September 2019

Here is everything we did in the month of September 2019!

We started out the month with a trip to the Louisville Zoo. The Prock's came with us and the kids had a blast showing Elam all the animals!

We had planned on letting the kids play in the water at the splash park. However, some kid had an accident and they closed the park down. The kids, especially Elam had a blast playing with this water ball.

I had heard quite a bit about the Bernheim Forrest, especially from one of my patients. He told me that it was one of his favorite places to hike in Kentucky. We were extremely close after the zoo, so we just headed a little south of Louisville to go find some giants. These wooden sculptures of giants were huge. It was a fairly easy one way mile long hike to see all 3 giants.

 It was funny because just moments before they had told me that their legs were too tired to walk anymore.

Jennifer and I taking a break during our hike while the kids were running around and walking on the rock path..

This giant was my personal favorite.

Not sure what exactly this structure was supposed to be, but I got Jennifer and the kids to take their picture with it.

We also found these really neat red metal sculptures and the kids wanted to climb on them. It was all fun, until Brinley fell off and hit her arm. Jennifer and I were worried that she had just broken her arm, however she ended up being fine.

Another neat little sculpture that we found during our hike.

This was the one that I feel had the most detail.

The kids love playing with our neighbor, Willow. The kids always want to play every time they see each other come out the door. Too bad we are usually heading out to do something.

Another successful game working with the game day recruiting team. We beat Eastern Michigan, but unfortunately lost our quarterback Terry Wilson for the year. 

On Labor Day in Lexington it is the official last day that all the local outdoor pools are open. So, the kids and I headed out to the YMCA to get one last outdoor swim in. The kids had a blast jumping off the diving board and even got some free popsicles.

At work we have an amazing salt water fish tank. One of the highlights of the tank is the puffer fish. Nobody at work had ever seen it puffed up until randomly one day at work someone saw it. We all rushed to the front to catch a glimpse. I took a picture so that I could show everyone that missed it. It was amazing how much it can truly puff up.

In August Brinley was being so crazy about letting me pull her tooth. I promised that I would get her a Lego set if she let me pull it. Well, I pulled the tooth and then the girl said she wanted this huge Lego set. I was not going to pay for it but Brinley offered that she would pay for half of the cost. I agreed and she was so excited. When it came it the mail that was the only thing that she wanted to do. I made her go to bed, but she got up at 4 am and started building again. It was well over 1,000 pieces.

The kids workshop this month was a scarecrow planter. Brinley did an awesome job. Landon really wants to try and make it look exactly like the sample on the instruction manual. He had trouble getting the paint to cooperate with him. After a little meltdown I helped him with the paint job. I think it turned out pretty good considering it was a children's activity and I am a 34 year old man.

The kids and I made it out to watch the UK Men's Soccer team play against Tulsa. The kid's enjoyed rolling down the grassy hill and they even grabbed a picture with Scratch. The wildcats ended up winning the match 2-0.

One day after school I told the kids that they couldn't play on the iPad or watch TV until they played outside. They came outside and sat on the swing and read until I told them that they could go inside. The kids found a loop hole and I couldn't even fault them for it.

Walking to my car after work I caught the guys filming the Paul Finnebaum Show. I stopped real quick to get a picture. This was taken off of a big video screen showing the live show. I am in the blue by the shoulder of the man in the dark shirt. I am holding up my phone to take a picture.

The kids are playing fall ball and having a lot of fun. They didn't have many kids sign up so we just practice every Tuesday and have a game on Thursday. They are learning a lot and getting a lot more experience.

Well, the third home game of the season was against the Florida Gators. This was the first game with our backup quarterback Sawyer Smith. We were the better team, but ended up losing. To help with a little bit of last years magic I even ate some of the salsa that I made on the day that we ended the streak against them last year. It didn't work.

We all made a Sunday afternoon trip out to the Women's soccer match against Indiana. The Cats ended up losing, but the kids won on the day. We caught a soccer ball and t-shirt that they threw out to the crowd. We even got to meet the gymnastic team before we left for the day.

Landon had been asking about the popscicle place. So for a nice little treat after the soccer match we headed to Steel City Pops. Everyone really enjoyed it after sitting in the hot sun at the soccer match.

Brinley really wanted to sign up for gymnastics. She has loved it. 

