The Weekend Happenings

This weekend started out with some excitement on Friday, as we were awaiting the arrival of Grandma Ruth, Grandpa Dick, and their dog Sadie.  Zach had been waiting excitedly for a couple of days for their arrival.  They got here around 1 on Friday, just in time for lunch and for me to realize that my freezer was not working.  A bit of panic ensued (on my part), as I realized that the freezer had not been working for some time, and all the frozen stuff was starting to thaw.  Popsicles, ice cream, and even frozen pizza were not really of concern.  I was more worried about the meat in there and especially the major supply of breastmilk that was frozen and starting to thaw.  That stuff is like liquid gold, and I worked hard to get it all stored up.  I did not want it all going to waste!  So I quickly started calling random appliance repair places and asking 2 important questions- do you repair Maytag refrigerators, and can you come fix it today?  Thankfully I found one place that could come that day.  It took awhile, though, so my parents had to go out and get some ice so we could fill up some coolers with ice and the important items from the freezer.  The repair guy finally got there and determined it was some start-up device.  He gave my dad a bit of a hard time when my dad asked some questions about how he knew that that was the problem (he didn't seem to do any tests or anything, but his answer was, "I've been doing this for 30 years!" so my dad let it go at that), but he got it fixed, so that was ok with me.  

Saturday morning my parents left to head to Minneapolis to see my sister, brother-in-law, and new nephew, and Mike and I went to our second Hawkeye game of the season.  The forecast called for rain, lots and lots of rain, so I was a little less than thrilled to be going to the game.  However, it was Iowa vs. Iowa State, which is always a good game, and a fun atmosphere to be in, especially when it's at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City.  Well, we left later than we planned (imagine that) and got to Iowa City to find craziness all over- the rain was not deterring any fans, Hawkeye or Cyclone, from going to the big game.  After paying $15 to park in somebody's driveway a mile or so from the stadium, we were finally settled.  Thankfully, that walk was probably when it was raining the hardest.  After that it rained intermittently throughout, but not too hard or too much.  It was weird, though, because at times it was almost stifling hot (especially in my $10 plastic rain suit I got at Target), but then at times there would be this awesome breeze.  Anyway, I ended up being really glad we went.  It was a good game that the Hawks won 17-5, thanks to a great 4th quarter.  We had awesome seats, thanks to my brother-in-law's family- the 40 yard-line, 8 rows up, right behind the Hawkeye bench.  Pretty cool.  And it's always fun to go to a game with my brother-in-law Will and his younger brother Rob.  Whenever I'm around them I wonder if that's what Zach and Drew will be like in 37 years or so.  Rob seems to get pretty excited about the game.  He gets worked up about good and bad plays, good and bad calls by the refs, and obnoxious fans around him (like the Cyclone fan behind him).  Will, on the other hand, remains pretty mellow throughout the game, never getting too worked up about anything.  It's not that Will doesn't care; he's just less obvious about it, I guess.  I will say this, though- Will has the loudest clap I've ever heard, I think.  When the fans are trying to make a lot of noise and Will whistles and claps, I always think that my eardrums are bursting.  Ok, that may be an exaggeration, but seriously, Will must have some special way of cupping his hands or something, because his claps are really loud.

I didn't take my camera to the game this time because of the rain, so here's a picture from last time that I just think is kinda cool.

After the game we got out of there really quickly and avoided the major traffic, which was really nice. I hate waiting in traffic. Once we got home, we went down to our neighbors' house to hang out. Zach had a blast playing football with the other kids, and Mike and I had fun socializing and meeting our neighbors' friends. We ended the evening sitting around the firepit, and we were happy to discover that our baby monitor works 2 houses down! Yippee! That means that we can put the boys to bed and still hang out past 8 o'clock. That was a great revelation!

On Sunday Zach and I went to a birthday party for a friend of his who turned 4.  There were a few other kids there, but Zach was the youngest, other than the little brother of the birthday boy.  I was the only mom there because the other kids were all neighbors.  I made a mental note to really hammer home the issue of manners with Zach and Drew, because a few of the kids at the party had no manners.  When I was a teacher I totally stressed manners with my students because it's a total pet peeve of mine when people are rude.  I realize the kids yesterday were only 5 and 6 years-old and their parents weren't around, but seriously, if Zach ever acts the way a couple of those boys did (one boy in particular) and I find out, I will be so upset.  One boy was making all kinds of demands, he said he didn't like anything that the hostess served for lunch, never said please or thank you, and when we had cake and ice cream, he only wanted ice cream and kept saying, "Cake stinks!"  while the other kids were eating theirs.  It took all I had to not say something to him about how rude he was being.  If my kids are ever at your house and are being rude like that, please call them on it!  Ok, I'm done with my rant.

I'm always amazed at how long of a post I can write when I think I have nothing to say.