Purdue Football With a Three-Year-Old

College football season is back!  This weekend I made plans to take Eliza to the first game of the season (her first game in two years) as a daddy/daughter date.  The weather was looking horrible, put the rain all came down before we got to the stadium, and other than being incredibly hot and muggy, it was a fine day for a game.

Eliza really enjoyed the game, especially the cheers, band, and cheerleaders (nothing has changed in two years), and it helped that Purdue won in a rout, 48-6.  You can read my recap of the game at my Purdue blog.  Eliza got lots of compliments on her vintage Purdue cheerleader dress (thanks random garage sale!), and she loved the attention from all the college girls and old grandmas. Some Eliza highlights (also listed on the other blog) are below:

• We ate a lot of goldfish
• She was so much better behaved than the three little girls sitting behind us.  Eliza would stare at them as they rolled on the ground, whined, and bumped into us.
• She loved doing the 1-2-3-4, First Down! chant
• Every time Purdue scored I’d toss her in the air, which she really enjoyed, and she’d yell, "Tuckdown!"
• "Those guys are bigger than you, daddy."
• “Can we go sit with Grandma now?”
• "Can we go meet the cheerleaders now?"  Not sure how they would have felt about her boots, so not to dress code.
• What was your favorite part? "The cheerleaders, daddy."
• Do you want to play football when you get bigger (please say no, please say no)? “No, I want to play basketball!”

“Mommy the Cake is Falling”

Eliza and I made a layer cake to celebrate Meredith’s 30th birthday in June.  It was a hot day (like every day this summer) and we left the iced cake in the kitchen while we ate our meal.  Eliza was up and about when she called out from the kitchen, “ Mommy, the cake is falling!”  Note to self: do not ice a cake while your kitchen is still sweltering from the oven and external heat.  The top layer slide halfway off the cake and onto the counter. To continue with our house church’s tradition of screwing up meals together, we had a tasty but very ugly cake.  Happy birthday anyway, Meredith!

Purdue Alumni Game and Team Scrimmage

This weekend I went up to Purdue for a special alumni basketball game with my parents and grandfather.  Without air conditioning, Mackey Arena was over 100 degrees, but it made the experience even more fun.  The alumni game featured players from the last 50 years of Purdue basketball (OK, that would have been the last 30 years, but one really old guy played), and many former players returned, even if they weren’t actually on the court.  It was great to see guys like David Teague, Carl Landry, Brian Cardinal, and Kenny Lowe.  You can read a full recap of the scrimmage, along with awesome photos, at my Purdue blog.  I was able to sneak down courtside for the entire game and get some nice shots.

After the alumni game, the current basketball team had it’s first public practice of the season, playing three different ten minute scrimmages.  Most teams can’t practice yet, but every few years you’re allowed an international trip over the summer, which sanctions early practices to prepare.  The team is heading to Italy this week, so it was a great chance to see the new guys in action.  Purdue boasts a fantastic recruiting class with four stud freshmen, so everyone was eagerly anticipating the scrimmage, and Mackey was about 3/4 full despite the heat.

You can also read highlights from the scrimmage, my thoughts on the team, and see some more courtside photos at my Purdue blog, GoBoilers.net.  A good friend from college and I started it this summer, which is a notoriously slow time for college sports bloggers, but it allowed us to ease into it. We’ve already hit 10,000 page views, so we’re pretty excited, but the blog is really just a way for us to share our praises and rants about all things Purdue athletics (and occasionally other topics).

Boiler Up!

Fifth Blogiversary

In our delinquency to update the blog regularly (can you tell from our large batch updates every couple of months?), we missed our monumental fifth anniversary of blogging on May 20th!  Ah, the old days, where we posted about garage sales, movies, library book sales, concerts, skydiving, and my frustratingly long job search.  At least we know they all had a happy ending!  It’s really fun to look back at all the things we were doing, writing about, and interested in for the last five years. Boy, have we been blessed. I’m glad Lynne made us start the blog even before we moved to Indianapolis or had kids.  I’m sure things will seem quite different when we look back in another five years.

New York City 2012

Earlier this month Lynne joined me for a week in New York City.  Once per year, I bring Lynne along on one of my work trips thanks to the frequent flyer miles I collect, and we always have a lot of fun in the city.  The last time Lynne was there was for Mother’s Day, right before Matilda was born, so it had been a while.  This was also Lynne’s first trip away from Matilda.  Big thanks to the grandparents for taking Matilda (my folks) and Eliza/Otis (Sara/Jerry).  We had to split them up because two little kids and a dog are a little too much to handle.

