Wednesday, October 16th, 2019

Tonight I took Nolan with me to watch the ISU women's volleyball team defeat the TCU Horned Frogs in straight sets, 25-23, 25-23, and 25-12.  Today's game was the "Pink Match" for breast cancer awareness.  They handed out pink pom-poms to everyone, which Nolan thought was pretty cool.  We also split a popcorn to keep him happy.  The first two sets of the match seemed to be very close and hard fought, and ISU was fortunate to win both.  Then in the third set it seemed like TCU almost gave up, as the Cyclones cruised to an easy victory.

Nolan did get to take his picture with Cy, which was fun.  This is the second volleyball game of the season that I've been to, as I also took Maxwell to the home opener against South Dakota.

Nolan and CY!!

Here we are having fun with out pink pom-poms.

A view of the action against TCU.  The Cyclones are wearing pink, while the Horned Frogs are in black.

Saturday, October 5th, 2019

Today I went to the Iowa State football game vs TCU, where the Cyclones defeated the Horned Frogs, 49-24. 

The game was originally scheduled for 11:00 this morning, but due to heavy rain the kickoff was pushed back to 1:00.  That just made for more time to tailgate!  I enjoyed myself with the usual group (Kyle Perkins, Dan Becker, Ryan Butler, Chris Schroeder...).  The tailgate involved three canopy tents lined up with everyone huddled underneath them trying to stay out of the rain.  All of the grass lots were closed, so we were parked over in the paved section of vet med.  Originally I had wanted to bring Nolan to this game, but with all of the rain forecast for today it seemed best not to.

Once the game started, the weather had actually turned quite nice.  I sat with Brian and Sullivan Gleason, who had made the trip up from St. Louis for the game.  We had pretty good seats, between the north 30 and 35 yard lines on the west side, in section 7.  Brock Purdy played well for Iowa State, accounting for 2 passing touchdowns and 2 rushing touchdowns of his own.  The Cyclones also had a defensive touchdown by Eyioma Uwazurike, who scooped up a fumble on the 1 yard line, after the TCU quarterback was sacked by O'Rien Vance. 

Today marks the 4th football game that I have attended between Iowa State and TCU.  The Cyclones also won back in 2017, while TCU prevailed in 2015 and in the Houston Bowl back in 2005. 

Tuesday, September 3rd, 2019

Tonight I was able to take Maxwell with me to Hilton Coliseum, where we watched the Cyclones win their home opening volleyball game in straight sets over the Coyotes of South Dakota (25-19, 25-18, 25-19). 
The game started at 6:30 and was over by 8:00, so we were able to stay for the whole thing... which is not always the case when taking kids to a volleyball game.  I split a Clone Cone with Maxwell, which of course helped to keep his interest.  We also got to take a selfie with Cy and give him a high-five, which Maxwell got a kick out of.
Apparently this is the 4th straight home opening volleyball game that we have been to.  Last year we saw Iowa State defeat Ole Miss, two years ago Iowa State defeated Kent State, and three years ago they beat Wichita State.  It looks like all four of those matches the Cyclones won in straight sets.

Here is the opening serve between the Coyotes and the Cyclones.

Maxwell was excited to see Cy today!

Can you say too much ice cream?

Saturday, August 31st, 2019

Today I was able to take Maxwell to his first ever football game, where the 21st-ranked Iowa State Cyclones survived a triple OT game against the UNI Panthers, 29-26.

Kickoff for today's game was at 11:00, so we got up nice and early for the tailgate.  Maxwell and I arrived at the tailgate a little before 7:00.  Others that were there included Ryan Butler, Dan Becker, George, Kyle Perkins, Chris Schroeder, and eventually Dan's wife Anne.  One funny thing about the tailgate was how hungry Maxwell seemed.  Before we left the house, I made his a two egg cheese omelet, but clearly that wasn't enough.  While we were there, he ate two pieces of bacon, at least 3 breakfast sausage links, a cheese stick, a small bowl of strawberries, and a couple of pumpkin spice donut holes.

As for the game, I'm glad that Iowa State won, but at this point we really don't look like a top-25 team.  The Cyclone defense looked solid, but the offense needs to figure a few things out during their bye week coming up.  Maxwell and I only made it to halftime before we had to leave.  He actually slept for most of the second quarter, and was pretty cranky when he woke up just before halftime.  I guess all of that food made him sleepy.  The only scoring that we witnessed in the first half was a 42-yard field goal by Connor Assalley. 

I believe that this was the 6th time that I have seen Iowa State play the Panthers in football, the others being ISU victories in 2017, 2015, and 2011), and Panther wins in 2016 and 2013. 

Like I mentioned, this was Maxwell's first football game.  For reference, Nolan has only been to 3 games (Oklahoma 2018, UNI 2017, and UNI 2015). 

