Saturday, June 27th, 2026

 Our family just got home from a great vacation down to Riviera Maya in Mexico!  

We flew out of Des Moines on Friday the 19th, and we had an overnight layover in Dallas.  We were lucky enough to get switched to a different flight, because the original flight we had booked was delayed for 5 hours and eventually was cancelled.

On Saturday we arrived to our resort around noon.  We stayed in the Iberostar Paraiso Maya Suites, which is a family friendly all-inclusive resort.  To make it even more fun, Amy & Brandon brought their kids down as well!  It was fun to be able to share a great vacation with them.

While we were at the resort, we enjoyed plenty of good food (both buffets and sit down restaurants), we enjoyed the swimming pools, wave simulator, water parks (complete with water slides and a lazy river), we played on the beach and in the ocean, Elizabeth and Brandon both sang karaoke, and we went to a variety of shows at night (there was a circus with aerial acrobats, a fire show, a Michael Jackson performer, and we watched a world cup match at a sports pub). 

The sit down restaurants that we tried included La Geisha (teppanyaki), Taki-to (taco stand in the shopping mall), Lemon & Spices (Greek), and El Museo (Italian). 

The Saltons went on an excursion on Monday, June 22nd. This included exploring the Mayan ruins at Coba, swimming in a cenote, and going to a local Mayan restaurant. I thought the Coba ruins were really neat to see.  We rented bicycles to ride around the site, and we were able to climb the main pyramid at Coba, Nohoch Mul. We also saw the ball courts where the ancient Mayans played their ball game.  Our guide told us that it is not clear if there were human sacrifices from these games or not.

Our flight home included a layover in Charlotte before returning to Des Moines on a late flight. It was about 1 AM this morning when our family got back to Ames.  Overall, it was a great vacation, and I think we are all pretty worn out from the long trip!  Here is a link to the last time our family went to an all-inclusive resort... Beaches Turks & Caicos in 2023.

Here is a nice picture of both families at the "snake bar" at our resort.

The Salton family by Nohoch Mul in Coba.

The kids had fun on the water slides!

Nolan jumping into the main pool at the resort. 

 

Sunday, May 24th, 2026

 Happy Memorial Day weekend!

This weekend our family went over to Platte River State Park in Nebraska to go camping with Amy, Brandon, Logan, and Emma. This was the second time that we have gone camping over there, as we did the same thing for Memorial Day in 2024.

It was a good time to have all of the cousins hang out. We went hiking to see a small waterfall, we climbed up a viewing tower, we sang karaoke and played games back at the cabin, and of course we had a campfire and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows.  

Today before driving home we all went out to eat at Ashland Brewing Company.  Overall it was a fun weekend with family, but I do think that I will sleep well in my own bed tonight!

I also wanted to mention that Nolan and Maxwell only have 4 more days of school!  They are looking forward to wrapping up the school year and having a fun summer. Who knows, maybe we will even see more of the Shostaks soon...

Here we are with the view from the observation tower at Platte River State Park.

Sunday, May 3rd, 2026

This weekend I took Nolan up to Yellow River for our annual camping and trout fishing trip.  He had a field trip on Friday, so instead of getting him out of school early like some years I waited until his regular school day was finished. Because of that, it was after 7:00 by the time we got into Harper's Ferry.  We had time to set up the tent, but we did not try to fish any on Friday. Friday night it was very chilly (lower 30s for temperature), and there was frost on the ground when we woke up on Saturday.

Saturday morning I had to stop into the store at Harper's Ferry to get a battery for the key fob for my car.  After that I drove Nolan over to the fishing hole by the Wexford church, but we did not even have a nibble there. Next, we tried our luck at the handicap area at Little Paint, but again we did not get a bite. Then we had an early lunch at camp before heading out fishing again. We stopped by the fishing hole close to camp, where Nolan caught a nice rainbow trout. After cleaning that fish, we took the trail back behind Little Paint. We ended up fishing at the rock wall, where you go left from the fork in the trail. There had been some people there that had their dog playing in the water, so you would think that the fish would have been spooked, but after they left I was actually able to catch a nice rainbow trout! Later that day we did try the handicap area one more time, but no luck. So we ended up making a fire, grilling hamburgers, and making smores. 

This morning before packing up camp we tried fishing at the spot next to camp, but we did not even get a nibble. So in total we caught 2 trout, one for each of us. It is worth noting that Little Paint campground seemed to be more busy than I had ever seen it before.  So all of our usual spots were getting fished pretty hard, and it was difficult to even find spots that did not already have people fishing.

This was the 6th time that Nolan has been fishing at Yellow River. Here are some previous times that I have blogged about being up there: 2025, 2024, 2023, 2021, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2014, 2013, and 2012.

