Bonus Day for Family Weekend

How wonderful that we had a full day together on  a sunny Sunday in Iowa City. Drake didn't fly out until 6:00 and It was cheaper for Marshall and me to stay until Monday night. We watched Tanner's ultimate practice in the morning  before we toured the Iowa campus and downtown Iowa City. We made a stop at Target and grabbed a Panchero burrito for lunch and stopped for Froyo. 

We then made our way back to Tanner's dorm and played some more euchre and played pool and foosball in the lounge area of the dorm. The dorm complex Tanner is in is very nice. 

We all took Drake to the airport and then chilled out a bit before Marshall and I met Tanner for dinner, walked him to the dorm, and said good night. 

Hawkeye Family Weekend - Part One

We had a wonderful time in Iowa City for our first family weekend. Marshall and I arrived Thursday night and worked from Cedar Rapids on Friday. 

We met Tanner on campus after his classes and we wrapped up work. We then met a couple friends of Tanner's and their families for dinner in Coralville. We hung at the hotel for a bit before picking Drake up around 10:00. 

On Saturday, we head a lazy morning before heading to the tailgate on the driving range. We met more of Tanner's friends and their families too. There was another tailgate with a TV who kindly turned it to the Nebraska game.  We had some food, beers and played some corn hole (badly). It was a bit chilly, but completely manageable. 

We cheered on the Hawkeyes to a resounding victory against the Gophers of Minnesota during a sold out Blackout game. We left a but into the 4th quarter and headed to Tanner's dorm to pick up a few things. 

Dinner at The District CR in Downtown Cedar Rapids was the perfect spot to eat dinner without the crowds or wait. We wrapped up the night playing Euchre back at the hotel before calling a night. Of course, my heart was happy to have all four of us together this weekend.    

Enjoying the sunshine on Friday afternoon

You can take the girl out of Nebraska.....

Tailgating fun

Go Hawks! 

Dinner at the District CR

Rough night for Tanner and Marshall 

 

One for the Books

 The record books that is! Way to go Drake! 

A Mirage In the Desert

Our time at Imperial Lakes at Collegiate Nationals was the perfect end to Drake’s collegiate water skiing career. The lake was beautiful and we continued to have warm weather - it truly has been a never-ending summer for us. It is crazy to drive up to the lakes as the surrounding landscape is desert, looks very deserted and covered in salt.  

While the team did not perform at their peak, the men’s jump team had four out of five skiers land a personal best and they tied for 6th place place in that event (seeded 8th). Drake’s new personal best was not only the best on the team, the 113 foot jump landed him in the Miami record books! 

What a joy and pleasure it was to follow him around and watch him improve week over week. The hard work paid off and he has so much to be proud of. He also has some great memories and wonderful friendships from his time on the team. The improvement from his first jump Freshman year to having the best jump of all the Midwest teams at Nationals and placing 25th in D1 is a testament to his perseverance.

Drake's Jump 

Drake's Tunnel Ski

Google maps view of the lakes  - yes it is the barren and tan 

end of day one 

homemade ice cream - yum! 

Team Midwest (region they ski in) 

Jimmy joined the century club! 

proud parents

California Dreaming

Water skiing nationals has certainly taken us to places we would likely not have experienced - Zachary, Louisiana; San Marcos, Texas; and now El Centro, California. El Centro is a small desert city a few miles from Mexicali, a border city of one million. It is also downwind from the Salton Sea - a lake below sea level which is drying up and the winds blow the salt toward the city. The landscape is desert with rocky hills that rise to 4,000 feet in the distance to the west (where it was chilly enough for hot springs). It is a hard place to describe really. 

While in very Southeast California, we ate dinner in cute downtown La Mesa, worked from the Home2Suites, soaked in the Jacumba Hot Springs, saw the wall, went through a border check point, enjoyed some fun cocktails and dinner with Drake one night, watched the Huskers lose, strolled along Mission Beach and had fish tacos at the beach park in San Diego.  I feel we did pretty well making the most of our time in California.

cute downtown La Mesa

Jacumba Hot Springs - very cute! 

art at Jacumba Hot Springs

Friday afternoon beers cheering on the Huskers (sigh) 

Drinks at D'Poly Taco, Grill & Beer

Friday night dinner with Drake 

Desert Tower

View to the West/South from Desert Tower

Border Checkpoint 

Walk along Mission Beach before heading home

Shucked

A needed night of laughs seeing "Shucked" at the Buell Theatre on Thursday to kick off our new season of tickets to the Denver Center of Performing Arts. I worked from downtown and Marshall joined me around 5:15. We then had a drink and apps at 54thirty Rooftop on a warm evening. The show was full of puns and just what the doctor ordered. Seems also appropriate we saw a show about corn after returning from my midwest. Aw - shucks! 

sunset over the Rockies