Secret identity?

Evey Jones.

Spelling bee champ.

A-list honor roll.

Secretly Wonder Woman?

Honor roll!

Great job Evey!!! We went to Tres Mex to celebrate and now we're all STUFFED!

Back from jolly England

It's even better to be home, though. I'd been looking forward to that trip for a long time, then as soon as I got on the plane I was looking forward to coming home. There's some psychology going on there, something that sounds familiar even. But it was still a good trek.

I'm guessing that might be my last trip to London for a while. I've been there three times in four years. It was, for a long time, the No. 1 foreign destination I hoped to visit.

Now, I'm looking forward to a new international adventure outside London. Maybe Rio? Maybe Barcelona? Who knows.

The good news is, England has been good to me, three trips in a row. That's awesome.

Oh, and this trip? I stayed less than a mile from Buckingham Palace (Hilton London Park Lane), walked by Alfred Hitchcock's home, and most significant, drank several cask ales at the birthplace of Guy Fawkes (the Guy Fawkes Inn.)

A trip to remember, remember...Had a nice couple days in England (Saturday through Wednesday to be exact). Started off in London, then York, then Harrogate, finally back to London. A lot of travel packed into a short trip.

The girl has M-O-X-Y

It was quite a day for the Jones family, as Evey competed, and did great, in her school's 3rd/4th/5th grade SPELLING BEE!

We were so excited when Evey won the spelling bee of her class a few weeks ago. Today was the big day, when she competed against the other winners from the different classes.

Evey told me a few days ago that she was competing against the 4th graders and 5th graders... I told her she was psyching herself out, don't worry about it, I'm sure you're just competing against your own grade.

Shows you what I know. Evey was right, she was competing with the big kids!

And I'm happy to report that she tied for fourth place!

Evey made it a few rounds... I remember the words "people" and "bedrock." She was stumped by the word "moxie." She wasn't familiar with the word, but asked to have it used in a sentence, then reluctantly spelled it M-O-X-Y.

About seven other kids got knocked out in that same round. There were only three kids left after that round. I think it's accurate to say Evey lasted longer than any of the other third graders... I'm not 100-percent positive since it wasn't clear to me who was in which grade.

We just couldn't be more proud of her. She was nervous, but showed some serious moxy and rose to the occasion. Every word she was given terrified me. And I know I'm biased, but I felt like some of the kids lucked out with really easy words here and there, while all of Evey's words were either new to her, or potential "trap" words.

Boyd got sick at daycare today (thrown up four times since 4 p.m.), otherwise we would have gone out to celebrate her stunning performance. Pretty sure we're going to Tres Mexicanos tomorrow, and ordering extra queso dip. And I'll probably run her to the comic book store too, to re-stock her on some new cool girl comics, as a reward.

(Note # 1: The red-headed boy on the far left in the first photo is who won; he deserved it. He got some tough words along the way but finished strong, nailing "genteel" for the overall win.

Note # 2: The event was pretty well run... just a little bummed that the host of the event kept calling Evey "ehh-vee.")

WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU EVEY! Keep up the good work sis!

Two heads are better than one

Not much to report here today... just wanted to post a fun photo. This was taken when we went on our San Francisco trip over the summer...

***

How about that triple-overtime win on Monday? WOW! Buddy Hield with what, 46 points?

I think the KU/Mizzou final game at Allen was better... come-from-behind, Thomas Robinson willing us to the win... against our most hated foe, in our last game against them... and the Big 12 hung in the balance, I think?

***

Bedtime is a struggle. Mostly Boyd. Evey wants to stay up late reading, which is a good problem to have. Bodyee just doesn't ever want to go to bed... and even when he stays up way too late, he still is the second one up (behind Adro) every morning.

Oh, the compliment he got at Montessori School today? "Oh, he can fall right asleep when it's nap time!"

Hmmm...

***

I like nachos.

Familiar faces (KU vs Baylor)

A very cool end to my Christmas/New Year's break — Rick took me to the KU/Baylor game on Saturday.

What a game! The place was nuts right off the bat... and that scorching start the Jayhawks got off to added fuel to the fire.

We hit West Coast Saloon before and after the game for some hoops watching/beer drinking. Then we went to Red Lyon for a few, mostly because Ryno, Brent and Shane were there.

Interesting thing: this weekend, I ran into so many people I knew. At West Coast, at the KU game, at Red Lyon. It's a small world when you sit down at the KU game, and the guy you used to camp out with for good student seats 19 years ago is sitting down four seats away.

Perhaps more interesting (at least, to me): an old reader recognized me at Red Lyon — from my college days! Seriously, this guy gives me a look like he knows me, then says, "Jonesy?" I say, "Yeah, Seth Jones..." and he shouts, "That's it, SETH Jones... I used to read your column when I was a student!"

I think I yelled at the guy to shut up, because I was so stunned. It's been years since someone has recognized me from my KU sports column writing days. He said I looked the same as I did from my photo in the paper back then... which cracked me up a little. I guess I haven't departed too much from that photo, evidently. He also told me that I "told it like it was" back then and I didn't shy away from calling out the football coach, etc. I guess I kind of remember that. I was young. It was probably before my first death threat.

I was also happy that the old reader was excited to hear I have a golf magazine now, and am still in "the business." It would have been a drag to tell this guy I was in telemarketing or something (not to belittle telemarketers, but... it isn't what I studied to do.)

Anyway, Rick and I solved a few of the world's problems, told a few stories, had many laughs. Always a good time to hang out with Adro's uncle. And I'm happy to report that both of us claim to have barely been hungover this morning...