In NYC, Lynne had free days while I worked.  She shopped in Soho, ate some great food, saw the Guggenheim Museum, and hit up lots of thrift stores.  She even got to meet up with our friend Mallory who was in town visiting her sister (just like last time!).

Flat iron (sorry all the photos are via phone)

Guggenheim

For our date nights, we ate some great food at Gravy, featuring the best fried chicken I’ve ever hard, honey grits, and fried pickled okra.  I’ve pickled okra from my garden, and I’ve fried it, but never both.  Now I must, because it was delicious.  We also had delicious Thai soup at Zoob Zib – I highly recommend the duck braised noodle soup – sweet potato tempura fries with spicy mayo at Kobeyaki, and a tour of Eataly.  Lynne had the chance to dine at Odeon and get some tasty dumplings from the Rickshaw Dumpling Truck, which were all wonderful.

We also attended a Broadway show, of course.  Since the Tony award-winning musical Once was sold out, we opted for a play and saw Gore Vidal’s The Best Man, a political comedy that featured an all-star cast: James Earl Jones, Angela Lansbury, John Larroquette, Eric McCormack (Will from Will and Grace), and Candice Bergen.  The show was fantastic, and the ensemble all did a phenomenal job, especially James Earl Jones.  And how is it that the first words out of Angela Lansbury’s mouth always remind me of her role as Mrs. Potts in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast?

The Best Man

I had lots of meetings for work, including an all-day team retreat to lead.  It went well, and as a treat for my team, we went to a taping of The Colbert Report on Wednesday afternoon.  Thanks to a colleague who used to work there, we got to see our DonorsChoose.org board member in his element, and it was hilarious.  Lynne was able to join us, too, since I thought it would be horrible not to invite her to crash our team outing.  I was able to ask Stephen a question, catch a “Wrist Strong” wristband, and laugh so loud that Lynne and I could hear me on the show when we got home and watched it on the DVR.  It was really interesting to see how the show works a little behind the scenes, including watching Stephen mess up the intro twice, which clearly frustrated him, but turned into one of the funniest jokes of the night – an inside joke that only the audience got.  My team followed that side-splitting experience up with a great dinner at Nook (great mushroom cigars, steak, lamb, and frites) and drinks at Pony Bar, a great craft beer spot.

It’s always fun to have Lynne with me in New York, and the girls did great without us (getting spoiled by their grandparents, I’m sure).

Rain!

After a far too rainy spring, we hadn’t seen more than a few drops since May 1.  But today we got a short blast that I think the lawn and garden will greatly appreciate.  Eliza appreciated it, too.  Hopefully we can get a little bit more to offset the 100 degree heat these last few days. 

Girls

Eliza’s been a great big sister and really enjoys playing with Matilda.  For Matilda the feeling is mutual, and she’s enjoyed learning lots of things from her big sister.  Things like how to throw her toys, pound and hammer, splash in the tub, and make raspberries.

First Friday at Fountain Square

On June 1st Lynne and I headed to Fountain Square for a date night.  I had never been to this part of the city (in 4.5 years, I know that’s pathetic), and a concert was a good excuse to make the trip.  There are lots of great places to eat, and while I researched many, we decided to go to Siam Square for Thai food.  We’re very picky on Thai food in the states, and while Indy has its share of hits and misses, we had heard good things from friends.

We enjoyed some noodle and curry dishes, and overall we thought it was excellent and probably the best/most authentic Thai food we’ve found in Indianapolis.  There are so many other places we want to try in the area, but it will hard not going back to Siam Square.

We had a lot of time to kill between dinner and the show, so we had planned to walk around the area to visit the shops and sights.  Fortunately, it was the first Friday of the month, which is known as “First Friday” in Indianapolis.  The monthly event focuses on the arts in Fountain Square, where there are lots of little galleries, and other parts of the city.  This meant that all the shops stayed open later than normal, so we could check out antique stores, vintage clothing shops, and more.  Little coffee shops featured music and visual artists, and despite the dreary day, the overall vibe was fantastic.

Just south of the main square is the new (just a little over a year old) Fountain Square Brewery, so I made sure we stopped by for a tasting.  Since it was First Friday, the tasting room was packed and had a DJ playing some very loud music.  Fortunately we found seats at the bar, and I enjoyed their Bigger Nuggets double IPA and Eclipse black lager (schwarzbier). I think I’ll enjoy grabbing a pint there more when the music isn’t so loud and you can actually have a conversation.

