Homecoming 2016

Despite not having dates, the boys went to Homecoming and had fun. CP danced all night with his friends. Said he they got in trouble for dancing on the tables. GP hasn't yet discovered that he likes dancing.

It was so cool to watch the boys drive off together by themselves. While we watched the Huskers beat Northwestern, we kept waiting for them to come home early. Then we watched the late games and kept waiting... Then we got tired and wanted to go to bed, but the boys still weren't home. They ended up staying for the entire dance and didn't come home til 11:00.

Accepted!

CP has been officially accepted into the UNL Engineering College! He still needs to apply to a couple more schools.

Birthday Boy

JP got GP a pinata for his birthday this year. He had fun trying to smash it with the undersized stick he was given. He ended up beating it to a pulp with a broomstick.

GP isn't big on fancy restaurants like his brother, so we had his birthday meal at his favorite place: Cracker Barrel. We all ate too much.

JP vs. Summer

Our A/C died before summer ended. We have a quote to get a new one, but we're hesitant to shell out that sort of an investment and then only use it for a week. For the last two weeks, it's been in the 90s with hair curling humidity and no wind. The overnight lows have been in the mid 70s. I spend all day every day in the A/C at work; JP spends her days at home. We thought we could make it without cool air, but in the contest of Summer vs. JP, Summer won and JP conceded and bought a window unit. 

Tailgating in Style

Last weekend we were invited to our attorney's office downtown for a tailgate. That's completely true, but not clear. CG uses the same attorney - he's the one that actually got invited, and he invited us as his guests. I guess just getting your will done doesn't qualify you to be on the tailgate party list.

It was a perfect day. The party was on the 4th floor (roof level) of the building, so we had a nice view of the entire downtown area. It was too nice of a day to go to the game (and we didn't have tickets), so we spent the afternoon at the G's pool listening to the game on the radio.

East Coast Mowers

I spent last week in Massachusetts at a dealer training event. Left Monday AM at 3:30 to get to Omaha and got back Friday PM at 7:00. Gotta mow.

The event was held at The Warren Center, a private estate that caters to all sorts of functions: weddings, retreats, general parties with 1,000 guests, and lawnmower demos. The property is adjacent to a beautiful reservoir with crystal clear (and warm) water. None of us could believe how clear the water was; we're all used to Nebraska chocolate milk water.

I took advantage of being near the ocean and had seafood for lunch and dinner every day. I put on a few pounds, but it was worth it. I won't be able to go back to Progresso clam chowder now.

College Bound

CP has been receiving a mountain of mail from universities. Now he's getting engineering-specific letters from UNL. This one came with a calculator.

The letter on the left is to GP - he is super excited that college is on his horizon.

Household Pets

As soon as a suitcase comes out, there's a cat to sit on or in it. 

We were watching a scary movie and JP screamed and jumped. Poor M is 95% deaf and incapable of hearing anything other than the loudest shrieks. This time, it was loud enough to wake her. She didn't know what was happening - she stood and stared at us with disbelief for a few minutes. 

L likes the suitcase, too.

New Future Tax Payer

Our friends had a huge party to celebrate their adoption of a boy from Uganda. It's now official that he is their son and a US citizen.

Bats!

After the Gardens, we went downtown to the Old Market district for lunch. We've been in Nebraska 11 years and had never been there. We wandered around for a while and ended up at Upstream Brewing Company and had an awesome lunch. There were no take out boxes when we were done.

We finally made it to the zoo at 3:00. The crowds were starting to thin (but it was still Very crowded). It's been years since we were last here - the whole African safari part is all new. JP was excited to see the new elephant exhibit. GP wanted to see the desert dome, CP was psyched for the aquarium, and I only wanted to take a family picture in front of the giant kapok tree to send to my Amazon guide back in Ecuador.

In the jungle building, at some point some fruit bats escaped from their pen and started a free-flying community. Now there are hundreds of pigeon-sized bats all flying around freely. GP does NOT like bats. He was getting creeped out in the cave part of the desert dome where the bats are behind glass. He really started freaking out in the jungle with all the bats flying around. All the little tunnels and cave parts of the jungle are much more exciting with real bats! 

What started out as a very crappy day with the roofers next door waking up JP and invoking the wrath of her red hair ended up on a high note. We spent the entire day together as a family, we walked a fair number of miles, and the boys slept all the way back to Lincoln. It rained at 5:00, which would have ruined our game day party plans anyway. And the Huskers beat Fresno State in the season opener!

Stop to Smell the Roses

After checking out the Locomotives, we wandered thru Lauritzen Gardens for two hours. It was a perfect day: 70-something with a little breeze and no humidity.

One of the exhibits is a model train world. There are 20 large-scale trains all running at different levels thru tunnels, across bridges, and past miniature cities. Everything (except the trains) is made out of wood - all the bridges, all the buildings, everything. It was fascinating to watch.

One of the boys' favorites was the Japanese garden. Despite a lot of walking, the boys both enjoyed their visit.

Still Likes Trains

Labor Day weekend, 7:30 AM. A bunch of guys are on top of our neighbor's roof starting demolition. They woke up JP. Not good. We were supposed to have a Husker gameday party on our deck. What now? Let's go to the Zoo!

We got to the zoo at about 11:00. The southbound exit was backed up onto the freeway.  Northbound wasn't much better. Hey, what about Lauritzen Gardens? We've never been there. 

Attached to the gardens is the park that houses the two Union Pacific locomotives that you see as you cross the Missouri on I-80 coming into Omaha. I've always wanted to see them up close. CP was engaged and interested in them, especially the Big Boy steam locomotive. I've never seen anything so huge! It has two pistons per side, each driving four 6-foot wheels. 

It was built in 1944 and stayed in service until 1959, pulling coal over the hump in Laramie.

CP doesn't remember much from the Illinois Rail Museum, but I sure do.

Early Morning MSP

Travel Season is here. We got home from FL about 10:30 Sunday night. At 7:00 the next morning, I was back on a Delta flight, heading up to the Cities for a couple days at our corporate HQ. Good thing I had packed my bag before the FL trip.

White Sand Beach!

I grew up on the west coast of Florida, where the sand is white, the water is green, and the sunsets are always amazing. Our boys have never been to a real beach, so we took them.

Between frequent flyer miles, a voucher for giving up my seat, and a few $$, we all flew down to Clearwater Beach last week. Four days in the sun was a ton of fun. I think the boys even had a good time.

Our hotel was directly on the beach just north of the pier. Every day we got some chairs and an umbrella and enjoyed the sun and sand. The whole time, the boys kept asking if they could hang out at the pool. Every weekend we ask if they want to go with us to the G's pool. Nope. Unless there's a perfect beach - then they want the pool.

We all tried paddleboarding. None of us are much good at it. CP bought a skimboard and had a blast skimming on the flat high-tide sandbars. He kept at it until both knees were oozing blood.

One of the nice things with having teenage boys is that we can leave them on their own for more than two minutes. We took advantage of their exhaustion and took a stroll on the beach one night.

The beauty of the Gulf coast is that you get breathtaking sunsets every night. We had beautiful weather every day and managed to leave three days before hurricane Hermine hit land.