Basketball Jones

The Iowa Energy basketball team is an NBA d-league team and is affiliated with the Memphis Grizzlie's.

They don't sell a ton of tickets as you can see MANY empty seats in the photos below, so they do things like they did a couple of weeks ago and handed out many vouchers for 4 free tickets to the 6th grade center, which as coincidences go, is where the larger American boy gets his skoulin'.   That's over 600 vouchers!!!

They do this because of $8 parking and the sale of concessions, of which, are already ridiculously expensive and on top of that, I was charged for two popcorn's instead of just the one that we consumed!  Dirty, rotten...

Mama had to work 2nd shift that night so the boys and I headed downtown for the big contest against Los Angeles.  It was an excellent game and I could not believe how many of the players that Robby knew!

Our seats just before game time.  They filled in a bit more as the game started, but by no means were full.

The fella in the air made this dunk, and if he would have made the one with 4.4 seconds left at the end of the game, we would have forced overtime.  As it came to pass, we lost 101 - 99, but it truly was a great game.

Love this cutie!!!  And check out the empty seats behind Caleb.  Those never filled in, and so, I wonder...  what did the other end of the arena look like?

Much the same.  Empty seats everywhere!  And this kid, the capacity of his memory is astounding!  Where he learned about these players (from BOTH TEAMS!!!) I'll never know.  He even knew when the Grizzlies assigned one of the more recent players to us.  Amazing boy and I love him.

As I think about it more, another reason to give out vouchers is that I had so much fun watching the game, I actually checked what season tickets would cost for next year.  If only 10 families of four did just that (I didn't purchase them, btw), you have 40 more tickets sold for every game, not too mention the parking and concessions that you already have staffed and on payroll.  

Thinking of it that way, it's a pretty clever business move on their part!

Keep Calm and Chive On

The chives started popping up about two weeks ago when we were hitting the 70's in late February.  Then we got two inches of snow along with the coldest temperatures of the winter so far (or close), but these little soldiers weathered the storms and are thriving!  I suppose it helps that they're on the South side of the house and only 3 feet from the foundation...

Vacation 2016, #3 - Bay Beach Wild Life Sanctuary, Green Bay

With the completion of this post, I will have successfully wrapped up the 2016 vacation... finally.

This was the day after our trip to the Green Bay Packers training camp.  We went to Bay Beach area of Green Bay where the have the wild life sanctuary and an old amusement park where you still pay either $.25 or $.50 cents per ride with no admission fee.  It also contains the roller coaster, the Zippin Pippin, that was Elvis Presley's favorite and according to the sign, he rode it 8 days prior to his death... not that that is very significant.

Robby looks pretty much the same as today.

Calebber doesn't!!

Yes,  I, Ted Schmitz, took a picture of a snake skeleton.

This big boy was about 2 feet away from us, behind glass of course, but he was pacing anxiously.

The deer were close enough to pet and feed. We didn't.

But they did!

The boys were NOT happy about walking thru the hundreds of geese that were on the paths hoping for hand-outs.  It probably didn't help that I told them to keep their hands in a fist when you walk by them or else risk getting your fingers bit off.  :-)

Robby posing with a couple of different birds.  I'm surprised I got a good shot because the boy was constantly turning around in an attempt to avoid a sneak attack.

See here?  This is the more common posture...

The boys were amazed at the actual wingspan of the eagle.

It was a fun day with great weather (read that as looming storms...)  and it began to rain right as we left the amusement park.  We drove out of the rain about 3 miles south, so our campground was dry and just as we had left it.

Cute, As Cute Goes

The two...  sparring partners for a Tae Kwon Do event in Ankeny.  The won the first round by ousting two blue belts and came in second place within their "bracket".

Average Joes

Robby's volleyball team, The Average Joes, got an invite yesterday to Grand View College where the much larger Average Joe's (they're really the Vikings...) were playing in a tournament.  Robby is sort of hard to see in the picture as but he's nearly right in the middle with his black Average Joe's jersey on while most of his team has the red.

50,000

So, I'm a nerd...

I watch the blogs stats and noted that we were fast approaching 50,000 views.   I couldn't really think of anything fun or creative to do to celebrate such a non-newsworthy event, so I decided to go back a ways and find a few of my favorite photos.

Here's to the next 50,000!!!

Vacation 2016, #2 - Green Bay Packers Training Camp

For the past 6 years now, we've gone up to Appleton Wisconsin to a lovely little campground called Apple Creek. I have blogged about it in the past, from 2012 here,  and another time that I cannot seem to remember, or find!

I thought it was every other year, 2012, 2014 (when I wounded my pinkie finger) and then again last summer in which I have really been there yet, because I'm on vacation post number 2 from last summer...

Anyhoo...  

I've always wanted to attend a Green Bay Packers training camp while we're up there and this year, the stars aligned and it was made possible.  In the past we had thunderstorms roll thru on a morning when we would have otherwise been available (which moves practice indoors and henceforth, closed to the public), or the schedule started a week after we were there.

So it worked out that the weather was fine, beautiful until nearly the end of the tour, on a day when we had nothing planned and so, we made the 20 minute pilgrimage from the campground to Lambeau Field and began our day.

As is custom at Packers training camp, local kids bring their bicycles up and security puts them in the area where the players come out of Lambeau to head across the street to the practice facility.  The players then select a kid, or the kid selects the player (not sure how that works) and the player rides the bike to the practice facility while the kid carries the players helmet.  Pretty cool tradition and just another thing unique to Green Bay.

This girl got to run with Eddie Lacy riding her bike AND wearing her helmet.  Gone seems to be most of his belly that he finished the previous season with!  He looked good.

I believe that's wide receiver, Randall Cobb who unlike Eddie, made the girl carry his helmet.  He was also riding pretty fast, but she wasn't intimidated!!

I'm sort of guessing here, but I think that's tight end Justin Perillo.  I gave him some crap for not riding that little cute cheerleaders bike!!  I received a look from him...

I'm unsure who this fella is, but he rode the tiny bike like a BOSS!!!   Thankfully for the little girl, he couldn't go very fast either.

Here we have number 54 cheating with 3 kids within a stones throw!  You'd think that he would have been selected by the Patriots or Seahawks with the desire to cheat in an easy-going situation like this.  Think of what this fella could do on the field of play!

Then there's these fancy "discount double-check" bikes!

Silhouettes of my peeps overlooking the stadium from the press box.

The atrium, which I think is cool because the marble on the floor is a life-sized replica of the playing field, regardless of how hard it is to see here.  I have a picture from 150 years ago when we toured the stadium for the first time (pre-Caleb!!) where I'm laying down on the floor, but I can't find those pictures for whatever reason.

This is out by where the final destinations of Packers bike-riders are.  The outdoor practice facility.

Same spot but looking back towards Lambeau.

I believe this was the receivers group doing various route drills.

Quarterbacks between drills.

The best shot I got of Aaron Rodgers.

Full team scrimmage.  The offense pretty much smoked the defense in these drills which made me suspect of how their season would go!

Mama, Robby and Caleb!

A different view of the varmints in the press box.

Robby with some of the display jerseys up in the lounge (I think...).  This is the room where the tour guide asked who was the oldest NFL franchise.  Robby spoke up and said, "The Arizona Cardinals!".  He was laughed at by some of the other folks on the tour until the tour guide commended him for being correct.  That's my boy making papa proud!! They actually started the same year, 1920, as the Decatur Staleys (now the Chicago Bears) but that's the year the NFL began with teams such as the Akron Indians, Columbus Tigers, Canton Bulldogs, Dayton Triangles and others.  The Cardinals truly began in 1898 and if my feeble memory serves me correctly,  they were originally called the Morgan Athletics or something to that effect.  I could look it up, but then, so could you!

Both lads, one happier looking than the other, in front of some more lengendary Packers' jerseys.

In the visiting teams locker room.

The tunnel to the field.  I get goose bumps walking down this tunnel because they play crowd noise that gets louder and you get to the field, much like the sound the players would experience at the games.

There is something about standing on the sidelines of a football field and looking around/up at the stands/scoreboards/ring of honor.  We have toured Lambeau and Soldier stadium and I get the same amazing feeling in both places.  I cannot imagine what coaching a game with the full crowd and the noise going on.  

The GIGANTIC Lombardi trophy facing the East side parking lot.