Frontyard Football...

We're knee deep in the Fall football season, some people are happy, others are not. Just ask a St. Louis Rams fan and they'll tell you, "there's always the draft!".

So the boys are both doing flag football this year, Robby for, I believe, the third year, and Caleb his first.

On top of that, we pick up two extra boys from school on Tuesdays and Thursdays every week and for the most part, a football game breaks out in the front yard twice a week.

Even better, we've started to get to know the nieghbors across the road from us who have two boys whose ages fall right in line with the aforementioned four.  So now there's six.

Oh, and there's the next door neighbor who is 4 years old who likes to play as well!
 

Today's game with Caleb at QB!

A wildly thrown ball that Robby caught and who knows what happened after that!?   Worse yet, the lad in the yellow shirt trying to knock down the pass, got hurt on a later play and is now at the urgent care with his mom... not cool.  Hopefully all will be alright in his world.

And then there's flag football with games on Saturday mornings.

The fabulous Chinaman getting ready for his game.

And Robby, who has been working on his arm strength with hand weights, getting ready for his game.

During pictures, Robby and his teammates messing around throwing a football and tackling each other unnecessarily.

Caleb's team.

Robby's team.

Action shot with Robby at QB, shortly after the snap.

You can't really tell because of the angle, but that's Caleb at center for the black team.

And so it goes.  Football of all and for all shapes and sizes.  And a few wounds as well...  unfortunately.

2015 Holt Intnl Adoption Picnic

It's Fall, that wonderful season that predates snow, cold and all that comes with it.  Fall also holds the glorious beginnings of football, the harvest of the years gardening efforts, regardless of how fruitless the were.

It's also the time of the year that Holt International, the company we used for adoption, has their annual Adoption Picnic.

This year, thru the scheduling god's of DOOM, it was scheduled in Ames IA, on the same day as the ISU vs. IA college football game...  about 6 blocks from the venue where the game is to be held...

Why?  Dunno, but the poor lady who scheduled it, realized her faux paux only after about 80 people had confirmed their attendance.   And so, on goes the party...

Truly, it wasn't that bad.  We did come to a complete standstill on I35 North twice, once for an accident on IA 30 Westbound just shortly after the exit from I35N and then again at 13th St exit when piles and piles of people were getting off there trying to beat traffic off us US 30.  About 12 to 13 minutes were lost... not that bad considering the events of the day, and the alcohol to be consumed during said event.

This is the shelter and playground that our picnic will take place at. 

3/4 of the Mobile Chaos Unit as we arrived.

The old fire truck that kids can play on.  I learned this week from the fella I walk with at lunch time from work that this thing has been there for as long as he can remember.  He's 3 years older than my 45 year old tushy.

The magic show that was put on for us.

The captive audience of the magic show!

The football game that broke out after dinner/magic happened.

I had never been to Brookside park and since I didn't really care to talk to new people and the obviously didn't care to talk to me either, I decided to take a walk and explore.

Not sure what creek this is, but the water flowing was pretty, mesmerizing and best of all, calm and very relaxing.

This is from up on top of the of the steps seen (barely) two photos back.  There are tennis courts and big grassy knoll up behind where I took this photo.  I took the photo above this one on that bridge.

And ever since we traveled to China, I've been far more inclined to be fascinated by trees that do not fit the normal mode.  This was one of those.

Hot Rod Caleb

A trip to the local Toys R' Us (where mom and dad just happened to meet!) on Friday night saw the purchase of several little things that were not on any list.  One of which was some hair painting "schtuff" that looked a bit like the photo I'm captioning.  Robby had it in his hair as well but he was off an running after the color was supplied, so no photos of him.

A bit later in the day, the boys came by to spray the yard with the crap they spray it with.  It used to be the fella who built our house, Chad's, father-in-law, but he passed away shortly after treating the yards last year and so his sons have taken over the bidness.  Chad came with them and drove his newest toy.  Caleb thought it was incredibly cool and so, he had a couple of pics taken with it.

And sitting inside was the cream of the crop!!  He got to blast the horn as well, which sounds like a very old police siren.  He was hooked!!

Vacation 2015, #1 - Camping in West Yellowstone

Thought I'd better get busy with vacation pictures or else I won't remember anything about some of them when it comes time for me to do a write-up.  Well, it's about that bad already so I figured that I would start with our first campsite and buy some time for sorting into the other pictures.

So off we go.  Our first night of vacation was spent in a hotel in Laramie, WY.  Nothing special about the hotel, the meal we had, or heck, even the town itself other than that the local grocery store had a good craft beer selection and I broke the ice at that store.  So it wasn't a total loss!  :-)

The second and third nights of our vacation were spent in the two of West Yellowstone, MT just outside of...  wait for it...   the West entrance of Yellowstone National Park. 

It was a fantastic campground with plenty of stuff to occupy young brain boxes...   Lets have a look.

A little bit tight setting up our tent as it's more tucked in under those pine trees that the picture indicates.  I still have the scar on the fat of my lower back from the puncture wound I suffered when trying to get the tarp staked in.  There was, and probably still is, a broken off branch nubbin that stuck out about 5 inches from the trunk of the tree.  I backed into prior to knowing of it's existence.  From that point on, I was keenly aware of it and encouraged other to avoid it.  Just past the fence, or above if you'd rather, you can see part of the playground for the kiddos.

And the playground is complete with a mini-golf course of which, Aunt Molly took the lads over to for a hard fought battle of supremacy. 

Molly is dialed in for this putt with laser like intensity.

Here's a better shot of the playground.

That's mama and the boys on one of the rental bikes.  That building is where the laundry rooms, bathrooms, and general store are located.  They are either the coolest campground in the world, or they knew I was coming, because that general store had at least 15 different kinds of craft beer that I had never had the pleasure of consuming.  The best part was though, that they only had 1 facing of Bud Light. 1!!  That was awesome and I was sure that I showered them in praise every time I went up there for wood or other supplies. 

A better shot of the bike and it's crazy "Captains".

The boys took it for a spin after Mom was done.  As far as we know, there were no insurance claims...

So we were leaving this campground on the morning of July 10th, 2015.  My 45th birthday.  We got in to leave and start our drive upwards thru Montana, Idaho and eventually Washington, as our desired drive was to make it to Spokane, and to our surprise, the van would not start.

Luckily for us, this campground was huge and they employ a staff of MANY!.  They dispatched a few fine members of the maintenance crew out and got our van jumped and us back on the road for one of the most beautiful... no, THE most beautiful drive on a persons birthday ever!!

Mark it down, it was amazing.  Sad part is, we were just driving so there are powerful few photos of the day.

Such is life.