Football Season

With the start of school right around the corner, that also means the start of football season.  This year, for some reason (I assume because the WIAA wants to move up the HS football playoffs) there are two football games before the school year even starts.

This year, Sarah is done with Jr. Indians cheer, but Alison is just starting.  That means another Jr. Indians Night at the HS football game.  Sarah is going to hang out with her friends while Alison waits to do a routine at half time and we (Kris & I) have to sit in the stands and watch the Falls varsity team, and after a half of football, I don't think they'll be very good this year.  The Falls was playing Oak Creek, who just happen to have a coach by the name of Ahman Green.  Yes, that Ahman Green, the Green Bay Packers' all-time leading rusher.  So at least they got beat by a team that was coached by a future member of the GB Packer Hall of Fame.  I wonder how many times people ask him for autographs during games?

Anyway, here is Alison's routine below:

Jr. Indians Night from Dennis Hahn on Vimeo.

Then the next day was the first Jr. Indians football game.  Alison was very nervous, but that didn't last too long.  Once the game started and she got going it was all pretty easy for her.  Unfortunately, the team lost its first game of the year, but not because the cheerleaders did a bad job.

High School Registration

Sarah had her high school registration today.  I am not quite sure what I was expecting, but it seemed to go smoothly.  We spent a lot of time looking for Sarah's locker, and then we had to go see her adviser/counselor because they didn't give Sarah a study hall.  She is taking four honors courses this semester and I don't think she is going to be able to handle the workload with cheerleading practice three or four times a week without having a study hall to work on some of her homework.  Luckily, the counselor was able to move her schedule around without too much trouble, and now she is going to start off the day with a study hall.  I guess there is good and bad with having it first period, but at least she gets one now.

So now there is only about a week until school starts.  It's hard to believe she is going to be in high school.  It seems like we were just seeing her off to kindergarten.

Back To School

It's finally back to school time.  Today was Alison's back to school fair where we go fill out paperwork, pay all of our applicable fees, and Ali gets her picture taken. As always, it was a hassle.  I think I complained the last two years but I'll do it again, this is nothing like Riverside's process.  At Riverside, we were in and out in five minutes, or at least it seemed that fast.  The longest part was waiting in line to get Ali's picture taken, because we were able to get all of our forms ahead of time, have them filled out, and then just turn them in.  At Shady Lane, we have to fill out all the forms at school when we get there.  Big Hassle!

This is the last year there however, so the last year we need to put up with it.  Just think, next year Alison is going to be in middle school.

Squirrel Trouble

Last year Kris had problems with chipmunks digging up her flower pots.  This year we had an issue early in the summer seeing a couple sneaking around, so I set out the traps and actually caught a couple, though they didn't do a lot of digging around in the flowers.  What was digging around was the squirrels.  Kris actually had to replant a couple of her flowers more than once this year.

So I set out the chipmunk traps in hopes of catching squirrels.  I actually caught a couple.  The first one Kris let loose in the yard because it was freaking out in the cage.  Kris called me at work to tell me that we caught another one, and I told her to just leave it and I would be home in a couple of hours to release it.  However, about a half an hour before I got home, the squirrel broke out.  I was looking at how with Sarah when I finally got home.

Apparently it was freaking out and ended up tipping the trap over, off the bricks around the patio.  When it flipped, the bar holding the doors shut swung out of the slot locking it in place, so once it was over, the squirrel was able to get out.

I reset the trap, this time in the ground, figuring it wouldn't be long before I caught it again.  I was sitting in the house as I watched a squirrel climb down one of the trees and make its way over to the trap.  It slowly poked its head in, about halfway into the trap, then ran out.  This happened about 4 or 5 times.  It was then I realized what it was doing.  It was crawling in, and grabbing a peanut (I was using full peanuts in the shell as bait), and would then retreat out and eat it outside of the trap.  And then go back inside and get another one.  This went on until the trap was picked clean.  I suppose this is the difference between having a trap specifically for a squirrel, and one that is for chipmunks.

Since we couldn't catch the squirrels in the chipmunk traps, Kris put some mouse traps in her flowers pots.  The thought was that if they went into the pots to dig, the trap would catch them, and at the very least they would deter any more squirrels from digging up her plants.  Well that didn't last long, because after about a week, the squirrel figured out how to get around them. 

I have to say, it is a little bit humbling being outsmarted by a squirrel.  The one true way to get rid of them is to get an air rifle and just shoot them from the window, but since the girls won't allow me to do that, I will have to live with trying to keep them out of the plants and refilling the pots with dirt as it happens.

Thoughts on Driving to Illinois

So as we were driving down to Illinois, a few thoughts popped into my head.  Are there any worse collective group of drivers than the FIBs?  I will tend to speed from time to time, well, more than from time to time, but I don't like going more than 5-10 mph over the posted limits, especially when the speed limit is 65 or 70.  But I felt as if I was holding up traffic by driving 70.  Then, the tailgating that was going on was ridiculous.  There was one woman who I was driving next to for a short time who was busy smoking a cigarette, and either texting, or surfing the internet on her iphone.  Always a good idea when you are traveling 75 mph in heavy traffic.  Finally, as we were going down the tollway and I am doing about 70-75 mph, which was already over the posted limit, some car come flying out of nowhere on my left, and zips between me, and the car in front of me and into the right lane.  He was doing about 90 mph at least, and the clearance when he cut in front of me was about 5 feet, if that. I had to hit my brakes as it surprised the hell out of me when he zipped in front of me. I had visions of spinning out and barrel rolling down I-94. The sad thing was that the car's license plate was from Wisconsin.

