An Even Dozen

We had a wonderful Fall weekend in Dayton. Saturday was great--did a little running, a little work around the house, a little time with the family, and topped it all off with an Auburn victory against Florida Atlantic. We'll call it a win, but what it really did was showcase how bad Auburn's defense is. Going into the game, Florida Atlantic had converted only one first down in the past two games. In the first quarter against Auburn, they were three for five. Additionally, Florida Atlantic was averaging only six first downs per game. Against Auburn, they had more than 20. Twenty! That is horrible. Final score was 30-14, and the offense had bits of greatness. But in October, Auburn plays South Carolina, Arkansas, Florida, and LSU. They're dead.

Sunday (today), we headed up to the Apple festival. Here are some photos. First thing we saw was a big tractor, which Bode loved. It wasn't doing anything--just parked, but he liked it anyways.

They had a bubble blowing station for the kiddos.

And a goat that would hiss at you.

There were lots of different animals.

And there was some festive entertainment to which we could all sing and dance.

It was a very enjoyable few hours and a great way to spend some outdoor time with the kiddo before winter arrives :-)

Today is Ashley and my twelfth anniversary. We didn't do anything too crazy, nor do we have any major plans. Ashley was gone all last week, and I'll be gone for some of this week. We're heading out to dinner--the MCL cafeteria. Yes, that place where the old people eat. We mature beyond our years :-) Plus, they make a great mac-n-cheese, which the Bode-man loves.

Finally, here's a picture of Harley. Bode took this picture. Every now and then I'll grab the camera and see there are fifty or so pictures, all taken by the little guy. Most are blurry messes, but some turn out great.

Pleasant week to all, and here's hoping the team can do something about their defense!

Labor Day Fun

Labor Day Weekend has come and gone, and we have had a wonderful time. The college football season started with a bang on Saturday, and it looked pretty grim for awhile. Auburn was losing 38-28 with under four minutes to go against Utah State, the same Utah State I bashed in my most recent column. I really thought the team was going to lose--even texted these very sentiments to a few friends. Auburn scored a TD with two minutes to go. They only had one time-out left, so the on-side kick was do-or-die. Amazingly, they recovered it in what will probably be the worst moment in the Utah State head coach's life :-) Auburn then took the ball down and scored the go-ahead TD with 30 seconds to go. It was an amazing victory...and also made us think it might be our only celebration this season :-)

Saturday, the high was 96 degrees. Ninety-six! In September. Crazy. What's worse is Ashley and I ran the Alterfest 5K Saturday morning. I was hoping for cooler conditions, which usually equate to better times. We both ran, and did quite well. Ashley finished second in her age group with a time of just over 25 minutes. What's funny is her age category was women 31-40, so Ashley aka the old woman had to compete against all those thirty something kids. How fair is that??? Needless to say, we enjoyed the race, and have our sights set on the US National Championships later this fall (to watch on TV--did you think we meant to race? Don't be silly...)

There was a big parade this morning in Kettering. Bode, Ashley, Harley, and I went to it. Here's a shot of Ashley and Bode moving through the staging area toward the parade route.

Note how cloudy it is. Also note the people to Ashley's left in coats and jackets while Ashley is in shorts and sandals. I tried to warn her, but she didn't listen to me. At least we had the good sense to put Bode in a jacket and shoes. Once we arrived at a suitable viewing location, we snapped a quick picture of me with the kiddos.

The parade started, and Bode was really excited. However, nothing could top Emma being at the parade. Emma is our neighbor's 11-year old granddaughter. She is queen in Bode's eyes. He adores her--and rightfully so. Emma is such a good kid--if we could mold an older sister for Bode, we'd use Emma as the guide. Here's a shot of the two of them.

One of floats was a big Star Wars theme. Ashley had to hold me back to keep me from running onto the course and trying to climb into the Falcon's pilot seat.

Following the parade, we headed home. Bode was tired and wanted to be carried. This is getting harder and harder to do. Fortunately, I had Ashley with me to do the heavy lifting.

After a quick change of clothes and a bite to eat, we headed back to the festival. Here is a shot of Mommy and Bode now properly attired.

