September 2023

With the month of September comes Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear came to the hospital and the clinic I work in to see some patients and staff. He also signed a declaration to bring awareness to pediatric cancer. I went down to listen to his address to UK staff and patients.  

Grandma and Grandpa came up so visit and attend their last grandparents night at GME. Landon played BINGO with them and actually got to win a game. He was really excited because he says he never wins anything. 

Landon had a game on a Saturday morning. I was at the UK Football game so I wasn't there. Landon had an awesome interception, his first. After the fact I was so upset that I missed it. Thankfully Jennifer captured the video of it for me. 

With Landon's interception and great defense that he played he was named the player of the game. I was glad that he had some family there to watch him play. 

After the game they enjoyed some food before everyone had to head back home. 

It's football time in the bluegrass! It was the first home game of the season. I couldn't enjoy the game because I was sad about missing Landon's game. Kentucky handled their business and beat Ball State 44-14.

Jennifer had a family reunion that we headed back home to western Kentucky to attend. While we were nearby we stopped at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We even stopped by Jennifer's hometown to check out the old ball park that we spent a lot of time at. Jennifer and I spent a lot of time sitting on those bleachers talking, but even more time working in the concession stand. 

Labor Day weekend means that the pools in town are about to close for the year. We decided to get one more use before having to head back to the indoor pools. The kids enjoyed playing for a few hours and we even ran into some friends too. They really love the Beaumont YMCA because it is the only one with a diving board. 

With Landon playing football I thought he would like to see some more experienced guys play. I verified that he could come watch practice with my friends in recruiting and we came on down to watch them practice. We spent most of our time watching the wide receivers and defensive backs. One player really made an impression on Landon when he came over to meet him. Tayvion Robinson #9 came over and asked his name and talked with him for a few minutes. That quickly made him become one of my favorites on the team. It doesn't take long to make an impression on a young kid. 

One of my patients was asked to come throw out the first pitch at a Red's baseball game. It was a night to remember the all cancer patients. The patient that was throwing out the first pitch had invited me and had also gotten tickets for about 300 of our patients and their families. It was a great night at the ballpark. They even had all the families out to walk on the field during pregame. Landon had a lot of fun and we got to see Elly de la Cruz for the first time. The Red's were losing in the 7th inning so we decided to head on home. Landon wanted to hit on the whiffle ball field one last time. While he was there the Red's hit a homer to tie up the game. We found some random lower level seats and stayed to watch the finish. The Red's ended up winning in walk off fashion and it was awesome!

The next home game Landon and Jennifer came to watch the Cats play. We didn't start out very well and the game ended up a lot closer than I would have liked, but Kentucky won 28-17. It was a great weather day and Landon enjoyed all the food that I could find for him. We cheered for his new buddy #9 Tayvion Robinson who had two touchdowns on the day. 

Another week meant another football game. Landon was actually playing about two games a week. After that opening game loss they went on a little bit of a win streak. The entire squad was getting more comfortable with the plays and their individual jobs. 

This is the second time that I have done the 9/11 stair climb in remembrance of everyone that lost their lives during the attacks on September 11th. This event is sponsored by the Lexington Fire Department. There are lots of local firefighters, military and other service providers out there doing this climb to show support. It is a very moving experience. 

Landon had been busy with football, soccer and a few random baseball games that he hadn't been able to attend any cross county meets. I signed him up for his first race even though he hadn't been to any practices with the team. He showed up in Frankfort to run his race and that is when he found out that he would be running with 5th through 8th graders. I hadn't got out of work in time to come see his race, but I called him to tell him good luck and to just do his best. Well, his best was a sub 7 minute mile and fifteenth place overall! We met back up in Lexington with Aunt Taylor to get snow cones to celebrate her birthday. 

We had a hard fought game against a bunch of our old White Sox baseball friends. The silver team came out on top this time, but that doesn't mean we aren't all friends after the final whistle. 

Another Saturday meant another UK football game. The CATS beat up the Akron Zips 35-3.

