight I'm pumped up after the ISU Cyclones dominated the #6 ranked West Virginia Mountaineers, 30-14!  I enjoyed a fun day of tailgating with Tim & Lydia Nevins, Dan Becker, Kyle Perkins, Ryan Butler, and the rest of the usual crew.  I'm a little drunk at the moment, but mainly I'm in awe after the Cyclones held the #6 team in the country to 152 yards of total offense (100 yards passing and 52 yards rushing).  For comparison, David Montgomery ran for 189 yards BY HIMSELF tonight. 

Defeating the #6 team in the country is the 2nd highest ranked team that I have seen our football team defeat in person (last year beating #4 TCU was the best).  This was also the first time that I have seen Iowa State defeat West Virginia.  So as of tonight the only Big 12 football teams that I have not seen ISU defeat in person are Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Kansas State.  Hopefully I can watch us beat the peasky Wildcats later this year...

The crowd rushes the field after the Cyclones defeat #6 West Virginia, 30-14.  

Saturday, September 22nd, 2018

Today Eben joined me for an Iowa State football game, as we watched the Cyclones defeat the Akron Zips, 26-13.  It has been quite a while since dad has gone to a football game with me... I believe the 2011 Kansas game was the last time we went to a game together.  Normally, he is busy combining around this time, but this week he has had quite a bit of rain and flooding at home which has prevented him from starting the harvest yet.

Anyways, prior to the 11:00 kickoff, I took dad over to the Vet Med lot for tailgating.  Our normal spot at G7 was closed due to being too wet.  We met up with the usual group of friends for a few drinks, well I was drinking but Eben didn't care to.  Elizabeth loaded the boys up and brought them over with her bicycle and trailer, so they had a chance to enjoy tailgating as well.  Nolan had fun playing with Bash again.

As for the game, Iowa State took care of business, but it was not the blowout that some had expected.  Hakeem Butler did have a nice 24-yard touchdown reception for the Cyclones.  As he was nearing the goal line, Butler was up-ended by a defender, but he was able to stretch the ball out and knock over the pylon at the goal line while completely upside-down.  It was very athletic and impressive. 

There was a pretty somber mood in the stadium to start the game.  The crowd was all wearing yellow to honor Celia Barquin Arozamena, who was tragically murdered in Ames earlier in the week.  Before the game there was a short video tribute for her and a moment of silence.  It was hard not to get teared-up a little.

Eben posing with Nolan and Maxwell at the tailgate lot.

The band formed a "CBA" to honor Celia Barquin Arozamena.

Go Cyclones!

Saturday, September 15th, 2018

This morning I took Nolan with me to watch the Iowa State Cyclones football game vs the fifth-ranked Oklahoma Sooners.  Unfortunately, the Sooners would go on to win 37-27, but the Cyclones at least played tough against one of the top teams in the country. 

Kickoff was at 11:00, so the plan was to get out to the tailgate lots early.  Having a 5 year old makes it difficult to get there super early, but we managed to show up around 7:30 or so.  Dan Becker had his son, Bash, at the tailgate as well, so at least Nolan had a friend his age to play with.  Dan made everyone some yummy breakfast burritos, and the boys played Frisbee.  The usual crowd was at the tailgate, including Tim Nevins, Ryan Butler, and even Kyle Perkins for a little while.  Kyle and his wife just had a baby, Dorothy, earlier this month, so I wasn't sure if he would make it out or not.

As for the game, the Oklahoma offense looked quite impressive as would be expected for a top-5 team.  Still, the Cyclones held tough thanks to a pair of long Zeb Noland to Hakeem Butler touchdown passes (51 and 57 yards).  Butler's first touchdown of the game (the 51-yard TD) was especially impressive given the way he broke multiple tackles after catching the ball en-route to the end zone. I believe that this was the third time that I have been to an OU-ISU football game, the others being in 2014 and 2012.  I dream of the day that I can actually witness the Cyclones upsetting the Sooners, as they did in Norman last year. 

This was the third time that I have taken Nolan to an ISU football game, and the first game that we were actually able to make it through the whole game.  The previous games he has witnessed were 2017 vs UNI and 2015 vs UNI. 

Nolan posing before kickoff.  Out seats were in section H row 13.

There was a pretty good crowd on hand for the game today... officially 58,479.

Friday, August 24th, 2018

Well a lot has changed around Ames recently as the students are back, and classes for the fall semester started this week.  We're looking forward to having Nolan start his first day of kindergarten this coming Monday.  The great thing about back to school time is that it also means the fall sports season is here :)

Today Elizabeth and I were able to take to boys to our first ISU sporting event of the season - Iowa State's home opening volleyball game vs. Ole Miss.  The 21st ranked Cyclones swept the Rebels in 3 sets (25-21, 25-11, 25-19).  The kids seemed to have fun at the game... even if they didn't exactly watch the game itself.  Of course we split a clone cone so the boys could have their ice cream fix.  Then they spent most of the time just being silly and playing in the aisles where we sat.  Cy the mascot did come up and sit by us, which was cool.  I tried to take Maxwell over to him at one point for a picture, but Maxwell was too scared when we got up close to Cy.

I believe that this is the third year in a row that we've seen the home opening volleyball game for the Cyclones.  Last year we saw the game against Kent State, and in 2016 we saw the Cyclones play Wichita State.

Our first clone cone of the season!  

Cy sat by us at the game for a bit!

