Happy B-Day Ellen! Go Cyclones and Bears!

A great weekend in the Kehrt household last weekend. Too bad it's Thursday before I'm posting this. First of all, it was Ellen's first B-Day. Compared to Mara's first birthday, Ellen really got the shaft. I mean, we had the party in Des Moines for both birthdays and that was great. But, you'd think Stacey and I could pull something special together for Ellen. We didn't really. Presents and dinner at Red Robin and that's about it. We spent the whole weekend at home which was nice. The girls had a great time playing in the box from Ellen's new car seat

Stacey's Cyclones hat has been a popular item lately too. Which segways nicely into the next great thing about the weekend. Iowa State beat Iowa in football. Now, unlike the rest of my family, I don't hate the Iowa Hawkeyes, but regardless of that, on one weekend every fall, I am forced to declare my allegiance here in the land of the Hawkeyes. When the Hawkeyes win, in any sport, bet your ass I hear about it. Now I have a year of bragging rights. It might be the only game the Cyclones win all year, but at least I can live out the rest of the season in silence.

Finally, the Bears won on Sunday too. The offense really looks awful. Nothing more to say really. Sexy Rexy better get his shit together or the Chicago faithful are going to take his ass out to the middle of Lake Michigan,put some cement block shoes on him, and send him overboard. Enough is enough already. On the other hand, Urlacher broke his 2 year sack drought. He ended it in style too.

What a Weekend

Went to KC to my sister Sara's wedding this weekend. Just like a lot of you reading this. Headed out Thursday afternoon. Stopped in Des Moines for the night. Stacey's brother Brian and his wife Jen were kind enough to come with us to watch Mara and Ellen whilst we partook in the festivities. The stop in DSM turned out to be cool. We spent some QT with Brian and Jen. We watched the Colts whoop up on the Saints and got a good nights sleep. On the road to KC by 9am in the rental van. Our van isn't big enough to carry 4 adults, 2 kids, and all the shit required to take two kids somewhere for the weekend. The ride down was smooth sailing. Kids were good. It was a two stop trip that turned what should have been a three hour drive into 4.5 hours, but happy kids make for happy parents, so it was all good. Got to Sara and Bruce's house where my family was sans my brother Chad and his clan. Had a quick beer to take the edge off and headed to pick up my tux with my dad and now bro-in-law Bruce. Bruce was kind enough to show us the way to a pub for another quick beer. We had to head back after one beer because we had to get to the rehearsal on time. Kinda funny, the priest wanted everyone there early so he could start on time, then he ended up being late. Rehearsals went as rehearsals go. I was an usher along with Chad and Bruce's brother Troy. We ended up screwing it all up, but nobody seemed to notice. Then the rehearsal dinner. A spread of BBQ that would make a dead man drool and a keg of fat tire. Now that's the way to get down. It was at Troy's house, which is a beautiful house outside of KC. A very beautiful home set up perfectly for events such as this, but hey, with a keg of fat tire, it could've been at a trailer park for all I cared. The food was awesome. Loved the bacon wrapped apricots. Then back to the hotel. On the way up to the room, I thought about getting Brian out of the room for a beer, but once I set eyes on the king pillowtop I opted for that.

On Saturday it was up early, but not too early, eat breakfast, and get to the church for pictures. All went as it should with a couple small problems. We had agreed to make sure the wedding was videotaped, but forgot a few things for the camera. I hit Best Buy in the morning for the needed items. Another $60 into the weekend, but figured after being well into a $1000 for this weekend, fuck it, I don't even care anymore. It's my sisters wedding. Later to find out, the AC cord I got wasn't the right one. So we were hosed anyway.

We were seating everyone as we were supposed to before the wedding. Then all of a sudden, some lady from the church got in a big freakin' hurry. So we had to seat the grandparents right away. We ended up putting them in the wrong row, but nobody noticed. Then the bridesmaids and all that shit. I had bet my brother the day before that my dad would cry on Saturday. This could be it. Walking his only daughter down the aisle. Dammit. Nothing. All smiles and composure. I would have my revenge. It was a full catholic ceremony, so I decided to go up on the balcony to try to get the camera working. I got it working. Turned out the AC cord wouldn't run the camera while it was plugged in, but it gave the battery enough of a charge to make it last through the ceremony. I got it working just in time for the vows, so that was cool. All else went well and normal for the ceremony.