We also took a little family trip over to Memorial Coliseum to see the volleyball team in action against Purdue. The Cats lost the first set before we arrived. After we got there they won the next two sets to make it 2-1 in a best of 5 sets. We had to leave because it was a school night. I looked later that night and the Cats collapsed and lost the last two sets and lost the match.

It finally worked out with my schedule to volunteer at our church's Jesus Prom. It is an amazing event that they hold every year for people with physical and mental disabilities. It was awesome to see all of the prom goers with huge smiles on their faces and so excited about a happy and fun filled night.

The kids and I headed out to see the UK Volleyball team take on Louisville. Our cousins Abby and Sarah were there with their volleyball team. It was good catching up and learning a little more about the rules of volleyball from someone who actually plays.

The kids and I went to the store and I saw that they were running a sale on chex mix. It made me think that it would be a perfect snack for us on our upcoming road trip. 

We had a quick weekend trip planned to Chicago so that Jennifer could run the Chicago Half Marathon. Well, Saturday morning I was the first one up so I decided to take a little run in downtown Chicago. I made it to the "bean", the Willis Tower, the Chicago river, and I even spotted multiple sand castle figurines around the city.

After my run I came back to the hotel and found Brinley awake. So, we took a little walk down the street to a Chicago staple, Stan's Donuts. We picked out a variety and then headed back to the hotel to share. Donuts seemed like the perfect start for Grandpa's birthday. He is now 68 years old!

Our next stop was at the Museum of Science and Industry. We explored all 3 levels of the building including a submarine, combine,clown exhibit, bicycle exhibit, baby chick hatchery, and we even watched a robotic assembly line make us a personalized toy. There was so much stuff to see and explore we could have spent a couple days in there and still not have seen everything.

At one point I even caught the birthday boy napping while the kids were playing in a water table. 

We had to leave the museum a little early because we had to make it to the race expo so that Jennifer could get her bib for the race the next day. The kids had to get in this picture because they had to sit on a couple of letters because they kept falling over when a gust of wind came thru.

We stopped by Grant Park and got a picture with the Buckingham Fountain. 

We also got up close to the "bean". Apparently Grandpa said he had never seen Cloud Gate before. Brinley and Landon had never been to Chicago before so I know for a fact it was their first time.

Not as many people take the picture from the inside of Cloud Gate. I think it looks psychedelic under there.

As you can see their are tons more people their during the day than when I went for my run earlier in the day. The picture with the reflection of the skyline is pretty neat. Just wish there was a way to get all of the people out of the picture.

We found a random bull statue that the kids rode on and Grandpa even grabbed it by the horns. Then we headed to my favorite Chicago establishment, Giordano's Pizza. Just look at that cheese in the top right hand picture. They even gave the birthday boy a slice of Tiramisu for dessert.

Before walking back to the hotel we took a stroll down Michigan Avenue, aka the Magnificent Mile. Dylan's candy store caught our eye so we went in and look at all the candy. The kids really wanted to try the huge cotton candy. As you can tell from the bottom right picture, they really enjoyed it!

Sunday morning Jennifer and I got up around 4:30 in the morning to get ready and head to the start line of the Chicago Half Marathon. We had to leave early because they closed down the interstate that you drive to get there. It was absolutely pouring down rain when we were driving there. It slowed down quite a bit for the actual race. I was able to catch Jennifer at about 4 different spots during the race. At one point I even ran along side of her for a little bit. After finishing they gave her the largest medal ever. The thing is huge! I didn't run this one with her because I already completed Illinois on our quest for all 50 states. I ran the Chicago Half Marathon in 2007 with Andrea and McKinley. So, now we have officially completed half marathons in 8 states.

We thankfully had Grandma and Grandpa with us on the trip so they decided to stay at the hotel and sleep in. I am not so sure they would have enjoyed standing in the cold rain with me. In fact after they woke up they went and swam in the pool for a little while. We grabbed lunch at the Shake Shack right next to our hotel and then we both headed back to Kentucky. We had a lot of fun in Chicago celebrating Grandpa's birthday. We packed quite a bit into just a short little weekend trip. 

We had quite a lot of fun during the month of September. This year has been speeding by and I can't believe it is already October. The kids are having a lot of fun in school and as you can see I try to keep us busy every other part of the day. Thanks for reading and God bless!