Like many of the festivals around here, there were bouncy-houses, which Bode quickly sought out. Here are some action photos of him bouncing around on a trampoline.

There was also a big slide...

and an obstacle course.

Finally, the highlight (for me) had to have been the Star Wars float from the parade, docked right next to the kid's area. Ashley demanded she be in the picture with this monument.

Short week ahead of us. I'm sure Ashley will spend most of it fretting about Auburn's (lack of) defense. I told her she was like this after every game last season, and they won the title. This does little to assuage her fears. Pleasant week to all, and let's hope for slightly warmer temps!

Last Summer Swim

Summer is quickly coming to an end. Today was the last Sunday before Labor Day weekend. Temperatures were in the low 80's, and Bode wanted to go to the pool. We figured we wouldn't have many more swimming opportunities, so we decided to brave the elements and go swimming.

We went a little after 2:00, and there was hardly anyone there. You'd think temperatures were in the 60's. We got there and grabbed a table, something that is usually impossible to do unless you get there right when the park opens. Here's a picture of Bode eyeing things.

Next is a picture of Ashley in a swim-suit. She'll probably wring my neck for putting this on the web...

The water was, well, not warm. Bode loves the big waterfall pool, which is I think the place in the park where new water is introduced. This means the water is probably straight from the tap and hasn't had the luxury of any solar heating. Ashley barely put her feet in, while I braved the cold and splashed around with the little dude, which was fun except when he kicked a bunch of water and got my delicate tummy wet.

We spent a couple hours at the pool. The best part of the day is adult swim, which means everyone under 18 has to get out of the pool. This includes the water slides, making the once lengthy wait next to nothing. Here is a series of photos of me going down the big yellow slide. The burst mode on our little camera is pretty cool--I don't know how fast the lens shutters, but it was fast enough to catch me going down the slide :-)

We really enjoyed our time at the pool this summer. We're going to have to find something for Bode to do as the weather gets colder. We're thinking of doing gymnastics, but we'll have to see if that is something he'd want to do.

Speaking of Bode, he did something rather amusing. Ashley was watching a video on our portable DVD player (getting ready to teach her aerobics class). Bode went over to her, saw what she was doing, pressed pause on the DVD player, and said, "I need you to get something out of my closet." As amusing as this was, Ashley did explain to him the proper etiquette.

Big week for us. Saturday is the Auburn home-opener against...Utah State? Hmmm...not really scheduling heavy-weights, are they? Saturday is also the Alter 5k run, in which Ashley and I are both running. Here's hoping we can make it :-) Pleasant week to all.

Fixed

For those of you wanting Harley pups, I'm sad to say that won't be happening. We had Harley spade on Wednesday. She did real well. I took her in first thing and picked her up a little after 4:00 pm. She was quite lethargic Wednesday night, but come Thursday, she was back to her usual self. I am always amazed at how quickly dogs rebound. In fact, it makes me think Ashley was being a wuss. After her C-section, she had to wait 12 weeks before she could really do anything--picking up five pounds was considered stressful. The day after having her guts yanked out, Harley wanted to run laps around the yard. She's been a bit of a pain with the licking that comes along with any dog surgery. Instead of the big cone/lampshade device, we found this inflatable doughnut that straps around her neck.

It works great, and she doesn't seem to mind. Well, I'm sure she minds, but it doesn't really impede her daily activities. Plus, when she lays down, it's like a built-in pillow.

We might try to go to the pool today. Weather is nice, and there aren't many pool days left until it's closed for the season :-( Pleasant week to all.

Tennis Tournament

Today, Ashley and I played hooky from work. Well, legal hooky in that we both took leave. It just isn't as fun doing something legally, but oh well :-) We took Bode to daycare, and then we headed down to Cincinnati to see the tennis tournament. There are some pretty big names at this particular event, so we (Ashley) were looking forward to seeing some high profile players (Nadal's a*s).

The venue is pretty impressive. The center court is big (pictures below), and there are probably 10-15 smaller side courts. Here's a picture of Ashley on the grounds.

When we got there, Vera Zvonareva (a highly ranked Russian player) was going through a practice session. We watched for a bit. For a girl, she could hit the ball pretty hard, but I think I could take her. If only I'd brought my racket.

