One-Yard Wonders projects

Monday, September 12, 2011

Cyclones, Curtains and the Water Sculpture

Both Shawn and I attended Iowa State University, but we are likely among its most disloyal alumni. Neither of us gets too fired up about cheering for the ol' cardinal and gold, or bragging about our alma mater. College was a great time, and I enjoyed every minute of it. But I'm still paying ISU a hefty sum every month and until our student loans are finally paid off and gone, I likely will not be singing the fight song too often.

However. We do make one exception, and that is the annual Iowa State vs. Iowa football game. And praise the gods, what a game it was this year! Happily, the Cyclones won in double or triple overtime. Quite a nail-biting ending, and a happy one for the kids in Ames! I'm glad we opted to watch the game rather than go to a movie as we had planned.

Our children, strangely, are bigger Cyclone fans than we are. I certainly do not remember the college rivalry being so heated when I was a kid. Mazy comes home every year very put out by something a Hawkeye fan has said to him at school. His school has a friendly competition each year leading up to the big rivalry game to see which set of fans can bring in the most Box Tops for Education labels for the school. I think the Cyclones were winning when we dropped some off last Friday.

Anyway, after the game Shawn's mom helped me figure out how to turn some clearance dinosaur fabric I had bought several months ago into new curtains for the boys' room. And when I say "helped me" I really mean that she took pity on my nauseous state and pretty much did all the work while I sat there and kept her company. And she kept the project at her house to work on it... She's a great mother-in-law, to say the least.

On Sunday, the boys and I met my friend Kim for a picnic lunch at the Sculptural Garden in Downtown DSM. However, we didn't actually make it to the sculptures, instead, we played one block east of there at the awesome water sculpture park -- imagine a block-long concrete creek with little damns, large blocks to climb on and the occasional bridge to cross. The boys were in heaven. It was a warm day and the water felt so cool and refreshing that we stayed in it for about two hours. We all enjoyed it, perhaps Bo most of all. Everytime I turned my back he was trying to take off his clothes and go skinny dipping!

I don't know where he got that idea but he was insistent that he should not be wearing any clothing to wade in the water. I finally compromised and allowed him to take his shorts off and wear only his pull-up and a t-shirt. I didn't want people to think we were trashy!

Right across the street from us on the lawn of Central Library was a big 9/11 memorial event. It was strange to see all the police cars, Bomb Squad, SWAT vehicles, policeman on horseback, soldiers, etc. There was a huge American flag unfurled from the top of the library as the backdrop to the event. It looked like a nice ceremony -- lots of officers in dress uniforms. I explained a little about 9/11 to Mazy, not too much, but enough so he can begin to understand what happened and how it truly did change our country forever.

Well, lunch is nearing an end and I should go cut my fresh peach and finish up. Hope you all have a great week!

By the way, did you do anything to commemorate the 9/11 anniversary?

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