Saturday, October 7th, 2023

 I am happy but exhausted right now after a full day of tailgating and football.  I'm happy because Iowa State defeated the TCU Horned Frogs, 27-14.  It was a special win tonight, because today's game was honoring Jack Trice, who passed away 100 years ago this week.  

We had some special guests in town for the tailgate today.  Amy & Brandon brought their family over from Omaha, and Mike & Sara brought their family from Chicago.  Their son Coen actually turned 8 years old today, so Elizabeth was able to reserve an auditorium on campus to throw a little birthday party for him before the tailgate, which was a lot of fun.  Amy ended up coming into the game with me today.  The last time she came to a game with me was 2 years ago against TCU.

For the tailgate, we grilled brats and hot dogs, and we had plenty of other good food (pumpkin pie, homemade pretzel bites, homemade mustard, a German beer advent calendar).  I had fun playing catch with the nerf football with the kids in the grassy area south of the Scheman building. 

With regards to the game, it was a close first half, with the Cyclones leading 10-7 going into halftime.  In the third quarter Iowa State was really able to put the game away.  Abu Sama had a 55 yard TD run, and Easton Dean caught a 1 yard TD pass to break the game open.  The Cyclones intercepted TCU a total of 4 times in the game.  It is also worth noting that there was a nice firework display at the start of the game.

 I believe that this was the sixth time that I have attended a football game between the Cyclones and Horned Frogs.  The previous times were ISU victories in 2021, 2019, and 2017, while TCU came out on top in 2015 and in 2005.  GO CYCLONES!!

Saturday, September 23, 2023

 We just beat O-S-U!!

Tonight I am happy because I was able to take Maxwell to a see a fun win for the Cyclones over Oklahoma State, 34-27.  Rocco Becht played well at QB for the Cyclones, as he finished the game with 348 passing yards and three touchdowns.  Daniel Jackson had two receiving TDs, while Jaylin Noel caught the other.  

There was a concern of possible severe weather for today's game, but luckily that did not develop, and we only had momentary light sprinkles of rain.  The temperature was mild, and overall it was a great day for football.  Maxwell and I got out to the tailgate lots around 9:30 this morning, and we enjoyed a full day of tailgating before the 3:00 afternoon kickoff.

This was Maxwell's sixth ISU football game, and it was his third conference game.  The other conference games that he has been to were last year against Baylor and the 2021 game at Kansas State. 

Today was the fifth time that I have been to an ISU / Oklahoma State football game.  The previous games were a Cyclone victory in 2021, and Cowboy victories in 2019, 2015, and 2013.  

Saturday, September 2nd, 2023

 I am feeling worn out right now after taking the whole family to Iowa State's season opening football game, where the Cyclones defeated the UNI Panthers 30-9.

I got out to the tailgate lots early, around 7:15, to help set up. Elizabeth ended up bringing the kids out later so they did not have to rush out to the lots. This year we are tailgating in the B1 lot up by the Scheman building.  Today we kept the tailgate menu pretty simple, as we grilled a bunch of hot dogs.  George actually made some of them into "super dogs", which turned out really well.  Maxwell was super excited to finally try a drink called "Prime" for today's tailgate.  

I believe that today was the 9th football game that Nolan has been to, and it was Maxwell's 5th game.  The previous game for both of the kids was last year's Baylor game.  Today was the 8th time that I have seen the Cyclones play the Panthers in football, with Iowa State winning 6 of those games (2021, 2019, 2017, 2015, and 2011).  

As for the game, we actually missed the first score for the Cyclones, as Jeremiah Cooper intercepted Panther QB Theo Day and returned it for a touchdown early in the first quarter.  There was quite the delay getting into the stadium because they installed new ticket scanners, which did not seem to be working very well.  Anyways, the Cyclones scored the first 30 points of the game, and it was a nice, stress-free game.  Rocco Becht started at QB for the Cyclones, and there were quite a few new faces on the team that I will need to get used to.  Other notable things from today's game was a 56 yard field goal from ISU kicker Chase Contrreraz and a nice 36-yard TD pass from Becht to Benjamin Brahmer.  

