Tent City 2018 & Blue/White Game

Kentucky Basketball is upon us. The kids and I got our first interaction with them down at tent city this year. The night before they hand out the tickets the players usually come out and interact with the fans and hand out pizza. Jennifer was working so I packed the kids up and headed down to see if we could meet a couple of the players. As we were getting out of the car we spotted our first two guys getting back to the Wildcat Lodge, Tyler Herro and Keldon Johnson.

I love Tyler Herro just because of what he did to Wisconsin. Yes I am still just a little bitter about losing to them in the 2015 Final Four. Tyler has highly touted out of Wisconsin and had verbally committed to them. Then, UK offered him and he knew that this was the place to be and flipped to become a CAT! We found out in the Bahamas just how special of a player he really is.

Keldon Johnson is an athletic phenom. He is going to be a special player and more than likely a one and done player.

E.J. Montgomery is a highly touted freshman big man. He got hurt in the Bahamas so we weren't able to see exactly how good he is, but I am excited to see him this season.

Johnny David is one of the fan favorites and this is his senior season. 

Sophomore Nick Richards in the Bahamas showed that he has a new found confidence from his freshman year. Excited to see him continue to develop in this second year on campus.

Brad Calipari entering his third season with the CATS. 

Immanuel Quickley is another one of the dynamic freshmen on this team.

Reid Travis is a grown man that is coming to play with all of our underclassmen. He is a graduate transfer from Stanford University and is here to play one season to try and get ready for a professional career. I hope the big man can make his one season in Lexington worth it!

Jemarl Baker is kind of a mystery. He is supposedly one of the best 3 point shooters on the team, but we have never been able to see him play due to multiple injuries to his knee last year and his back this year. I really want to see what this sharpshooter is all about. Hopefully he can get and remain healthy.

Ashton Hagans is another highly touted freshman. He actually reclassified over the summer and skipped his senior season so that he could join this class at Kentucky. Excited to see what he can bring to the table.

The player that will be one of our leaders is PJ Washington. After a good freshman season he debated going pro, but at the last minute decided to come back and get better for at least another season. I am excited to see his high energy and leadership during this season.

I even got to take a few pictures too. I got one with senior grad transfer Reid Travis.

EJ Montgomery and myself.

Jemarl Baker

With the football team having an amazing season it was awesome to also see a few of the players show up at tent city too. It was interesting that there was a lot more people wanting to meet these football players than the basketball team. Of course I wanted to meet them too!

The kids with Kentucky born and raised Kash Daniel.

C.J. Conrad is a very nice young man. I have met him multiple times over the last few weeks. He has been volunteering every Tuesday at the children's hospital where I work to help boost the spirits of kids who are in the hospital. I actually thanked him for doing that because I know a lot of kids that really enjoy seeing him.

Lastly, I caught up with Benny before he left. This young man has created a national buzz for our football team. He has brought an excitement to UK football that has not been present for quite some time.

Just this week we got to see our wildcats in action at the Blue/White intersquad scrimmage. It was also my first working function as a member of the Committee of 101.

My first Committee of 101 assignment was to be a section leader for section 39 and 40. I helped all the people in these sections find their seats. I can't wait until the team starts playing actual games.

My little wildcats!

My beautiful wife and I. Not very often will you find me more dressed up than her.

The kids were in a rare, wild mood! Landon was up screaming to the team and dancing all over the aisle. It was pretty fun to watch.

My little family. I love watching the wildcats play and it is especially more fun to watch with these guys.

I think this basketball season is going to be pretty special. We have a lot of really talented young men on our team and I hope they get it all together and make an awesome run for number 9 in March and April. I also can't wait to see how this surprise football season turns out and just how far this team can go. I know that regardless of how things end up I know that I will always be proud to be a Wildcat! Thanks for reading and God bless!

Donut Trail

On the way back from our trip to visit my sister in Columbus we stopped along the way to begin something that my sister had told us about, The Donut Trail. This is located in Butler County, which is just north of Cincinnati, OH. There are 12 donut shops within the county and if you travel to 11 of the 12 locations then you are given a free gift from the county tourism board.

Our first stop we were all excited about the new adventure and Holtman's had so many different delicious donuts. We decided early that we were not all going to pick our own individual donuts because we were planning on stopping at a few different locations. Jennifer and I shared the creme filled long john and the kids shared the incredibly sprinkled donut. Everyone loved this place and I couldn't wait to see what the other shops were going to have.

As much as we liked the first location this one fell completely flat. At Stan the Dount Man we asked for their specialty donut and they told us that the pineapple fritter was a favorite. It left much to be desired and I couldn't even tell that it really had any pineapple flavor at all. Brinley chose to not have anything and Landon tried the donut holes, but said that he didn't even like them. 

The Donut Spot was our third stop of the day and the kids got a regular glazed and Jennifer and I split the creme filled chocolate donut.

The kids were back on track with the next stop. They jumped right back into eating some donuts. Look at these happy kids. This is the most fun they have every had on a trail!

Our last stop of the day came at Jupiter Coffee and Donuts. At our fourth stop of the day the kids were completely over it. So, we only got one donut and Jennifer was being really indecisive and told me to pick. I chose a cake dount with vanilla icing. It was delicious and I found out that Jennifer didn't really like cake donuts, so I got most of this one to myself.

