Cocktail

Bartending without shirts seems to generate more tips.

Black Bear Strong

The Black Bears had two wins today in the National collegiate 7's rugby tournament. They have a semi-final match tomorrow and hopefully a game for the national title after that. All of this happening about 25 miles from home in Maryland, while I'm in Des Moines at Drake Relays. Nicole had the team over for dinner tonight. She made a lot of food.

Bartenders

Sam's first real day as a bartender. He should try harder not to be a tender and customer at the same time.

Drake Relays

The injured Drake throwers volunteered for the hammer retrieval duty for the premier competition. Basically, they get the hammers once thrown and get them back to the throwing cage. Adam (left) also sang the national anthem to open the evening session of the relays.

Spotted Cow

Sam is visiting southern Wisconsin this weekend with his friend Austin. Here they are visiting the famous brewery and home of Spotted Cow beer.

New England Wide Conference Champs

The black bears win all 4 games in Springfield Mass and the 7's conference championship. Next stop, Nationals in Maryland.

Successful Surgery

Turns out the hernia was a little worse than expected but won't cause any additional recovery time. Just had a little more repair than expected. He's doing fine and resting at home. No throwing things or golfing for a month.

Another Win

The black bears took the Holy Cross tournament with 5 straight wins.

Wet Dog

Buddy got a walk at the tail end of our rain storm today. 5 miles and he's still bouncing around.

Spring Tradition

Pre dawn run and with some crowd free blossom viewing.

Cherry Blossom Run

Nicole and her friends try to get down to the tidal basin every year around this year for an early morning run. The pictures are always nice and I get to enjoy them without the afternoon crowds.

Family Portrait

Fun time doing brunch at Majestic, then a visit to Murphy's in old town for a quick pre St. Patrick's day beer.

Mom and her boys

Celebrating our Irishness.

DC Half Marathon

Nicole got up before dawn to run the Washington half marathon. Beautiful day for a 13 mile run.

New Zealand Hammer

Sam's teammate Antz was competing to make the New Zealand Olympic team back home in Auckland yesterday. It was on tv at 1am Eastern time this morning and he took first. Another step to the Paris games.

Why Not?

I was home, doing some work and watching the ACC basketball tournament on Friday and suddenly realized it was being played 8 miles away at the capital one center in DC. I instantly jumped on Ticketmaster and bought some nosebleed seats for Dylan and for the night session. It was a classic upset by NC State over Duke. Very fun game and the seats were much better than the couch. Great to have some quality time with Dylan before he goes back to Maine on Sunday as well.

Black Bears

Last weeks action in Rhode Island.

7’s Rugby

The Black Bears beat all comers for the Bryant University invitational championship. Dylan started and played well in all 4 games. Nicole and I enjoyed the games on tv from the comfort out our home.

DJ Dylan

I took Bumpy out for a spin as I usually do once a week. Bumpy is the boys car and doesn't get much exercise when the boys are away at school so i just drive it around for a while. Today, Bumpy and I were able to listen to Dylan's new radio show during the drive. We both approve.

Progress

Sammy took 6th in the MVC conference indoor championship. He got 12th last year, so lots of progress and he was the top sophomore out of 26 entrants.

Snow

Not only did I get a minor snow storm in Minnesota on Wednesday (7 inches) we woke up to a fresh 3 inches here in Des Moines on Friday. The campus looked nice.

19.96

Sam had another Personal Best yesterday at a meet in Iowa City. He's only .04 meters short of 20 with the Missouri Valley Conference championship coming up next week in Chicago. It was fun to see him throw live for the first time this year.

Mahomes

I watched the Super Bowl at Rachel and a David's house on Sunday and while my sister was a little stressed about a team she's has no connection to, she finally got her opportunity to show off her shirt honoring her favorite player.

Yampa River

Water heading down to the Colorado and the Grand Canyon.

Main Street

Steamboat Springs is a festive place at night.

Out of a Cloud

The lifts at the top of the mountain were completely in a cloud with almost no visibility. About a third of the way down we left the cloud and found this. Cloud above, snow below and sunlight in the valley. Worth the blind decent from the lift.

Bluebird

Sunny, bright and a little warm today. 22 at the peak, 26 at mid mountain and 32 at the base. Hard to dress for that.

Yampa Valley

Bruce and I about at about the mid mountain level at Steamboat.

Rabbit Ears

Another ski trip to Steamboat Springs with these guys. This year we added Bruce's son Ryan and did not have Dan with us. The founder of this trip was is not pictured because he broke his arm on the first day. Larry is on his way home as we speak.

New Personal Record

Sam PR'd today at the Cyclone Open in Ames Iowa. He threw a 19.15 which beat his previous best of 18.62 back in December. Drake took first, second, fourth and fifth in the weight throw. Sam's teammate Adam broke the school record with his throw. The school record was owned by #2 finisher Anthony until today. I see new school records happening in 2024.

Holiday Snow

We finally got some snow after a two year snow drought and keeping my holiday lights up well into January paid off. The first 5 inches fell while we were trying to get home on Monday night, that same storm dropped 9 inches on Bangor which stopped us from flying on Tuesday. We got another three inches today and the trees looked fantastic with lights and snow.

Snow Buddy

Nicole was finally able to take Buddy on a walk after being gone and busy the last 7 days. That dog loves the snow and walking with Nicole.

New Digs

Dylan is living in what they call a single/double. Meaning we paid a little more to get one person in a double room. The bed to the left is a guest bed or lounge space. He's beyond random roommates if we can avoid it. It's a classic dorm but he's got a nice view, entertainment and a lot of space. His first few days have been good too.

Nicole and I spent two extra days up north at the airport hotel due to flight cancellations. Finally gave up and drove to Boston to catch a flight. Nice to be home but it's quiet around here with both boys gone.

Paul Bunyans Brother

I think in this neck of the woods his should be called Jacques Bunyan. Momma is about to see another baby leave the nest, again.

Paul Bunyans Brother

I think in this neck of the woods he should be called Jacques Bunyan. Momma is about to see another kid leave the nest.