Happy 19th birthday Evey!

We all went to the Mexican place in Baldwin (El Porto, right?) and had a feast. 

Boyd was particularly excited about the meal, at one point just grunting an "mmmmmm!" While eating. Evey had to laugh, it's not like Boyd to ever be so excited about eating a meal out…

When we got home I walked by Boyd on the Xbox and I heard him telling his fellow gamers, "I got a burrito, a taco, rice and beans!"

But back to Evey Jones! Can't believe she's 19! We're so proud of her! She's doing great both at KU and her two jobs and at home, just being the VERY BEST. 

Happy Thanksgiving 2025

What a beautiful day for our family to get together and enjoy Thanksgiving!

Ok the high was 52, but that was warmer than we expected! Kept the HOJ garage door open. Enjoyed food, sparkling grape juice and ice cold beer. Soaked it in. Jack White and Eminem? Heck yeah!

We stayed outdoors all evening behind the propane torch and the Solo Stove. Couldn't will the Chiefs to a win. 

But still… SO THANKFUL. 

Three Chiefs

Fans, that is!

We had a pretty epic HOJ party for a Sunday noon game (finally!) and we just worked over the Raiders.

Koko enjoyed the afternoon in the sunshine, with Evey and Bub. 

7th / 8th Fall soccer... that's a wrap

This was a good team. Not as good as last spring's team (they went 5-1-1) but really good. Just needed a few more dogs on defense. And we had one game when no one showed up, we had to play the entire game without subs (give me 2, 3 subs and we win that game.) We went 3-3 on the season.

Boyd had another solid season, several goals, multiple assists, zero complaints. The kind of player that makes life easy for coach.

It was fun. It was great having Adrianne, Evey, Judy and Jess on the sideline cheering Boyd (and me) on. 

We won't mention the caution in De Soto. That town is crazy. And their field, and officiating, remains... crooked. 

I'll miss coaching these kids. But I'm looking forward to seeing how they play for a professional (non-volunteer) coach, and not my amateur hour. 

Seth and Adrianne visit the Colosseum

 

Boyd swinging the 3 wood

 This was at Eagle Bend last Friday... hit a couple good ones...

Back at Luchadore!

If we play in Gardner, Kan., you know we're going to get some Mexican with a side of pro wrestling! 

JAYHAWK DAD

Evey and me at KU Freshman orientation a few weeks ago.
Orientation, we decided, was kind of fruitless. Other than
the 30 minutes we bailed to grab Burrito King!

So beginning Monday I can now buy / wear those shirts that say, "proud parent of a KU student!"

Those shirts always cracked me up. Why would a parent want to wear that — especially if they didn't attend that school, or necessarily care about that school. 

But now? I'd rock a "proud parent of a KU student" shirt. And I think the perspective changes so much when you get to be the age of someone old enough to have a kid in college.

It says that ... I'm so old ... college is a distant memory for me but now I'm going to try to vicariously live it through my child! Do I still fit in? Can I wear a backpack and eat Burrito King? What are we doing after class? FRISBEE?!? 

I'll be rocking that T-shirt and on campus SOON, Evey Jones! PROUD PARENT WITH A FRISBEE!!!

Final trip of summer 2025

We snuck up to Seattle for a short trip, to stay with Adrianne's brother and visit with D. Out on Saturday, back on Wednesday. Boyd starts school (8th grade) tomorrow!

Highlights: the Sunday afternoon Mariners game… the aquarium… the boat tour (those giant container ships are incredible!)… lunch at Chupacabra on the beach… walking around the market… and me, Adro and Alex saw Nine Inch Nails on the last night, where the Kraken play. 

It was a good, fun trip! 

Seattle Mariners game, 8/10/25

 

We took a short end-of-summer trip to Seattle to see Alex and D. We lucked into a Mariners game on Sunday afternoon. 

(I say lucked because — I thought I checked before the trip and they were out of town, but apparently I don't know how to read a sports schedule.)

It was a 1:10 first pitch and we got there about an hour early. Seats were up high, but they were pretty good (and they were the Weibel's treat.)

Me and the kids walked the park to check it out. There was a big crowd there! Bub got some Dippin' Dots (7.5, is what he rated them. "It's just ice cream.") Evey nabbed a funnel cake at the end of the game that was delicious.

Highlight of the game for me: Ichiro came out to throw the ceremonial first pitch to Randy Johnson, the Big Unit. That's not something you see everyday! Ichiro just had his jersey retired by the Mariners the previous day. 

The Star Spangled Banner singer was REALLY GOOD too. 

Anyway, we're off to the aquarium and then Pike Place Market today. Then Nine Inch Nails on Tuesday, YEAAAHHHH!!!

Congratulations Evey! Class of 2025!

I'm very late posting this... but CONGRATULATIONS to Evey for graduating high school! What a proud moment for me and Adrianne... I don't know if I've ever been prouder. It's just so amazing to see her grow up right before my eyes and now complete high school, and to such accolades.

She simply nailed high school. Made excellent grades. Made lots of friends. Participated in multiple activities. Worked hard, studied hard, played hard.

A testament to how well she did in high school was how many of her teachers came to congratulate her at Evey's graduation party. I feel like I saw every one of her recent teachers, and even a few from her past. 

One of the graduation cards she got from a teacher... oh my goodness... such a kind, heartfelt note to her... I think Evey is really making an impression on people, a positive impression, and even adding joy to their lives!

Follow-up posts to come... recapping the graduation party... and what's next for Evey! Stay tuned and get ready for Especially Evey: The College Years (if she doesn't make me shut down this blog, that is!) 

2025 Mexican Fiesta “The Prize Tent”

Ohhh wow was our Mexican Fiesta experience different this year!

The four of us volunteered to work the prize tent, and 'sell' the tchotchkes to the kids who brought their tokens in from the games they played.

Oh sweet baby Jesus it was chaos. A never ending barrage of kids. I want this, I want that. Kids trying to sneak off with prizes. Whining about how many tokens they needed. Not being able to make up their minds. 

I think our shift was only an hour and 45. Twenty minutes into it, I looked at Evey and said, "that was only 20 minutes!" 

At the end of the day, we all survived. But I now have beef with about three different 10-year-olds. 

So long, Sportsman!

It was a fun two months with a Polaris Sportsman 570. They lent it to me on condition that I'd include it in a few of my work videos. I also did a review of it — both Evey and Bub did camera work for me. We'll post that in a week or two. 

Fun experiment! Got to see some of the land around our house, that's for sure! 

Happy mothers day

To all the moms and grandmas!

We celebrated by hitting an amazing Chinese buffet over on 9th and Iowa. WE WILL RETURN — it was amazing. Reminded me of old Peking Taste. Seriously. It was like a time machine. Their chicken-on-a-stick was LEGIT. 

My 48th birthday

My 48th was pretty eventful! It started off with Boyd's final soccer game of the season. We stumbled to a 2-2 tie on what was otherwise a great season. LeDogs (terrible name, I think Boyd named them at a practice I missed) went 4-1-1, their only loss coming in game 1, before they realized they were good.

After the game, Jess was like, "hey, there's a Mexican restaurant in Gardner called El Luchador… we should check it out!" My response? HECK YEAH!

Turns out the place is awesome. Good food, amazing decor and nice people. We've already been back! (Because they were celebrating their 1-year anniversary with live wrestling in the parking lot!)

I then hit Rick's for a couple pints, then back home where we finished the night off with a round-robin shuffleboard match.

It was a very happy 48th!