28 Days

After 4 weeks of Drake football training, classes finally begin. Sam was good enough to send this first day of school photo.

Bulldog Blue

Not sure if someone styled his hair or not. I think he's happy that the all day practices are coming to an end soon.

Having Fun Yet?

Nicole texted Dylan at around 9:30 last night when we were going to bed and got this photo response. Said he got his homework done already.

College and Eggs

Dylan has been on campus for rugby practice a week now but his first classes were today. He's already learned how to eat eggs at school. Hard to believe he went over 18 years without ever consuming an omelet but has had one a day since moving to fredericksburg.

Where’s Sam

The clue is middle of the pack and smiling again. His roommate CJ is #5 in the front row.

Roster

The Drake football roster is up. Smiling is in this year for football players.

First Practice

You can Dylan's face in the back row slightly right of center. 6am start time for practice all week. Go Mothers!

Empty Nest

Dylan is with his four suite mates now and doing his rugby thing. There dorm is two rooms that share a bathroom. Andrew, to the left of Dylan is his roommate, the other two are rugby players as well and share the soon to be really disgusting bathroom between the rooms. It's possible that one of them will keep it clean but it probably won't be Dylan.

It was a smooth drop off and included Ben, a rugby player from Scotland who stayed with us for a couple nights before all of us drove down to Fredericksburg. It was tough leaving him there but he hugged us and hustled off to meet some friends he met this summer that had arrived Sunday as well.

First Scrimmage

It was drake defense against drake offense today. Sam got some playing time but wasn't thrilled with his performance. Hang in there tiger.

Greenwood Lounge

I spent a little time catching some live music at a really small and smelly dive bar a few blocks from our air bnb in Des Moines. The Monday night band was really good and this one was pretty good. Based on some lyrics this guy sang about something you would only know if you spent some time in Baltimore in his last song I had to talk with him. Turns out he went to school at Catholic University and lived in Baltimore for a while. He was pretty good but needs a better bass player. Also talked with the bartender who knew cousin Timmy.

Sculpture Garden

Trying to interact with the art in Des Moines.

Delivery Complete

We saw Sam for a short time this morning to wish him luck. His physical yesterday was fine except they wanted a orthopedic surgeon to look at his ankles today. One was loose and one kinda stiff. He was eventually cleared to practice this afternoon but they are watching the loose one closely. The boys haven't been apart more than 8 days in the last 18 years. They probably won't see each other again until November or December.

Early Move

Out of the Air BnB at 6:15am for a coffee stop and move in at 7am. It's Des Moines and everything is 10 minutes away so we were early. Sammy I'd officially moved in and in team meeting after meeting. It was exhausting day for everyone.

Gentleman, start your engines

Pre-race selfie. Those electric go karts were quick which explains the helmets.

Iowa

Sam looking down on his new home away from home as we landed in Des Moines yesterday.