Driveway Tailgate

I didn't get a chance to capture it with an appropriate photo (which is what this really needs) because everyone was on the but the memory will live at least for me.

Mitch, Max, Graham and Pierce in a combination of Lions and Brewers apparel set-up a tailgate in the driveway tonight. Lions played the Bears in Monday night football (Lions win 24-13) and the Brewers played the Cardinals (Brewers lost 12-3) in playoff game two. The excitement leading up to the games has been high and the boys will be tired tomorrow because they stayed up too late. The memories, though, as they say, are priceless.

The month has been filled with over sported, over tired, over excited, craziness with the Lions, Brewers and Badgers playing big night games, winning games unexpectedly and playing many games. This is not a month my boys or I will forget.

Ray sure is having fun watching from above - likely in amazement.

Sports Happy Husband

Pierce's birthday was the highlight of Mitch's weekend, I have no doubt. He would not have sold his tickets to the Big Ten opener for the University of Wisconsin (#7) versus the University of Nebraska (#8) - it's first game in the Big Ten - at Camp Randall yesterday if he did not put Pierce's birthday first. That said, Mitch's happiness this weekend is credited in half to the amazing sports weekend he had. A quick recap -

The Milwaukee Brewers won the first two games of the playoff series against the Arizona Diamondbacks - one yesterday and one today.  In September, Milwaukee won the NL division title - it's first division title since 1982 when the Brewers won the AL East and appeared in the World Series. Both games were watched as closely as possible by all four boys - and even the mom - in this house.

Last night, the Badgers flew by the Cornhuskers, 48-17. "What is a Cornhusker?" one of the boys inquired. I can't count the number of times the boys told me something of value or shouted "Tooooonnnn" when UW wide-receiver Nick Toon had a great play. They really are following the Badgers with Mitch!

And finally, the Detroit Lions beat the Dallas Cowboys (34-30) making them 4-0 on the season. Seriously? They were 0-16 a couple of seasons ago. And now for the first time in 31 years, they start 4-0. Yikes. On top of the win, they came back from a 24 point deficit to beat the Cowboys. They remain one of two unbeaten teams in the NFL. The others, happens to be from Wisconsin but Mitch's least favorite team - the Green Bay Packers.

If you are Mitch or a lover of all things Wisconsin, you are a happy sports fan tonight. I'm pretty sure Ray is watching all of this in amazement, wishing he were here to chat it up with Mitch and thankful his grandsons are going to take after him and their father.

Go Badgers!

Max and I spent a father and son wonderful weekend in Madison, September 18-20. Unfortunately, Graham (mom and Pierce, too) was supposed to join us, but couldn’t make the trip. What started out as a normal Friday getting ready for the trip, quickly changed as Graham came home from Montessori not feeling well. Dad took graham to the clinic and he was diagnosed with a virus, strep throat, terrible cold. Poor Graham. He was a trooper though as he had to spend the entire visit wearing a mask and then had to go through 2 tongue depressor throat wipes. With Graham sick, dad wasn’t sure the trip was even going to happen, but Kristin to the rescue. She modified our plans and somehow managed to get Max and dad packed for the weekend trip only a few minutes later than expected.

What a trip it was! When we arrived, we were greeted by a huge fire pit in the Lawrence driveway. Max very quickly assimilated to his new surroundings and fit right in with Kelcy and Alysa. They spent the entire evening running around the front and back yard with the flashlights pretending they looking for treasure and spying on the adults.

Saturday was game day! We started the day early and attended Kelcy’s soccer game. Shortly after the game ended we found ourselves on campus for the Badger football game against Wofford. The pre-game festivities were in full swing as we passed the football around and walked from our parking spot to the game. Max was very excited with all of the happenings, including the marching band in the street, and all of the fans dressed in red. We had a great time at the game as Max got to fully experience the cheers, food and marching band, not to mention the football game that was happening on the field. He was rocking out in the first row of the upper deck on the 50-yard line with Alysa and Kelcy during halftime watching the marching band. What a riot! We stayed for the majority of the game as Max also got his fill of hot dogs and nachos, not to mention doing the wave several times.

After the game, we spent the whole day on UW-Madison’s campus. The highlights included walking the lakeshore path and going out on the rocks of Lake Mendota, fishing out coins from the fountain, walking barefoot in the lake, sitting in the big Union Terrace Chair, and getting Babcock Hall ice cream. Yummy!

Afterwards, we went back to the Lawrence for a full evening of cooking out and playing in the backward play set. Max was completely worn out at the end of a great day!

What a great trip for dad! The time spent together with Max was some of the best quality time ever. We agreed to repeat the trip next year.