The temperature for today's game got into the 90's, so it was HOT in the stadium.  

We couldn't get a good picture of all 4 of us in the stadium, as Maxwell was not cooperating.

Saturday, August 12th, 2023

 I'm a little worn out right now after taking Nolan and Maxwell down to Adventureland for a "fun filled day".  We're trying to make the most out of what little summer is left, as the boys will be starting school in less than two weeks.  Nolan will be starting 5th grade, and Maxwell will be starting 2nd grade.

Anyways, the boys and I had quite the day at Adventureland.  Right when we got there the boys hopped on the "Rockin' Rainbow", which has a bunch of seats suspended by chains and will spin around in a circle.  While they were on that I got in line for the "Space Shot", which is my favorite ride.  There wasn't much of a line on the rainbow ride, and the boys ended up riding that three times in a row in the time it took me to go on the Space Shot.  

After that, the boys rode quite a few more attractions... the Galleon, Speedway Racers, Tilt-A-Whirl, Scrambler, the Rockin' Rainbow again, and Lighthouse.  Of those, the only ride that I went on was the Galleon, but we did that one three times.   

For lunch we ordered foot long corn dogs and sodas.  While we were in line for food, Maxwell insisted like 5 times that he only wanted soda and not a corn dog.  So, that is what I ordered for him.  When our food came out, he was like "Those corn dogs look good", and he proceeded to eat my entire foot long corn dog while I had nothing.  I should have guessed that would happen, but with his medicine he is usually not very hungry for lunch.  

Nolan riding the Scrampler.

Maxwell on the Speedway Racers.

Both kids on the Rockin' Rainbow.

Sunday, July 30th, 2023

 Today our family returned home from Christmas in July, which was held at the Honey Creek Resort by Rathbun Lake.  Prior to this weekend, I had never been to this resort or to the lake.  I think that it turned out to be a great place to host our family's annual get-together.  

The hotel had a nice indoor pool, there was plenty of space for the family to gather together in conference rooms or at an outdoor shelter, and of course the lake provided plenty of fun.  Amy and Brandon brought two kayaks, which the kids enjoyed going on rides in.  Elizabeth was able to do some paddle-boarding.  

On Saturday we had a family trivia competition, where David had come up with all of the questions.  My table, nicknamed "Team Dinos" at Logan's request, brought home first place.  We also played a board game called "Hues and Cues", which I thought was a lot of fun.  All in all, it was a fun weekend with the family.

Emma, Logan, Maxwell, and Nolan enjoying time together at the beach.

Amy taking Emma for a kayak ride. 

Friday, June 23rd, 2023

 I just returned home from a fun trip up to Minneapolis, where I took Nolan and Eben to see the Twins play against the Red Sox.

We drove up yesterday morning and were able to check into our hotel (we stayed at the Cambria Hotel) before walking over to Target Field.  We picked this game to go to because recently Nolan has somewhat randomly decided to be a Red Sox fan.  This way we were both able to see our favorite teams play.  It turned out to be a great game for myself, but not so much for Nolan... as the Twins wound up winning 6-0.  

Joe Ryan pitched a complete game, 3-hit shutout for the Twins.  It was the first complete game shutout that a Twins pitcher has tossed in 5 years!  He struck out 9 Red Sox, while allowing no walks.  We also witnessed 3 home runs from the Twins.  Byron Buxton crushed two homers himself, and they were each over 465 feet long!  Carlos Correa also homered for the Twins.  The starting pitcher for the Red Sox, Justin Garza, had a rough outing and only lasted 1 inning.  

We sat in the second row of section 130 out in left field.  For most of the game we were able to be in the shade, which was nice, because it had to be about 90 degrees.  