The concert we were attending was at the White Rabbit Cabaret, a small little venue set up with table seating, seemingly more suited for a comedy show than a concert, but really intimate.  The venue has some decent beer on tap and is a really nice place to catch a show.  There were three acts: CALLmeKat (Danish woman, haunting electro-pop), Brown Bird (folk rock duo), and Rocky Votolat0 (songwriter with a guitar).  CALLmeKat was far better than I expected, and Brown Bird played a really long set that was tons of fun.  Their music would have been even better at a more lively standing-only venue.  I became a fan of Rocky’s thanks to some Pandora suggestions, and he didn’t disappoint.  However, the atmosphere is way more “talking” than “listening” so I actually found it rude that late in the evening the headline performer was slightly drowned out by a drinking, chatting crowd.  Still, for $10 a ticket to see three talented acts, I really can’t complain.

We look forward to returning to Fountain Square for date nights, future First Fridays, and any other excuse, so let us know your favorite FS places!

Basement, Finished

Since 2010, I had been working at finishing the basement (as many of you knew, due to countless updates).  It was a long process that not only included manly tasks like installing studs, drywall, wiring, plumbing, soundproofing, and flooring, but also figuring out furniture and what to do with the space.  Fortunately we were able to do it on a very low budget, finding lots of furniture from garage sales, and borrowing or acquiring used tools.

I had set the deadline to have it mostly finished (walls, ceiling, paint, floor, trim, etc.) by the time Matilda was born, so that we could immediately enjoy the extra space.  In late July 2011, on the morning of the day we went to the hospital to have Lynne induced, I painted the last of the baseboards.  Nothing like a deadline!  Then it took a good number of months to go through everything in our storage space, clean it (thanks to tons of drywall mudding dust), and decide what to keep, donate, or toss.  The construction projects were way more fun than that chore, and we had many minivan loads to the recycling center, Goodwill, and dumpster.

There are still a few more small projects to do, including painting the stairwell, plumbing in a utility sink, and installing a door to the unfinished storage area, but all the parts and equipment are ready and waiting.

It felt so good to finish the project, and we love spending time in the basement.  Everything looks as good as we had hoped (thanks to far too much attention to detail on my end – it made the project last much longer than anticipated and was probably mostly unnecessary).  We enjoy family movie nights in the living room, special dinners at the table, and Eliza loves her play area.  I’m thankful for the space everyday, since my office is now located down there.

I learned so much during the process and owe a lot of thanks to my dad for his help a few weekends to do some of the two-man tasks, like studs and ceiling drywall, and answering my countless phone calls and questions; my grandpa, for teaching me to wire; and friends and family who helped me transport drywall (pre-minivan) and clean/move furniture.

Before – heading down the stairs

After – heading down the stairs

Before – family room

After – family room

Before – play area

After – play area

After – the office and dining area/work table

After – dining/work table space

After – turning the old coal closet into Eliza’s toy closet

Not pictured – the laundry room.  Trust me, it’s just as nice and clean.

Eliza Turned 3

In April we celebrated Eliza’s third birthday.  We had a small(er) party with mostly family including a bookworm/literature theme and asked everyone to bring a book to donate to the Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital.  Of course that meant Eliza got some books as gifts, too, and we had to stop opening presents so she could be read each one.  She was quite excited.

Lynne created a cool book mobile, and a bunch of decorations from pages of some classic children’s stories. Old kids’ books were also all over the house.

Eliza sported a book-themed skirt made by her Gram.

Reading “Tangled” even though she hadn’t seen the movie yet.

Eliza got some princess puzzles, and put them together repeatedly for the next few weeks.  She really likes puzzles, and we had to get her some with 50 pieces to challenge her.

The food include “worm” pasta salad, fruit salad, a “dirt” pudding, and, of course, chocolate cake

Drinks were apple, mint, tea punch served in mason jars

Two days before the party was Eliza's actual birthday, and she was thrilled to open some "princess" presents. It had only been two months since our Disney visit and time in Florida where we learned that the best place to buy kids' things is a Goodwill store in Florida. Thanks to all those wonderful grandparents, the Goodwill we went to had so many great princess things for lower-than-garage-sale prices. Eliza received a set of Disney fairy outfits, complete with jewelry accessories, wings, and headbands. The sets were red, green, and blue, and our astute little girl realized those were the same colors of Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather from Sleeping Beauty. She also got a wand, Disney books, and a Disney pretend oven that uses magnets to make cakes and cupcakes "magically" rise. We love Goodwill, and we love that Eliza loves "the treasure store," too.