On to the reception. The reception was in an old theatre. Pretty cool, but they weren't expecting the Kehrt family, as they ran out of cold Bud Light pretty quickly. I'm not a big fan of Bud Light, but my parents and most of their friends and family drink enough of it that I'd hate to own stock in Anheuser Busch if they decided to stop. They went through the normal wedding stuff: Dinner, toasts, maid of honor getting the groom's name wrong, ya know. Then the bride and groom dance. I gotta say, I wasn't expecting such an excellent choice in songs from Jimmy Buffet fans. They danced to Broken by Jack Johnson. There was a congo line in there somewhere that Ellen and I took part in. Ellen loved the music. It was cool. Then my redemption. The father daughter dance. My tough as nails father cried. They played the Stevie Nicks song that she wrote for her father. It was awesome.

The rest of the night went off without a hitch. Lot's of drunk people. Lot's of dancing. Lot's of fun. Sara and Bruce have some great friends.

Sunday on the way back to DSM went real good. We stopped again in DSM to have dinner, and watch the Bears game. The last two hours sucked ass. The girls were horrible in the van. Just horrible. I couldn't wait to get home. Stacey was fit to be tied. Once we got home all was good. Early bed time for kids. Unload the van. Go to to bed.

We're not travelling for a while folks. If you want to see us, you know where we live.

Congrats Sara and Bruce. We love you.

Look at me

Mara is a bad eater. She doesn't seem to ever want to eat for us. She does okay for the babysitter though. So I'm trying to get more stern with her. So the other day she starts at good but something distracts her and she throws a fit. (This is just one of those times that any parent can relate to. The "don't laugh" situation.) I let her throw her fit and she calms down. Then I tell her "Look at me." She doesn't. I say again, "Look at me." She turns her head further away. I turn her head towards me grabbing her face (gently) with my thumb on one cheek and my index finger on the other. So she's face to face with me now albeit forcibly. I tell her again, Look at Me. And drop my hand. She continues to face me, but then grabs her own cheeks, squeezes them together and says, "Look at me." I'm speechless. I look over at Stacey, she can't speak. Ellen is stuffing her face for all it's worth. I say to Stacey, "Don't laugh." And of course, we both start laughing our asses off and everything goes to hell from there.

BTW, my camera is broken. Don't know whether I'll get if fixed or get a new one.

I hope you got your ass outside today

Man it's nice out today. The forecast for the weekend looked great all week so the plan was in place for me, at least in my head. Get all the bullshit stuff done on Saturday so we could do whatever we wanted on Sunday and Monday. So, yesterday I worked on landscaping all day, took care of errands in the afternoon with Stacey and the girls, and when out for a family dinner. Girls in bed on time, drink in my hand, watch Michigan get beat by Appalachian State, and to bed by 10. All day yesterday I was thinking of riding Sugarbottom, but as far as I knew, all my riding buddies were busy. Then the message comes from my buddy Ken and the plan is set.

I was up at 6:30am and ready to roll at 7:30. I headed out to the trail, knowing Ken would be a little late for our 8am ride time agreement. I went ahead and rode by myself for a while. The trails were in pristine condition and I have a brand new set of Schwalbe Fat Albert's on my bike. I was cornering very well, which is normally my weakness. Ken rings me and tells me he's at the trailhead and we meet up on the trail. We hit every trail at Sugarbottom and Ken is riding in his normal excellent form. It's always fun to watch smooth riders do their thing. Effertlessly around switchbacks and weightless over roots, logs, and rocks. It took us a couple hours to ride the whole thing. I actually rode a couple parts twice.

I can't remember a nicer day this year to be out riding. It was fantastic. All that was missing was the beer.

I could keep writing but Ellen just pooped and it's making me gag so I better take care of it. That's my girl.