After the game, we drove down to the Mall of America.  Nolan was able to ride a few rides at the Nickelodeon Universe theme park, and then we stopped to get some Legos at the Legoland store.  

Finally, we headed up to Matt's Bar for a classic Minneapolis treat, the Jucy Lucy.  It is basically a cheeseburger, but the cheese is inside of the meat patty.  I had been here before with Elizabeth back in 2012.

This marks the 9th time that I have seen a regular season MLB game.  The previous games were:

• 6/22/19 - Minnesota 5 @ Kansas City 3 (10 innings).
• 6/21/15 - Chicago Cubs 8 @ Minnesota 0.
• 7/7/14 - Seattle 2 vs Minnesota 0.
• 6/9/12 - Minnesota 11 vs Chicago Cubs 3.
• 5/29/11 - Chicago Cubs 3 vs Pittsburgh 2.
• 7/4/10 - Cincinnati 14 @ Chicago Cubs 3.
• 7/25/06 - Minnesota 3 @ Chicago White Sox 2.
• 8/7/05 - Boston 11 @ Minnesota 7. 

Myself, Nolan, and dad outside of Target Field

Here is Nolan with our view from section 130 in the background.

Nolan and Eben outside of Matt's Bar.

Sunday, May 7th 2023

 Today I drove home from a camping and fishing trip to Yellow River.  Nolan accompanied me on the trip, and we met up with the Seagos (Jon, Matt, Jeremy), Tyler, and Keith.  Originally I was planning to take our whole family of 4 on the trip, but Elizabeth ended up having her gallbladder taken out last Monday, so she needed to stay home and rest.  Then I gave both boys the choice to either stay home with mom or come camping with me, and Maxwell decided that he would rather stay home.  Anyways...

Nolan and myself arrived at the Little Paint campground around 5:00 on Friday (we stayed in camp site #120).  I had picked up Nolan from school a couple of hours early just to make sure we had plenty of time to get up there and set up camp.  It was a good thing that we got camp set up early, because we did end of having a a decent amount of rain that night (about 3/10ths of an inch from what I could find online).  After we set up camp we did try our luck fishing.  Nolan and I walked down the path a ways at Little Paint.  We went to the spot where he caught a fish immediately two years ago, but not even a nibble was had this time.  We tried a couple of other spots (including the rock wall to the left at the first fork in the trail), but still no luck.  We came back to camp and hung out around the fire in a light rain.  The rain persisted and was annoying for quite a while, and after Nolan went to bed it picked up (and Matthew and myself ended up getting pretty soaked).  As it turned out, Jon also got soaked that night... as his tent had a leak in it.

On Saturday Nolan and myself tried our luck fishing at the hole right by camp, and it turned out to be good luck.  I caught 2 rainbow trout, and Nolan managed to catch one all by himself!  He was having some troubles figuring out how to cast, but by the time the day was over he had it figured out nicely.  During the middle of the day, we rode to Prairie du Chien with Jon, Matt, and Jeremy.  Jon had to get a new tent, and the rest of us bought some New Glarus beers.  After spending too much time driving around, we went back to the same fishing hole close to camp.  Jon caught a brown trout, and Nolan caught two more nice rainbow trout!  I was very proud of him for doing so well!  So between Nolan and myself we had caught 5 trout, which was our limit for the day.  

Saturday afternoon and evening ended up being gorgeous weather.  I was expecting scattered thunderstorms, but nothing came of it besides being overcast.  We were able to enjoy a nice campfire with basically no wind and great temperatures.  

This was the third time that Nolan has been up to Yellow River fishing with me.  I'm not sure how many times I have been up there, but here are some past trips: 2021, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2014, 2013, and 2012. 

Nolan with the Harpers Ferry boat sign

Nolan holding up the stringer of fish we caught Saturday afternoon.  Nolan caught the top two, and Jon caught the bottom one.