Tree Lighting

We went to the Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony in Francis Park on Sunday night.  It was much warmer than last year and the crowd was bigger.  But the routine was the same.  Everyone gathers at Nottingham and Childress and waits for Santa, Mrs. Claus and Fred Bird to arrive via horse drawn carriage.  Once they arrive and greet the crowd they go through the thank yous and then the countdown begins.  When the tree is lit then everyone gets in line for free carriage rides, Krispy Kreme donuts, candy bars, and of course a chance to talk to Santa.

We headed over to find the Birch's and see what they were up to.  They were in charge of the carriage line and making sure everyone was on safely.  It seemed that Ellen was going to lose some toes before the night was over.  The horses were extremely jumpy.  I did see a few people that I grew up with there and even some from high school.  Scott and I managed to find the pickiest photographer there to take our picture in front of the tree.

Turkey Day Trip to Omaha

It's that time of year again when I head to Omaha to celebrate Thanksgiving!  It was a busy trip this year.  Scott and I decided to leave on Tuesday afternoon and spend the night in Kansas City.  It was a smart idea.  We barely had any traffic and the drive didn't seem so bad.  We woke up early on Wednesday and hit the road and headed to Topeka!  We were off to check another state capital off our list.

[caption id="attachment_836" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Sunset in Missouri "][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_837" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Yes, Kansas is that flat"][/caption]

I was pretty impressed with the capital in Topeka.  The state has done a lot to restore it and show all the painted over artwork and remove smoke from the days when you were allowed to smoke in the state senate.  It amazed me with what they discovered during the renovations.

[caption id="attachment_843" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Outside the Kansa capital"][/caption]



[caption id="attachment_845" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Top of the dome"][/caption]

After our tour we were on our way to Omaha.  On Wednesday night we headed over to my Aunt Pam's house to our traditional pizza night gathering.  We used to go to Sortino's but it was easier with all the little kids to just hang out at someone's house.  Of course an informal shuffle board tournament happened.  It was nice to catch up with everyone the first night.

On Thanksgiving Scott and I went to Prairie Life with Chris and Debbie for a morning work out, instead of the body freezing 5K that Scott wanted to do.  After the work out and since we were in the car, my uncle took us on a driving tour of Omaha.  It had been a while since I'd seen downtown so it was nice to see all the changes, even the new home to the College World Series.  Once we were home and ready to go we headed to Old Navy to do a little shopping.  I was surprised with how empty it was.  I really thought there would have been more crazy shoppers out trying to get deals on Thanksgiving.  I took Scott by my Grandpa's old house and where my parents got married.  Lots of trips down memory lane for me in Omaha.  It was finally time for Thanksgiving and we headed over to my Aunt Denise's house in Elkhorn.  Everyone had a great time watching football, eating and catching up.  The only family members not present were my parents and brother.  Thankfully we all were just together in May at Jeff and Annie's wedding.  My parents went to Lubbock to visit Andrew.

On Friday, Scott and I did some more shopping.  This time it was for Husker apparel.   Scott desperately needed a Husker shirt of any kind I was looking for a new hoodie.  We found both at Husker Hounds.  But we still had to check out Sheels just to see if they happened to have anything else that we had to get and of course you can't beat $5 shirts!  So I think we are good for now.  I went to lunch with my aunts and cousin Jennifer while Scott stayed with my uncles to watch the beginning of the Huskers/CU game.  NU managed to win the Big 12 North with that game.  It was also fun to get some Nebraska football gossip from my cousin.  Later that night Scott and I went to see Due Date, which was very funny!

[caption id="attachment_838" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Venue for lunch with the Aunts"][/caption]

Saturday we packed it up and headed home...this time we drove through Iowa.  We were stopping in Des Moines to tour the capital building.  The building itself was beautiful, gold dome and 137 step to get to the top (which we climbed).  It was great!  The tour wasn't as fun as Kansas but still very interesting to learn about the building and how it was rebuilt after a fire in 1904.

[caption id="attachment_846" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Iowa Capital Building"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_847" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Inside the Dome"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_834" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Downtown Des Moines from Capital"][/caption]

Law Library

We managed to to see a lot of Iowa, more than we wanted but it was a pretty day and we made great time coming home to see Reily!

[caption id="attachment_833" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Windmill Farm in Iowa"][/caption]

John & Cindy take STL

My parents came for a visit, finally!  My dad had to do some work up here and it was a good excuse for my mom to take a fall trip to St. Louis to see where I've moved to and get a much needed Italian food fix.

My dad got in on Tuesday afternoon and quickly started visiting people.  He headed down to South County while I showed a house and then he came over to the house and surprised Reily.  That dog didn't know who he was at first but soon realized he was the guy who gave her lots of attention.  But he took Scott and I out to dinner at Pujols 5.  Then  on Wednesday my dad had a few calls and then I went to dinner with him and his co-worker at Gian-Tony's.  My mom arrived late Wednesday night.

Thursday morning I woke up and met my mom at the hotel and we quickly headed to my office so I could signed up for a conference room for later that day.  My mom was able to meet a few people that I work with and then it was off to Break Co. for some much needed breakfast.  We did a couple drive by's of places that my mom hadn't seen in years and of course stopped at Sign of the Arrow.  Then Thursday night we all had dinner at Favazza's on the Hill.  By all, I mean, my parents, Scott's parents and Scott and myself.   It was a successful dinner minus the loud music and the chilly atmosphere, we sat on the in closed patio and was heated by a fire.

Friday was another busy day of meeting my parents at Tim's house for lunch and catching up with him for a while and then Scott and I went to Milo's to celebrate Zipf's birthday.  It was a good night out.



