Today was my first day back to work after a fun four-day weekend vacation to Estes Park, Colorado. My family held a X-mas in July reunion out there, and it was a beautiful place for a family gathering.
Elizabeth, Nolan, and I left Ames last Thursday afternoon after I was done with work, and we met up with Amy & Brandon in North Platte, Nebraska for the night to break the long drive up some. That was a good idea, because it was a heck of a drive for little Nolan to make... and driving through Nebraska is just awful anyways.
Some of the highlights of our trip while we were out there were hiking in the Rocky Mountain National Park, eating breakfast on Saturday morning at the famous Stanley Hotel (where Stephen King wrote The Shining), and I stopped by the Estes Park Brewery Saturday night with Amy, Brandon, Lyndon, and Missy for a couple of drinks.
The scenery of the entire place was just beautiful. I wish that I would have taken more pictures, but here are a few from my phone...
Here I am with Nolan by a waterfall outside of the Stanley Hotel.
Here I am with Bear Lake in the background. Elizabeth, Eben, Nolan, and myself went on a short, half-mile hike around the lake on Saturday.
Me again... with mountains and water and stuff...
Eben. It's nice to see him smiling after suffering that dislocated shoulder recently.
Nolan passed out around the time we arrived at Bear Lake, and he slept through the whole hike. Elizabeth had to haul him around the whole time!
Here is a panoramic photo I took of Bear Lake when we were about halfway done with our hike.
It's hard to believe, but yesterday Nolan turned two years old!
Elizabeth and I took the day off from work, Amy and Brandon came over from Omaha, and grandpa Eben came down to help us celebrate. Nolan opened presents all by his self in the morning (grandpa Eben gave him a neat little tractor piggy bank and a grain wagon that it can pull). Then after Nolan's nap we all went over to Reiman Gardens to check out the butterflies and walk around. We had Hickory Park for supper, and after that we had birthday cake back home. The birthday cake had a picture of Elmo on it, and Nolan even blew the candle out himself!!
Maybe if I lay down nobody will see me open this present...
I grilled brats and hot dogs for lunch.
Nolan looks at an orange butterfly at Reiman Gardens
A butterfly at Reiman Gardens.
Another butterfly
This is an atlas moth. It's huge!
Look at how big that moth is in the background.
Nolan points at a butterfly
Nolan and daddy on his birthday :)
Nolan with frosting from his birthday cake all over his cheeks.
Happy 4th anniversary to my wonderful wife Elizabeth!! It doesn't seem like it's been four years since we threw the greatest wedding and reception the world has ever seen...
We hadn't really planned to do much for our anniversary this year, as most of our attention has been focused on Nolan's SECOND birthday which is coming up soon. He is getting so big! This Tuesday we took him around campus to have his two-year photo shoot. Here are just a few of the many photos we have...
Family photo on central campus
As you can tell, Nolan loves to climb!
Mommy and Nolan on the steps of Beardshear hall. We had to hold him, otherwise he just wanted to crawl up and down the steps!
Nolan running along the sidewalk at Lagomarcino hall.
Another good way to keep him still was to give him rides in a wagon...
Nolan poses with the wagon
Nolan and daddy at Beardshear
He's just too stinking cute.
Ok, so back to our anniversary today. I did manage to swing by Hy-Vee over my lunch break today and pick out a bouquet of purple and white flowers for Elizabeth, and then I dropped them off at her work. I chose purple and white because that was the flower colors that she had for her wedding bouquet when we were married. Then, later on today I found out that the traditional wedding gift for a fourth anniversary was flowers or fruit. It sounds like I picked the right gift!
We were planning to go out to the Cafe for supper tonight, but we had a last minute change of plans and went to West Street Deli instead. That was a little easier place to take Nolan out for supper anyways. After that, we swung by Orange Leaf for some frozen yogurt.
Today I took Nolan over to Reiman Gardens to let Elizabeth have a little peace and quiet at home. We had fun looking at the butterfly exhibit, and then we spent a little time running around outside and exploring Reiman Gardens.
One of the butterflies we saw. I was amazed by how clear this photo came out on my phone.
Nolan found a giant pumpkin "tree-house" at Reiman Garden's today.
Today marks a historic day for our country, and I just wanted to recognize this on my blog. The Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 vote that the constitution of the United States guarantees a right to same-sex marriage! It makes me so happy to think that all of the gay and lesbian couples of the country that had been discriminated against and denied the equal rights of marriage now have justice. Whether you are homosexual, straight, black, white, male, female, etc, we should all be considered equals and treated that way. Today really is a joyful day for this country!
Tonight we just got back to Ames after a memorable weekend in Minneapolis. Elizabeth, Nolan, and I headed up there after we were done with work on Friday. We stayed at the Marriott hotel in downtown Minneapolis. Saturday we ate breakfast at Hell's Kitchen before we went off to explore at the Mall of America. We ended up buying Nolan a Buzz Lightyear and Woody dolls at the Disney store. We had only planned to buy on or the other, but he basically clung to both of them and wouldn't let use take either away! Then I took Nolan on a small roller coaster called the Barnyard Hayride. He was really upset at first because we made him put down his new toys. After the ride started though, he really started to smile and enjoy himself. He was saying "Fun" and "Whoa" between smiles :) For lunch on Saturday we met up with Amy, Grandpa Eben, Shannon, and Terry at Lucky's 13 Pub in Bloomington. I had a Walleye sandwich that was really tasty, and we shared some good news with Amy and the family... after lunch we took Amy and Eben back to the Mall of America for more rides and shopping before heading back to the Marriott for the evening.
Today we had a nice breakfast buffet at the hotel before once again heading back to the Mall of America. This time, though, we checked out the Sea Life Aquarium at the mall. It's crazy how big the Mall of America is when it has it's own amusement park and aquarium! The aquarium was a lot of fun to see. We say Jellyfish, sting rays, sea horses, and there was a large walk-through area where the fish tank went over the top of the walkway. It was filled with larger fish like small sharks, sawfish, and sea turtles.
After that we headed to Target Field to watch the Twins take on the Chicago Cubs, the same match-up that we saw in 2012. Unfortunately, this time the Cubs dominated the game. Jake Arrieta pitched a complete game shutout while giving up only 4 hits and striking out seven. Anthony Rizzo hit a solo home run in the fifth inning, and Dexter Fowler hit a grand slam in the eighth inning to break the game open. The only extra base hit for the Twins was a double to left by Joe Mauer. We did see rookie Byron Buxton steal his first base in the major leagues which was kind of neat.
Amy poses with a Lego stormtrooper at the Mall of America.
Nolan was able to meet Sponge Bob at the Mall!
...and he met Dora and Boots!
First pitch between the Twins and Cubs.
Group picture!
Nolan was a pretty good sport at the game, even though it was really hot sitting in the sun all day.
I just finished watching the Chicago Blackhawks win their third Stanley Cup championship in the last 6 seasons by defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-0. Ever since Elizabeth and I spent a few years in Chicago, I've enjoyed watching this team play. I had never really followed the sport before that, but it has been a lot of fun watching this team, and it is cool to see the crowds of people celebrating in Chicago right now.
Here is a list of the teams that the Blackhawks defeated in the playoffs during their three championship runs:
