My favorite season... and boys!

Fall, the greatest season of all! 

Perhaps not for everybody, but that's how I feel about it.  Football is being played. The summer heat is over.  The cooler weather is upon us. The leaves turn 1000 shades of God and there's an unbelievable beauty nearly everywhere. 

After Saturday mornings football game, the Schmitz Mobile Chaos Unit took one of the original four who are responsible for the chaos unit as we know it, Grandma Schmitz, and went on a drive down Vandalia Rd. to do nothing other than look at the turning leaves.

It was beautiful!  I think there are some of the brightest yellows, oranges and reds that I have ever seen in tree leaves.  If that's a result of the summer drought that we've had, it's a fine result!

Today (Tuesday) momma took the varmints out to Yellow Banks park after she picked them up from school. That's a nice park regardless of the season, and today's pictures sort of prove that!

This is a lookout point facing about due South, somewhat towards Carlisle.  There's a pretty good drop just to the left of the boys there so I'm glad that they do not appear to be jacking around!

The same lookout point looking straight at Carlisle.  Squint a bit and you can see the General Mills plant nearly dead center, but very far off in the distance.

The "eldest", apparently humoring Momma...

The youngest, being himself!

A fantastic photo of two fantastic critters!

I don't even know what to add to a couple of those!  I love my boys and know they're the most beautiful gift ever given!

Low - Ride - er

The boys are FINALLY starting to discover the joy of bike riding.  Robby has been flirting with that for a while and I think Caleb wants to follow suit, but we didn't have a bike for him to do so.

Well, our yard is "anti-bike-rider-surviving" especially for new riders.  Heck, I wouldn't go down our driveway on a bike so I certainly wouldn't expect a green-horn to do it.

So we haul the boys up to the elementary school to ride on the flat lot up there.  One night while Robby was riding (Caleb was on the playground), one of the schools custodians came out and was talking with us. She knew of a bike that her grandson had outgrown and suggested that she might bring it up to the school for Robby.

That finally happened and we are crazy gracious for the gesture of kindness.  I raised the seat and handle bars up as high as they would go and Rob just adores it. He was telling Caleb all about the bike he was giving him and the finer points of survival once the boy from China works up the courage to mount such an apparatus (which took about 3.27 seconds!!).  Good stuff.

We took the bikes and helmets tonight to soccer practice so that we could swing by the school on the way home for the boys to ride.  
 
Lock up your daughters, there's a new gang in town!

If that ain't gold, I don't know what is.

Robby blazin' one of the corners on his new ride!

Caleb, in between wipe-outs 3 and 4, enjoying the moment!

China - Part 19 - Shamian Island (part II)

So, finally back at the trip to China and trying to finish up the photo blog posts from it... 

When we left off, here, we had just crossed the bridge over the moat and were back on Shamian Island, and that brings us current.

This was just looking down the street at the first corner when we were over the bridge (and successfully across the road).

I think I may have taken this photo because of the wiring on the exterior of the buildings.  You can kinda see it on the right side of the photo with the 4 parallel lines running along up behind the lights.  Then once the building breaks, you can see several more wires breaking off down that "alley".

Speaking of alley's, I was always fascinated by these because you would just simply be walking along and wouldn't notice these passageways until you were directly on top of them and able to look off into it.  Again, note all of the crazy wiring up high in the photo.

A bicycle parking lot!

I liked the "Bud tent" out on the sidewalk and the fact that they had fashioned a block of concrete as their post holder.  They got a spare sitting off to the side too!

Again, the wiring.  I found it simply amazing!  I also like the little walkway with the steps on it as well. 

This is the intersection that our cabby dropped us off at when we were trying to find the church.  He didn't know where it was at and neither did we so we asked him to drop us in the middle of the island.  He did.

Momma shopping with the critters.  I wasn't any more enamored with Chinese shopping that I am with American shopping so I snapped a few pics and went back outside to watch the proceedings.

Robby, with whatever the heck it was that they were looking at.  Look at those beautiful eyes!

Our friends from Maryland!  That's Riland (probably spelled wrong... sorry!!!) in the NY sweatshirt and his new little bro, Kai in the stroller.  Great kids from a great family!  Riland was the fella who took our Christmas photo by the tree in the hotel lobby in Changchun and also the kid who played PSP college football with Robby for 5 HOURS on the flight from Changchun to Guangzhou.  The door that you can see in the upper right is the store that the photos above were taken in.

Master C performing.

Master C playing in the rocks until I noticed that some of the stuff he was picking out was broken glass!

Random shot of the island.

The garden down the middle of the island that runs for several blocks.

Some sculptures that the little Chinese kids found fascinating.  Caleb was quite taken with the little girl on the other fiddler and it was quite cute watching them.

Caleb was going to play himself some violin!

Waiting for the bus to take us back to the hotel.

Brothers posing for a shot between random teasings.

This is the Schmitz Mobile Chaos Unit having their picture taken in "Judy Laundry".  That's Judy, the lady who we went to church with while there.

Random island photo.  I think that was an apartment building and you can sort of see the garage entry on the very right of the photo.  The pics too small to really see it, but the tree's are interesting as well.

Again, waiting for the bus.  They had some more little sculptures to Rob went for a ride.

This was a big walking park that was adjacent to the White Swan hotel where we normally would have stayed if not for it being renovated.

And that about does it for this one.

The right side of 26-19

Another (VERY FULL) Saturday has come and gone. 

Robby had his second flag football game on this fine, chilly and windy day, and it also marked the first time the boy got to play quarterback. Not only that, but it also marks the boys first ever time for being intercepted as a quarterback as well!! :-) 

He feels bad about that and I let him process the play all day long until he wanted to talk about later that night before bed. 

He said, "It was a bad throw dad. Actually, it was a bad decision because my guy wasn't even open but I knew I had to throw the ball soon or the play would be dead, so I threw it. The ball wasn't even an inch away from my hand and I knew it was going to be intercepted...". Even worse, he had a man completely wide open in the flat that likely would've been a touchdown if Robby would have seen him. 

I told him that in a nice way and then asked if he had a new respect for the QB position, to which he replied, "OOOOOooooh, buddy! I never, ever want to play QB again!". 

I assured the lad that if he does play QB again, and I suspect he will, that he'll have a day as good as that one was bad, and then have a lot more that are somewhere in the middle. 

On to some photos...

That's Robby getting ready for hand-off (second from left in black shirts).

That's Robby in the black shirt on the far left trying to get the flag of the dude who intercepted him. He didn't make it so it ended up being the dreaded, "pick-6".

That's Rob in the middle making sure his team is set.

Our beloved number 46 shortly after a hand-off.

So after all of that, the mighty Rams of Altoona won the game 26 - 19, over the Vikings.

And while Robby had a rough day, he still had fun and was loaded with adrenalin as we walked back to the car and went about the rest of our day.

Daddy was loaded with adrenalin too!

Why, you may ask?

Because our head coach has been ill this week so on Wednesday night, I coached defense at practice and he was also out for our game this morning. As a result, I was asked to coach defense again!  

woooooooooo-hoooooooooo!!!

It was freezing out there and I was not dressed properly, but I can assure you, the ONLY person on that field who had may have had more fun than me, was the referee, who was having a blast!

Here's dear ol' dad directing traffic prior to the snap.  At least I had an official Rams jersey on...

And, not trying to scare anybody, but here's crazy boy!

The wrong side of 20-26...

Sunday was Robby's first ever "official" football game!  The boy was excited to say the least and to make matters worse, he had to wait until noon to play!

They had team pictures at 11:40 so we were supposed to get there early. We did. About 30 minutes early.  Robby and I played catch together and ran routes in their playbook until other families/team members started showing up.  We would invite them to play along with us to get warmed up as well.  Good fun.

Here he is posing for his first ever "official" football pic/card!

His team, the Rams!!  A fine looking bunch of young... uh, rams.

He wanted his hair done up "spikey" for the game. Coach was talking to the team before hand and Robby was doing what Robby does, and coach nicknamed him "GQ", after the magazine of fancy guys.  We had to explain it to Robby and after practice tonight (Friday), it seems to have stuck.

Our referee.  Robby liked the fact that we had a dude with an official striped shirt.

That's Robby on the far left side of the photo taking the hand-off from his QB.

That's Caleb...  the one with the tongue out.  That other one is Aunt Molly who seems to be quite happy posing for a pic.

The mighty Rams lost their first game 26-20 with both teams having missed an extra point attempt.  As it was, Robby is learning that not everything is as easy as it seems, as fun as it is in make believe, and as great when you have to rely on 11 other guys who may not have the same passion for this sport as he does.

My point?  It's a great experience for him!

Tomorrow morning is game #2. He plays QB on offense this week and safety on the opposite side of the field as last week when he's on defense.  He's also learning that when you have four guys to throw to and a coach that's counting "Mississippi's" while you're making up your mind, it's not as easy as it is when you're throwing to your dad (albeit, aging) in the back yard!

Again, I say, a great experience!

Crazy hair & mismatch day

It's homecoming week for the boy's school. As a result, they have various 'fun' things to do everyday during the week.

Monday was "crazy hair day" and "mismatch day".

Robby qualified for both...

The little China boy's hair won't do anything crazy so he simply had to be mismatched in his clothing.  Being a dad, I thought their clothes matched nicely but apparently, I was wrong.

Yelling, "FIRE!!", in a crowded fire station

The weekend has come and gone, as well as half the week at this point. Saturday found the Schmitz Mobile Chaos Unit doing a little baby sitting for the Griffith clan so the boys, Robby, Caleb, Sam & Jonah all got some time playing together as well as Mom and Dad getting some good Zoe time as well!  

They also brought their new English Bulldog pup, Princess Peach.  Robby is desperate for an English Bulldog for a good couple of hours after they leave.  :-)

Later, they (Griffiths) invited us to a fund raiser at the Bondurant fire station. They had BBQ'd pork sammys that were outstanding.  The beans were good as well and to top it off, they had Slim D's bbq sauce which could make an old chunk of carpet edible!

Oh, and scotch-r-roo's!!  There was pie, cupcakes and other stuff as well, but when there are scotch-r-roos, nothing else really matters much.

All of that was fine and/or dandy, but the best part was that the kiddos got to climb in/on the fire trucks, ambulance and police cars.

Here's all five critters on the front bumper of truck 4140. Robby, Zoe (on his lap), Samuel, Caleb and Jonah.  I believe this is the only shot we have of Jonah from this little excursion.  That boy wasn't standing around waiting for invitations!  He could figure out how to open the truck doors and be inside them quicker than his uncle Ted could!  Impressive... very impressive.

Caleb in the firemans coat.

Robby driving (he wishes!).

Caleb enjoying the "ride".

Sam eating up the experience in an appropriate shirt for the occasion.

Robby and Caleb reluctantly stopping long enough for Momma to take a picture.

Robby ready for action!

That was about it for Saturday.  Sunday morning was Caleb's first soccer game.  He did pretty good even though I'm about 95% sure that he doesn't really understand what he's supposed to be doing.  

For instance, Caleb found himself alone with the ball around mid-field.  He turned the ball towards the correct goal and commenced kicking the ball towards it.  He was kind of going about it mid-tempo'ish, but he was heading straight for the goal!  Mom, Dad and Grandma Schmitz (along with his coaches) were all cheering him on wildly.  He got about two feet from the goal, directly in front of it, one more kick would have done it, when a defender came in from the side. Caleb politely stepped back from the ball so the other kid could have a turn at kicking it.  I'm not positive that's what was going through his head, but knowing him and his willingness to share and be fair, I have reason to believe that's what happened.

Here's the sturdy little lad kicking the ball in on a corner kick.

Meanwhile during the first half of the game, Robby (in the football jersey, running behind the red ladder thingy) met a little girl (that's her up on the top by the slide) on the playground and they played "chase" like a couple of crazies.

And so went the weekend.

Caleb had soccer practice on Monday night and did indeed score his first goal. It was met with high-fives and LOTS of kudos from his coaches.  He nearly chapped his ears smiling!

Robby had football practice tonight for nearly an hour and half and was M.A.D. at dear ol' dad when we got home because I wouldn't go back outside with him and play more.  "DAD!!  I NEED TO PRACTICE MY PLAYS BEFORE FRIDAY'S PRACTICE!", I heard... over and over...

And so on it goes.  We'll get out there tomorrow night and do some plays from the playbook so he has his confidence up for Friday.

He got an interception on the first throw of the night and nearly another on the second throw. He also had a pass that likely would have gone for a LONG touchdown but he stopped because he thought some kid got his flag.  

He is very enthusiastic at practice and coach had him lead the teams stretches tonight to start practice. He was beaming!

That's our life at this moment in time!