Landon had been asking to start working out some because he is tired of getting pushed around at football. I took him to the YMCA with us so that he could get a little taste of it. I think it was a little eye opening for him to see some of the things. It also doesn't help that the bar alone is over two thirds of his weight.

I had signed up Landon for soccer before finding out about the LCA football program. We chose to attend football over all other sports because it was a new sport and he didn't understand the rules of it and exactly what he was supposed to be doing. So soccer was our second most important sport. This was Landon's first time back on the pitch since playing with the Scorpions two years ago. This was a video of Landon trying to score off a miss from a team mate. He is the closest player in maroon. He came up and did a side kick on the ball. Unfortunately, the ball went high and hit the top crossbar. 

The Rampage squad was back at it again. They moved up to 12U softball and signed up to play a couple of fall tournaments. They actually added two new girls to the squad. They are now going to be the younger team in the tournaments, but they are going to gain a lot of experience over the next couple of months. 

Even with abnormally hot temperatures it was almost the beginning of fall. One of our patient's mothers made us these cookies. 

I talked Brinley into trying out for her school volleyball team. We went and picked out a volleyball and started practicing out in the driveway. She was so excited about trying out for the team. I might have sweetened the pot just a little by telling her that I would get her a squishmellow for trying out and for every game that she played in. This girl is absolutely mesmerized by squishmellows. 

After Landon's first cross country race the coach sent me a message asking if Landon could come to some other races. We signed up for another one at The Lexington School. Landon had done this one before and enjoyed it. They have to cross a creek and jump over a hay bale throughout the course. Landon ran one of his best races ever. This was a 3K race for 4th-5th grade boys. Landon finished 4th overall! We didn't get much time to enjoy the finish because we hopped into the car and headed over to a football game. 

Uncle McKinley and Landon went to a UK football game together this season too. The month of September seemed like it was filled with football games. Four of the five Saturday's in the month were home football games. This game went totally different for Landon because he was extremely hot. He kept asking Uncle McKinley if they could leave. They finally left a little after halftime because the Cats had already gotten out to a huge lead. Kentucky ended up winning 35-3 against Akron. 

Besides the snacks I think Landon really just enjoys riding on my golf cart. I picked them up at Uncle McKinley's house and was going to take them back, but I got called to take a recruit back to their car. 

Brinley's team had a tournament just down the street from our house. A couple of the girls came over in between games to play for a while. They ended up heading down to the playground at Jacobson to play for a while. 

Landon's team was very competitive and they had a lot of boys who proved to be really good football players. They ended up the number one seed in the tournament. Then they proceeded to win both tournament games to take the championship. They faced the white team in the championship and it was a defensive battle. Blue team scored late to win the game 8-0. White team was looking to score late in the game and Landon actually had the final pass break up to seal the game. 

Brinley and her softball team had a team outing to see the movie I Can, which was about a softball player. Of course these girls always have a good time when they get together. 

It was time again for me to donate blood. I try to be consistent and donate every time I am eligible which is every 56 days. 

Landon and the only other 5th grader on the Wolfpack team getting ready for a race. This was Brayden's first year running cross country and Landon enjoyed having another runner in meets with him. 

We are so proud of this guy. He tried out a new sport and with a lot of practice and talking through things he became a much more confident player. He started at safety and played back up at running back and tight end. He was close so many times to scoring his first touchdown, but that will have to wait for another time. That is something that evaded me in all my years of playing too. I hope he decides to play football again someday. It was a lot of fun watching him play. 

The Blue Team went out to celebrate after the big win. It was a good group of boys that we were lucky to play with. 

Brinley made the 6th grade Panther Volleyball team! I am so proud of her trying out something new. Prior to this she had only had minimal experience at a YMCA program. I have no idea how she did compared to all of her new teammates because the tryouts were closed to the public. I can't wait to see her play volleyball!

The month of September was filled with sports of all kinds. I believe Jennifer was tired of taking the kids to all of their sports after school. It made for some long nights, but I believe that it is so important for you kids to be involved in team sports. You learn so many valuable lessons by being a part of a team. Excited to see how many more teams the kids will be a part of over the coming years!