Visiting Tent City

Kentucky basketball fans are sometimes referred to by Coach Calipari as the craziest fans in the world. I am proud to say that I am a member of the crazy fan base, but there is one thing that I have never done. I have never been one of the people to camp outside of Memorial Colleseum for 3-4 days for a pair of free tickets to a practice. The main reason that I probably haven't done it is the fact that I don't own a tent. Maybe one day I will join the masses and camp out. This year I found an outline of events and decided that I would head down to campus and check out one of them. I picked the night that the players would be handing out pizza to the crowd. Not because I wanted pizza, but because I wanted to interact with the players and possibly get a picture or autograph.

I heard Coach Cal come out and address the crowd about how things were progressing so far.

Here come the players handing out pizzas. Isaiah Briscoe was the first player out and was very excited to be there and seemed like he was having a good time.

The freshmen Jones, Fox and Adebayo were a little more timid with the whole process. They wanted to stay inside, but that just meant that the doors were completely packed with people trying to get up there to meet them.

What a great young man. Briscoe seemed to really be enjoying everything. 

Tai Waynard wanted to take the selfie picture himself, which was fine, but blue Santa decided to photo bomb my picture.

De'Aaron Fox finally came out and embraced the moment and I might add that he is also super fast at signing autographs as well as running up and down the court.

Meeting my new favorite name to say, Sasha Killeya-Jones. I am not sure if he would like this or not, but at the first few home games I couldn't help but think of the guy from Kid-N-Play. He doesn't have the complete flat top, but from the upper deck they seem to look similar.

Bam Adebayo signing my ball, but I couldn't get a good picture with him looking up

My favorite Australian, Isaac Humphries.

Coach Cal's son, Brad Calipari.

Some of the players got on stage for a few question and answers with the media.

I caught Mychal Mulder before he left the stage for a quick picture.

Someone painted some awesome pumpkins. Here is an old logo one.

New logo. I still haven't decided if I like the new logo or not. I will say that it is growing on me though.

This guy is a true professional and a great young man. He knew that everyone was there to meet the wildcats and he didn't disappoint them. He was the last one out there taking pictures and signing autographs. He is my favorite player from this years team and I think he is only going to get better as the season goes on.

What an awesome night! I was running around like a little kid trying to meet all these young men.

Heading down to campus proved to be a great decision and it was so much fun. I am pretty sure that I will be going back in the future years so that I can meet all the incoming and returning players. Thanks for reading and God bless!

Hiking with the wifey

A few weekends ago through some random work scheduling I had a Saturday off. I knew that I wanted to do something with just Jennifer and I immediately thought about taking Jennifer to the Pinnacles in Berea to hike. I had only been there once with my little brother but I had really enjoyed the hike and the views. We dropped the kids off at MiMi's and headed south on I-75 to Berea. When we arrived the parking lot was packed full and I just thought there were going to be a lot of people out hiking because it was the weekend. However, when we got up closer we found out that it was some kind of festival and all the hiking trails were actually closed for the weekend. I was totally bummed because I had wanted to hike there, but we had no other choice then to head on back to Lexington. Trying to salvage the day we decided to try and go hike at Raven Run. This would be our first time there without the kids and I wanted to try and walk the whole outer loop. Jennifer was up for the challenge so off we went.

The wifey and I on a bridge. The creek was pretty dry.

Pretty neat area down by the creek. Can you find me?

There I am under the rock.

I am such a lucky guy that I get to call her mine.

It is so peaceful out in nature and something about flowing water only makes it that much better.

My beautiful wife down by the cascading creek.

I captured this picture on our way over to the overlook. I thought it was pretty brilliant way to capture an image with nobody around to snap the picture. I made a video and then took a still image of the video off my phone. I love how the leaves in the front are all in focus and then us in the background.

View from the Overlook. With it being a Saturday this was a pretty popular spot and didn't seem as peaceful as normal. We spent a few minutes looking around before heading out.

I found a nice little ledge to relax on under a rock overhang.

My beautiful wife at the overlook.

Just sitting on a rock wall. Just a little before we made it to this area we got to witness a tree actually snap in half from the wind blowing it too hard. A family had just walked right under it when it started to fall. Thankfully nobody was hurt.

We were also lucky enough to spot 3 deer on the hike out. I was surprised because there were so many people out hiking.

One last picture of us at the overlook. 

After being upset that the Pinnacles were closed it actually turned into a pretty awesome day hiking with my wife at Raven Run. I am so glad that we are able to occasionally get some time to ourselves. Jennifer really is my best friend and we sometimes don't get to spend as much time being a couple as we would like, since being mommy and daddy has become our bigger role. Maybe one day I will get to take Jennifer to see the Pinnacles. Thanks for reading and God bless!

Mermaids at the Aquarium

One afternoon I got the bright idea to make a quick run up to Newport to visit the aquarium. I had gotten an email about the mermaids visiting the aquarium for just a few more days and I knew that the children had really enjoyed it last year. Thankfully we made it in time for the meet and greet and to see the mermaids swimming in the tanks.

The kids getting to meet the mermaid outside of the water before she had to go back to the water.

The kids have no fear at all and really enjoy walking across the Shark Bridge.

View from the Shark Bridge. You can see some of the sharks as well as the large sea turtle.

The best family picture that we could get today. The kids were a little on the wild side.

Picture of my little mini me. He is turning into a little man right before our eyes.

Brinley as a mermaid and Landon as Nemo.

Perks of having a kid that are technically savvy is that we always have someone to take a picture of us. So here is Jennifer as a mermaid and I am Nemo.

Brinley trying to touch hands with the mermaid. Too bad there was about 2 inches of glass in between them.

Brinley was completely amazed.

Landon waving hello to the mermaid.

The kids seeing how they measure up to Big Mike.

Landon and I taking a selfie with the mermaid.

I am so glad we made that afternoon trip because there wasn't another time that we could have made the trip. The kids loved seeing the mermaids again this year. We always have a good time at the Newport Aquarium and we would highly recommend it if you have never been. Thanks for reading and God bless!

Brinley's Preschool Field Trip

Brinley started in preschool earlier this year and she absolutely loves it! They had a fall field trip where they went to the pumpkin patch, Bi-Water Farms. Jennifer had worked the night before so we let her sleep and I took both kids on the field trip. The weather turned out to be great and we all had a lot of fun! Here are the pictures from our adventures.

Brinley loves preschool and was so happy to be going on her 1st ever field trip.

Brinley with the rest of her classmates getting ready for the hayride.

Landon and I on the hayride. Brinley left us to sit with her friends.

We had just finished the corn maze when we arrived in the pumpkin patch. Here is the pumpkin that she picked out.

Landon with his pumpkin too!

Daddy and kids selfie out in the pumpkin patch.

Brinley and her classmates right before they headed into the spook house.

Most of her class decided to call it quits for the day, but my kids were just getting started. Brinley was riding on the large blue rocking horse.

The kids walking in the huge pipe.

Brinley learning how to use the bouncy ball.

Brinley enjoyed a few trips down the huge slide.

Landon riding down the big slide too.

The kids riding the Bi-Water Train.

We even spotted a big dragon too.

Brinley was just barely big enough to ride the big tricycles.

One last picture before leaving the farm. We had a ton of fun and we will definitely be back in the future. Neither kid was ready to go, but I was worn out.

If you ever get a chance to visit Bi-Water Farm then I would highly recommend it. There were some things that Landon wasn't big enough to do so I would recommend waiting until your children are a little bit older. It was a great field trip and I can't wait to go on many more with my little girl. Thanks for reading and God bless!