To burn off some of that sugary breakfast we went to play at Top Golf for an hour. The kids loved it and then we returned home. We would have to return another day to finish our donut trail. After school started the kids had a day off for teachers to have a professional development day and we decided to make the trip back up to hit some more of the donut challenge and then go to the zoo. We woke up early and didn't even get the kids out of their pajamas to make it to the bakeries nice and early.

Our first stop of the day was Kelly's Bakery. The kids split this strawberry iced sprinkled donut. Jennifer and I shared the strawberry stick. The strawberry stick was delicious and Jennifer later said that it was her favorite thing of the whole trail.

The kids loved this place!

Landon loves all things strawberry. This was probably his favorite donut of the whole trail.

Next we headed down the road to Mimi's Donuts and Bakery. We sent this picture to the kid's own Mimi.

We switched things up at this spot. Brinley really wanted a chocolate sprinkled donut, but Landon just wanted a plain one. So, Brinley and I split the chocolate covered sprinkle donut and Landon had some donut holes. Jennifer got a mini Reese's donut which had a peanut butter creme on the inside and topped with chocolate icing.

Next we headed over to Ross Bakery. The donuts got messed up in the bag, but this was one of my top donuts. Jennifer and I shared the white iced creme filled donut and the kids split the white sprinkled. Seeing any patterns here with the kids choices? Jennifer said it was too sweet, but I thought it was delicious.

Landon was really enjoying it too!

Next stop was Martin's Donut Shop where we had to watch out for Sasquatch. Here the kids chose to not have any more donuts for the time being. Jennifer and I had a hard time picking out a donut from here because they all looked so good! 

We finally decided on the cronut (croissant + donut) with a cream cheese filling. It was absolutely delicious!

Sharing a donut with the wifey. This was definitely up there on the favorite list for me.

Stop number 9 was at the Central Pastry shop. The kids again chose no donut, and Brinley apparently didn't even want to participate in taking a picture with the "donut trail" painting on the wall.

The lady at the counter told us that the cinnamon squares were one of the most popular items that they had so we had to try it. It was good, but it just tasted like a cinnamon sugar funnel cake in the shape of a square. 

Our next stop was Milton Donuts. Everyone was starting to get burnt out on donuts at this point. This was our sixth stop of the day. The kids had no interest and Jennifer had no opinion on what to get. That left it up to me.

I went a little out of the box with a fried croissant with glaze. It was really light and fluffy and delicious.

The last stop on the Donut Trail for us was The Donut House. This place was really interesting. They had all types of donuts and all types of fillings (i think they had about 8 different types). Jennifer and I both wanted something different, but we both started with a white iced donut. Jennifer picked a chocolate filling and I picked a strawberry. Landon said he wanted another sprinkle donut, but wanted to save it for later. It is in the little bag.

Landon took our picture. I know Jennifer was happy about finally being done. I was a little over donuts too, so much so that I couldn't even finish Jennifer's donut.

Completed Donut Trail passports.

After much consideration I would have to pick Martin's Donut Shop as my favorite spot. The cronut was so good I would highly recommend it. Second place to me was Ross Bakery with the white long john with creme filling.

We then headed over to the tourism office to pick up our gift. It was shirts for everyone to let people know that we were crazy enough to conquer the Donut Trail.

We made a quick trip to the zoo to round out the day and then decided to head on home. Looks like the entire family was exhausted from visiting the seven bakeries today. 

After we got home Landon decided that he wanted to eat his sprinkle donut that he picked up at the last spot we went to, The Donut House.

 Jennifer and I both agreed when we got home that this would not be a yearly tradition. If we lived close it would be something that we could do throughout the year, but trying to do multiple stops on the same day is just too much. Jennifer said it would be a while before she was ready to eat any more donuts. Thanks for reading and God bless!

The kids shirts came in the mail just a few days ago. They are a little big, but I guess they assume that if you finished the Donut Trail that you would be at least a youth large!

Meal Packing for Haiti

A few months ago we had the honor to pack meals for the children in Haiti that our church sponsors. This was the first time that it has ever worked out for us to be able to help with the actual packing of the meals. You have to be at least 5 years old to help, so Brinley also got to help with the process. We didn't really know how to explain it all to her because it was new for us too. After some training and a little video we headed into the meal packing area to start our hour long volunteer time.

Meal packing stations: rice, protein, seasoning and vegetables.

Brinley was in charge of the seasoning scoop. She had to scoop up some powder and then level it off.

Happy to volunteer next to this lady.

Brinley was the only kid in our group and she did awesome. Kept pace the entire time with our group.

Look at that smile! She was so excited about being a part of the group.

I was so proud of my girls for all the work that they put in. We talked about it with Brinley on the way out about how big of an impact she made on the kids that will eat those meal packs in Haiti. She couldn't believe that the meals we packed might be the only food they eat for an entire day.

Another view of our station. I controlled the funnel and holding the bags. Jennifer was in charge of the rice and Brinley stood across the table at the flavor station.

Brinley posing with one of the bags that we were able to pack during our time.

Some of the many boxes that we helped pack.

 I think that we completed 18 boxes during our hour and I think there was 32 bags in each box. Pretty impressive what a group of people could do. We will never truly know how much of an impact we had on these children in Haiti. It was a very fun and eye opening experience for all of us. I am glad that Brinley was able to experience it as well. Next year the whole family will be able to participate. Thanks for reading and God bless!