Following her warmup session was a match between Andy Murray and some French dude. What struck me was how lanky Andy Murray is. I was also impressed by how fast and hard his serve can be. Some were clocked at 130+ mph, which simply doesn't translate when watching on television. Here are some pics of the Brit.

While the Murray match was going on, Maria Sharapova was playing (screeching) on the court next to us. She's loud.

We watched about a set of the Murray match (he eventually won), grabbed some lunch, and then headed to Center Court to watch Rafael Nadal play Marty Fish. Andy is an American, so even though Rafa is a big crowd favorite, there was also a significant portion pulling for Fish. I thought the cheers, "Go Fish!" were a bit silly and reminiscent of a card game, but I'm getting sidetracked. First, here's a shot of me. Yes, our seats are waaay up high.

Next, we have Nadal in various aspects of some points. Note how stretched out he is--he's quite agile and fast. Reminds me of a young Pat McGuirk on the court.

Finally, here's a good shot I got on camera--Fish had a really nice touch.

It's a good thing we went to the quarterfinals, because Fish played outside his mind and won 6-3, 6-4. He had very few unforced errors, hit a ton of winners, and had an unreal first serve percentage. In the court interview afterwards, he was asked to rank how he played on a scale from 1-10. He said, "Eleven." Roger Federer played in the match following this one, but sadly, we had to head back and get the dude from daycare.

Slightly cooler temperatures here. As the Starks would say, "Winter is coming." (A Game of Thrones reference for you fantasy readers). This also means football is near. Pleasant weekend to all, and let me be the first to say Wareagle!

SV Part VIII: The Final Post

We were at Callaway Gardens for seven nights and loved every minute. I ran every day but once, totaling 30+ miles. We swam, walked, Ashley and Bode biked, and spent time with the Rankins, Watsons, and Barnharts (aka Ashley's family). We read in the "rest" periods (can't call them naps anymore). I finished two of the Game of Thrones books, and also read The Hunger Games, which was fantastic. Ashley is entralled with the Dean Kootz Frankenstein series. We go back to work tomorrow :-( We'd like to go back to Callaway, but, alas, work intrudes and we've yet to find a wealthy benefactor to fund our playtime :-)

Now for some odds and ends, some pictures, and some final remarks on SV 2011. First, here is a cute shot of Bode and Teddy.

Nana, Papa, and all the relatives spent a lot of time watching the cousins, giving Ashley and me some time to relax, and for that, we thank them.

Next is a cute shot of Dave and Teddy on a pseudo-tandem bike.

Ashley and Bode would have rented a similar one, but Bode wasn't tall enough. Maybe next year, little buddy. Next is a picture of Bode walking. He looks so grown up to me.

Finally, here is a shot of Dave, Ashley, Bode, and Teddy relaxing with a cold drink.

This concludes the SV posts (unless I get some new ones from relatives; then I'll post :-) We had a great time and look forward to doing it again real soon--August, anyone? Pleasant week to all.

SV Part VII: Tree Top

Callaway has a big, seven-acre vegetable garden. They grow all sorts of things: tomatoes, okra, beans, peppers, apple trees, squash, grapes, blackberries, and probably lots of things I've forgotten. There's a sign that says not to pick and eat the produce. However, there was no sign saying anything about the produce that had fallen off :-) Here is a cute shot of Bode and Mommy.

Next is a shot of the boys running around. The beauty of the vegetable garden was the wide open spaces for the boys to take off running.

One evening, Dave, Kathy, Ashley, and I did the Treetop Adventure. This involved harnesses, safety clips, and helmets. Scary. Basically, it was a course about 15 feet off the ground in the trees. There were obstacles and zip lines--tons of fun. The boys watched from below, constantly telling Mommy and Daddy to, "Be careful!" It was very cute. Here's a shot of Dave and Kathy before the course. I know it's before because afterwards, we were all covered in sweat.

Next, we had Ashley and me.

Below are some action photos. First, here I am crossing a bridge.

Next we have Ashley and me on a platform.

Here are Dave and Kathy going over some obstacles.

Finally, here is Kathy on a zip line.

The Treetop Adventure was awesome. We all had a great time and would do it again in a heartbeat.

One more post from SV forthcoming...