Maxwell posing at our seats in row 10 of section V.

He was a happy finally getting to see a football game in person!

Friday, August 23rd, 2019

Today was Nolan's first day of FIRST GRADE!!  It's crazy that he's getting so big now.  On Wednesday of this week he got to meet his new teacher, Mrs. Bruck.  Nolan was actually given some "homework" to complete before his first day... which was just a student survey.  As you can see in the picture below, according to Nolan his favorite food is apples, his favorite color is gold, his favorite book is Captain Underpants, he would like to get better at climbing, two activities that he likes to do outside of school are swimming and playing at a park, and he helps his family by "cleaning" and "putting away dishes".  What a stinker. 

Here Nolan is posing with the Edward's Elementary sign before being dropped off.

Nolan with his "homework" before his first day.

Sunday, July 21st, 2019

Today we just got back from our annual "Christmas in July" family reunion.  This year it was held at Rick & Marilyn's log cabin outside of Mount Ayr, IA.  To name everyone that attended... there was our family of 4 (Elizabeth, Brian, Nolan, Maxwell), Amy & Brandon Shostak plus their kids Emma and Logan, grandpa Eben, great-grandma Natalie, Chris & Marcia Langner, David Langner, Chris & Susan Irwin, Kent & Andrea (as well as Andrea's sister, who's name I didn't catch), Rick & Marilyn, Gary & LaVonne, and Aaron Salton. 

We headed down to the log cabin on Friday after work.  Even though it was a rather hot day, we camped in the backyard.  We had a pizza party for supper on Friday, and then spent most of the evening visiting with family.  By the time we brought the kids to the tent to sleep, it was about 10:30 (way past their bed time).  Still, Maxwell had lots of energy, and he would't stop talking for about an hour.  Eventually I had enough, so I told Maxwell to be quiet or the werewolves would hear him and come eat us.  That did the trick, and we were able to get some peace and quiet after that.

First thing after getting up on Saturday, Maxwell was still concerned that the werewolves might be around.  Haha... he really was quite worried about them, but we needed some sleep, so I didn't feel too bad.  On Saturday Amy & Elizabeth helped the kids tie-dye t-shirts.  We brought deli meat and cheese for people to make sandwiches for lunch on Saturday.  In the afternoon, Brandon and I paddled Rick's canoe around his farm pond, and we took Nolan and Logan for canoe rides.  Around supper time a thunderstorm rolled through and really dumped rain for a while, so we all hung out in the garage.  After that cleared, we made a camp fire and roasted marshmallows to make smores.  I played a few games of cribbage with David, Chris, and Rick.  Nolan ended up passing out in the living room, so I slept in the living room with him while Maxwell and Elizabeth went to the tent.  Around midnight another thunderstorm rolled in, so Elizabeth brought Maxwell inside just to be safe. 

Overall, this was our 25th Christmas in July... the first year was 1994. 

Sunday, July 14th, 2019

Happy 6th birthday to Nolan!!

This weekend was a fun-filled birthday weekend for Nolan.  Yesterday we held his birthday party at Surefire Fitness.  We had the place reserved from 10:00 until 11:30.  They had set up all kinds of obstacles, kind of like a kid's version of America Ninja Warrior.  There were PVC pipes low to the ground that the kids had to crawl under, a big net that they had to climb, an actual rock climbing wall, a big rope that they had to crawl across upside down, an obstacle called "the earthquake" that had tennis balls balancing on the top of narrow PVC pipes sticking up (so if you shook it too much the balls would fall off)... you get the idea.  To start with there was just a free play time where all the kids could practice each obstacle as they pleased.  Then all of the kids took turns running through the whole course, and at the end there was a button they hit that would sound a siren and have smoke shoot out from above.  All in all, it was a lot of fun for the kids, and it got them worn out which was nice.

There were probably close to a dozen kids that attended.  Nolan and Maxwell of course.  Also Maddie and Drew, Sebastian (Bash) and Lara, Nico (from Nolan's school), Luka and Mia, and some others from school that I was not as familiar with.  We had Pizza Hut deliver some pizzas for the kids, along with ice cream treats, chips, juice boxes, and fruit.  Grandma Becky, Grandpa Eben, and Great-grandma Natalie all came to the party as well. 

Nolan enjoying some pizza at his birthday party.

This morning Nolan opened some presents.  He was lucky enough to get to remote controlled cars!  Luka's family gave him a Toy Story RC car, and we had bought him a blue Mustang RC car.  Nolan ended up wanting both of them... we were worried that we may need to return one of them.  Then later this morning we took the whole family to Perfect Games.  Tonight for supper Nolan wanted ice cream at Orange Leaf... followed by supper at Burger King (so that he could play in the play area).  We did have the ice cream first, as per the birthday boy's wishes. 

Nolan and his birthday ice cream at Orange Leaf.