A view of the action between ISU and Ole Miss.

Monday, July 9th, 2018

First I would just like to say happy anniversary to Elizabeth.  Seven years sure have gone fast!

The main thing on my mind tonight is the epic vacation that our family just went on to Hawaii.  Becky was generous enough to take all of the GLEKS families on a Hawaiian cruise, and it was so much fun I can hardly describe it.  

Our trip began on June 28th when we flew from Des Moines to Phoenix (almost 3 hours) and then from Phoenix to Honolulu (about 6 hours).  Because of the time change, we arrived in the middle of the day, and we had to try and keep the kids up longer than usual.  That was a long day, especially because the kids cried for long periods during the flights.  On the day of our arrival, we did get to dip our toes in the ocean at Waikiki beach. That night we went out for dinner at Maui Brewing Company.

Nolan LOVED the beach at Waikiki.

On the 29th the main thing we did was play at Waikiki beach.  Both kids really had fun playing on the beach and in the shallow waves.  Maxwell would be silly and bend over so that his head was on the ground and let waves splash his face.  He stopped after getting mouthfuls of salt water a couple of times.  We had a big pizza party for Becky that night to thank her for the trip.

On the 30th of June I took Nolan parasailing.  I thought that parasailing was one of the most enjoyable things that I did in Hawaii.  The view was spectacular.  Nolan did get a little frightened when we were up at the very top, but overall he handled it well.  We also boarded the cruise ship that day.

July 1st was our first day at Maui.  We took the kids to Kaanapali beach, where we set up a rented canopy and beach chairs, and we enjoyed the beach most of the afternoon.  The Gleasons did meet up with us there, and they went snorkeling.  The let me try it for a while as well, which was a lot of fun.  I even saw some humahumanukanukaapuaa while snorkeling.  Elizabeth and I went to bed early that night because we had a big day planned for day 2 of Maui.

Elizabeth and Maxwell building sand castles at Kaanapali beach.

On July 2nd, we woke up super early, like 1:45 AM.  We hopped on a shuttle around 2:30 in the morning, which took us up around 10,000 feet above sea level on Mount Haleakala.  The idea was to watch the sun rise from on top of the mountain.  It was actually super cold up there, and we stood around in the cold for about 45 minutes before day break.  Unfortunately, it was cloudy at that time, so all we saw were clouds at day break.  Later on the clouds did lift some so we could see the sun, but it wasn't the true "sunrise".  After that, Elizabeth and I went on a 7-mile downhill bike ride, and then we went zip lining.  The very last zip line was quite long, and it was a lot of fun!  

The view from Mount Haleakala once the clouds lifted.

July 3rd we spent at Hilo on the big island.  We bought tickets to the "Hop on, Hop off" bus, which took us to a variety of places around town.  We saw Rainbow Falls, the Hilo farmer's market, a statue of King Kameamea, and we went by a row of old Banyan trees that were planted by famous people (I remember Babe Ruth and Amelia Earhart, and president FDR).  On the night of the 3rd, our ship cruised past the active Kilauea volcano.  That was spectacular to see in person, and it was probably my favorite moment of the whole trip.

Rainbow Falls

Elizabeth with a yummy poke bowl that we split for lunch in downtown Hilo.

The volcano is on the right, and where the lava flows into the ocean is on the left.

On the 4th of July I went deep sea fishing with James, Christian, Emily, and Becky.  It turned out to just be a 4 hour boat ride without any fish (or even any bites), but it was still fun.  

On July 5th and 6th we spent time in Kauai.  We drove the kids to Lydgate park on the 5th.  The beach there was pretty rough, so we were not able to go swimming.  On the afternoon of the 6th the ship cruised along the Na Pali coast, which was very beautiful.  

Our cruise ended on the 7th, but we still had a day on Oahu before our flight that night.  We did a quick tour of the Dole pineapple plantation and had a Dole whip (pineapple ice cream that was smooth and very sweet).  We also stopped by the Polynesian Cultural Center, where Nolan got a temporary tattoo of a lizard.   

Monday, May 28th, 2018

Memorial Day 2018

It's been a busy few days for the Salton Family.  Last Tuesday, the 22nd, we drove down to Des Moines to pick up my new 2018 Toyota Camry Hybrid from the Toyota dealership!  So far I really like the car.  It rides very smoothly, and it can get up to 50 miles per gallon.  The color of the car is "Brownstone". 

My new car!

Then this weekend we took the new car on its first road trip as we traveled to Mason City to visit grandma Becky.  "Band fest" was going on, so we took the kids to watch the parade on Saturday morning, and then they were able to ride a few carnival rides.  We also treated them to ice cream at Birdsall's, a really good local ice cream parlor where Elizabeth used to work back when she was in high school.  I enjoyed two scoops of their black raspberry marble ice cream :)  The boys each had a scoop of cotton candy ice cream.  Between candy at the parade, actual cotton candy at the carnival, and ice cream, they each had plenty of sweets on Saturday!

Nolan and Elizabeth pose at the parade in Mason City.

Today Elizabeth took Nolan to the water park here in Ames for the first time this year.  I stayed hme with Maxwell, as he had gotten a little too much sun while up in Mason City.  For supper we took the whole family out to eat at The Cafe.  As always, the food there was very good.  We've also been gradually preparing ourselves for our upcoming trip to Hawaii later this summer... it's going to be so much fun I can hardly wait!