Nolan with the trout he caught 

Nolan with the Harper's Ferry sign

Nolan with our tent.  This was the first time we had used this new tent.

Sunday, April 26th, 2026

 Last night Elizabeth and I had a fun time at Cy's House of Trivia.  We've gone to this event almost every year since 2012.  Our team this year had Tim & Lydia Nevins, Ryan Butler, Anne Becker, Rob Haaland, and his girlfriend Kate. We did well on the first trivia category (D in anatomy), as we got all 10 questions correct.  Some of the answers were deltoid, dura mater, distal, dorsal, dentin, and dimple.  After the first round, our team seemed to struggle. Oh well.  One notable thing from last night is that Ryan won another raffle prize!  He ended up winning the golf package, and I believe that is the third time he has won a raffle prize at Cy's House. 

There was a question about what day was the first of the 20th century, and Elizabeth knew the right answer (January 1st, 1901).  I thought it was 1900, so we went with that instead. So sorry to Elizabeth because we should have listened to her. 

One of the Cyclone celebrities that we had at our table was Jon Shaeffer.  His job title is Chief of Staff of the football team. 

Here are some previous blog posts from Cy's House of Trivia. 2024, 2023, 2019, 2017, 2014, 2013, and 2012. 

Sunday, April 19th, 2026

 This weekend I took Maxwell and Nolan up to dad's farm.  Friday night Nolan, dad, and I played The Farming Game for quite a long time (while Maxwell watched TV). We didn't even put the game away at bedtime, but instead we resumed playing in the morning. Eben ended up being the big winner, and it seemed that fruit was a good investment for him.

On Saturday we went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant in Spencer. After that we let the boys play at a playground for a while. On the way home we stopped by the Logan township cemetery briefly before heading back to the farm. Next, the boys rode on the go kart for a while, although that was cut short due to a flat tire.  They did still manage to have some fun with it though. This morning before driving back to Ames we helped tag a couple of newborn calves.

Sunday, March 29th, 2026

 This weekend I took Elizabeth and the kids up to Mason City to visit grandma Becky and to celebrate my birthday. 

Friday night after arriving in Mason City, Elizabeth and I went out for some drinks as Fat Hill Brewing.  They had some live music by a group called "The Sheet". After that, we stopped over to the Sports Page to watch the ISU basketball game. Unfortunately, the Cyclones ended up losing to Tennessee in the Sweet 16. 

On Saturday we hung out at grandma's house for a bit, we let the kids play at a nearby park, and then we went to the "No Kings" rally in Mason City. Grandma had made a funny poster that showed Trump peeing into a fan and back onto himself. There were lots of other fun posters that we saw with things like "Orange Lies Matter" and "You can't fix stupid, but you can vote it out". It was nice to see a bunch of Iowans with some common sense.  We did stop by Birdsall's that afternoon to enjoy some ice cream.

That night, we all went out to eat at Northwestern Steakhouse, which I picked as my birthday meal.  This was the kids' first time here.  Nolan, Maxwell, and grandma all ordered the fillet with spaghetti. I wanted to try something different, so I ordered the ribeye with spaghetti.  After comparing each, I would say that the fillet is definitely the best, but the ribeye was good too. 

Saturday, March 7th, 2026

 #6 Iowa State 86, Arizona State 65

Today Maxwell and I had a fun afternoon.  We went out for lunch at Culvers, we watched Iowa State's senior day win over Arizona State, and then we went over to Edwards Elementary so that we could play basketball. Maxwell had enjoyed the game so much that he felt that he needed to shoot some hoops.

As for the game, the Cyclones were trailing at halftime 41-37, but they went on a decisive 24-0 run in the second half to put the game away. Tamin Lipsey was the player of the game, as he had 16 points, 6 steals, and 6 assists. He was joined in double figures scoring for Iowa State by Joshua Jefferson (16), Milan Momcilovic (16), Jamarion Batemon (13), and Dominykas Pleta (11).  The Cyclones end the regular season with a record of 25-6. 

Today was the 43rd men's basketball game that Maxwell has attended, and this was the first time that he has witnessed a victory over the Sun Devils. Now, there are only 4 teams in the Big 12 that Maxwell has not seen the Cyclones beat (Arizona, BYU, Houston, and Utah). As for myself, this was the first time that I have seen Iowa State take down Arizona State.  I have now seen the Cyclones defeat every team in the Big 12!

To recap the season, here are the games that I attended:

Wins;

• Arizona State
• Houston
• Baylor
• Colorado
• UCF
• Oklahoma State
•  West Virginia
• Houston Christian
• Long Beach State
• Eastern Illinois
• Iowa
• Alcorn State
• Grambling State
• Fairleigh Dickinson

Losses:

• Texas Tech

Cyclones 86, Sun Devils 65

Maxwell had a bacon cheeseburger and onion rings at Culvers for lunch.