On Saturday I did some Hill shopping with my parents.  It concluded with lunch at my cousin's restaurant.  I just can never get enough of her pizza!  After shopping we watched a little football and took some naps and then it was time to get ready for dinner at Zia's and then it was off to our first Blues game of the season!  We managed to see a great game between the New Jersey Devils and the Blues!  Thankfully the Blues squeaked out a 3-2 victory for the sellout crowd.

[caption id="attachment_841" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Blues salute the crowd"][/caption]

My parents left early Sunday morning.  It was a busy, busy few days with them in town.  Now just counting down until they move back!

Happy 90th Birthday Stan the Man

I'm stealing this from the Post Dispatch today...90 things about Stan

http://bit.ly/av5CAL

Happy Birthday Stan!

Royal Engagement

It would seem fitting that I should write a little something about the big engagement announcement  this week between Prince William and Kate Middleton.  Every time they come on the news I watch it or if there is a news article online I'm reading it so why not talk about it a little more.

They have been dating for 8 years with a break around year 5 and part of the reason they got back together was, supposedly, with a promise that he would marry her...That kinda seems far fetched but it's the royal family and anything is possible especially after waiting 5 years.

Also, after 8 years of dating Prince William seems to have made sure that he wants his marriage to last unlike his parents marriage.  After all my reading, he seems to be modeling his marriage after his grandparents who are still together (after 60 plus years).   William does not want to give the press more ammo than they will already have and therefore, he will continue to strive for a squeaky clean image.  He can leave the partying image to his brother.

But it does seem like the world will be watching them closely and Kate will be hounded just as much as Diana was, if not more so.  But to keep Diana in the loop, William did give Kate Diana's engagement ring, which is now the most sought after ring.



Not too bad looking, but I don't think I could handle the pressure of wearing Diana's ring if I was Kate.  Nice little manicure that Kate had done before the big announcement!

St. Louis Fall

The fall colors have really been coming through lately!  I love seeing the trees changing, but hate the aftermath of raking.  I saw this the other day while looking at a listing...

Sara Bareilles

I went to the Sara Bareilles concert on Saturday night at the Touhill Auditorium.  I hadn't planned on going but Kristen texted me Saturday afternoon informing me that she had a couple extra tickets for the concert that night.  I've heard a few of her songs on the radio but wasn't overly familiar with many of her songs but I was pleasantly surprised.

The opening act was Augustana and we did miss their performance due to a delay (multiple drinks) at Cork.  Cork is a wine bar and restaurant off Florissant Road in Ferguson - an area that I never go to.  But my bowl of french onion soup was amanzing and the wine list was pretty good.

We could not have timed our arrival to the concert any better.  The opening act had just finished and we were able to grab a drink and get to our seats before Sara Bareilles came on stage.  She put on a great show.  Even from our seats in the back she kept us all involved in the show and I ended up knowing more songs than I thought I would.  She did actually make me want to buy her new album as well.

Da Blues

So the St. Louis Blues have started the season off to one of the bests starts in franchise history.  Last night they were trying for the best start with win number 8 in a row, on the road in Columbus.  It didn't happen.  The injury riddle team finally lost, and lost bad, 8-1.  And to top it off suffered another injury to a top player.  TJ Oshie broke his ankle!

Even though this was just one game and it was the last of a 3 game road trip, it's hard to say when the injuries will catch up.  But the good news is that hopefully those who are out should be coming back soon.  The team still looks good with the guys are much more determined this year!

Our goalie, Halak has been solid in net!  I'm not sure what Davis Payne or Doug Armstrong said during the off season to get the young guys ready but it's working and it has made them fun to watch.

I love that they have been ranked number 1 in the ESPN polls for 3 weeks in a row!  I just wish that rest of the hockey world would take them seriously and start noticing them.  They still haven't received much TV air time on Sportscenter or even news headlines, besides St. Louis.  Even St. Louis, non-hockey, fans aren't paying attention.  Maybe that will change once football season dies down.

But for now Let's Go Blues!

November Lameness

November hasn't really been too busy for me or that exciting just yet.  I have been getting some real estate things in order and that's just about it.  In other news I have watched a few of Benton's district soccer games. Sadly, they lost the championship game last week.  But they played well all season and Monday was his 15th birthday!  He can now get his driver's permit!  Scary that I was 15 when he was born!

In hockey news, the Blues are off to one the best starts in franchise history!  They just keep winning even with a lot of the starters out injured!  We just bought tickets to our first game on the 2oth vs. the NJ Devils!

My parents will be visiting us in a week!  That should make for some exciting news!  And then it's off to Omaha for Thanksgiving!

Halloween 2010

Halloween is always a fun time for me to relive my childhood.  I loved going around the neighborhood with my neighbors and friends and telling jokes and seeing how much candy I could get.  And then as I got older tping kids in my class's house or having shaving cream fights in the streets.

This year Scott, Reily and I headed over to the Birch's house to celebrate.  The kids were still getting ready and Ellen was still getting food ready for us and her parents so I'll helped get Mathew's costume on.  Mathew was Batman, Catherine was a bag of Skittles, and Elizabeth was purple grapes.  Benton is officially too old for Halloween, being that he is a freshman in high school and 15 in a week!

This year the trick or treaters started a little earlier than we had hoped so Scott maned the table while we got dressed and then Mathew and I came out to listen to a few jokes while everyone else ate dinner.  Mathew soon bailed on us and we were left listening to jokes and giving out candy.  I have to say that I didn't hear that many really good jokes compared to last year but the best costumes were a refrigerator and Flo from the Progressive commercials.  Reily, of course had her scary skeleton costume on and I was the green M&M again.  It was a great night.