As much as I dislike Minnesota, I have to say that I prefer driving around Minneapolis much more than Chicago.  I seriously don't know if I could live in northern Illinois just due to the traffic alone.  I also thought the tolls were ridiculous.  It has been a long time since I have driven to Illinois, on the tollway.  I am not exactly sure what I paid the last time I drove it, I want to say it was 70 or 80 cents.  Maybe I am thinking of the Florida tolls.  But either way, it was $2.80 at the first toll booth, and $1.90 at the second one.  WOW!  That is not what I was expecting.  However I do have to say, the road was very flat and drivable.  Again, not like a remember.  So I guess the $2.80 helps pay for the quality of the road.  I do remember there being a lot of construction there a few years ago. 

I think it will be a while before I head back down to Chicago, and if I do, I am going to plan out the route so I don't need to take the tollway.

First Trip to Ikea

I took off today because I didn't know if we'd be able to do anything with Sarah for her birthday, So I thought I'd take off on Friday too so that either way I'd have a day so that we could do something fun with Sarah.  The girls had appointments for haircuts but afterward, we were free for the entire day.  Kris had mentioned something about wanting to look for some new shelves for Alison's room and that Ikea had the kind she wanted.  Well the closest Ikea is in Schaumberg, IL.  But since we didn't have anything else planned for the day and there was nothing on the schedule for the night, I figured we would drive down and take a look.

I have never been to an Ikea before, and was curious to see why everyone finds it so appealing.  I had planned out the timing of things so we would miss any sort of rush hour traffic in both directions.  But we got a little late start so we got into a little bit of heavy traffic on the way down.  Ikea itself was quite a store.  In fact, it was HUGE!  A bit overwhelming in fact.  But we got the hang of things going up to the top floor and working our way around and down. We found the shelves we wanted and they were very reasonably priced.  Cheaper than what I was expecting based on the hype around the store.  I'll give them a shot and if they look ok and go up easily, I might just change Sarah's shelves too. 

Alison also found a small lamp for her room.  We are thinking of changing her room around a little bit to make it a little more functional for doing her homework, so once we get that figured out, we'll have a desk to put the lamp on, but for now Ali is going to keep it on the chest next to her bed. 

So in all, not a bad trip.  I just wish there was a store closer than northern Illinois.  I have heard rumors that Ikea is trying to get a store in SE WI, but nothing yet.

Shopping Trip

As noted, we took Sarah out to the Johnson Creek outlet mall to do some clothes shopping.  In particular, she was looking for something to wear for her school picture.  Alison wanted to bring some of her birthday money and look for a couple of things too. 

Sarah actually found a bunch of cute things, though I just mostly stood around wandering aimlessly through the stores.  A man on a clothes shopping trip with a bunch of women is about as useless as the white crayon.

Kris and I tried to look for a few things ourselves, but we just weren't really in the mood.  I did see a couple of jackets at the Columbia outlet and I do need a new winter coat, so I made a mental note of them and maybe I'll go back.

At Aeropostale, I was checking out with Alison while Sarah finished trying on some things and the sales girl looked at me and said "my dad would have never gone clothes shopping with me".  I just laughed.  I think she saw the tortured look on my face and how I just sort of walked around without purpose while Kris was helping with finding things and making sure outfits matched.

Once we got home, we lit the candles on Sarah's cake.  Kris made her a chocolate cake with Reese's peanut butter cups.  It was the same cake she had last year, but she asked for it, so it must have been good.  I thing Sarah must have eaten over half of it last year.  Then again, it was her cake.

In the end, the girls both got some things that they liked and Sarah ended up having a very happy birthday.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to Sarah today.  She turns 14.  We didn't get her anything in particular this year, except for the Happy Birthday music box, and some Taylor Swift perfume.  We are going shopping with her today, since she is at the age where she doesn't really want anything in particular, but would rather go shopping for clothes.  So the plan is to head out the Johnson Creek Outlet Mall and she if she can find anything she likes.  Reports to be posted later tonight after we get home.

Girl Scout Camp

I have been busy this summer, so I completely forgot to write about the girls and their time at girl scout camp this year.  It is one of the few things the girls look forward to every year, though for the life of me I can't understand why.  It's hot & dusty (especially this year) and long.  They do stuff from they time they get there in the morning until the time they leave.

This year Alison got to overnight for the first time and she loved it.  And the day I went they had a lot of fun activities to do.  I learned how to do lacings, I watched them learn how to do geocaching and learn how to use a GPS, and they practiced for the closing flag ceremony.  The day I went, Alison also got a certificate for getting a bullseye in archery, and they had a new raft out in the swimming pond.  Swimming, I think, was the favorite activity of the day because of the heat, and I guess I really couldn't blame the girls, because it was hot.  Very hot.  Because off cheerleading practice on the day I was there, we got to leave early, meaning I didn't have to take the bus, which was a bonus, because I don't know how well I would have handled a busload of screaming little girls, even though it was only about an 18 mile drive.

Sarah was doing badge workshops like she does every year, and the camp director made a point of telling me what a wonderful job Sarah does with the girls and how she runs her workshop.  I'm just happy she still enjoys doing it.

Ten Years Ago Today

It hardly seems that long ago, but ten years ago today my baby was born.  It is just a blink of an eye.

We gave Alison her presents shortly after she got up, and she was very happy at what she got.  I think that her favorite thing that she got was a karaoke machine and an extra microphone (because she loves to sing along with her music).  I also went out early before she got up to get The Lorax, which was released on DVD today.  And as always, she got a music that plays Happy Birthday. I have to say it is getting harder and harder to find new, unique music boxes that play Happy Birthday.

Afterward, Ali wanted to go the the Milwaukee Art Museum.  It is something that both Kris and I wanted to do ever since they opened the Calatrava addition, we just never got around to doing it.

Alison had a field trip there this past spring and she was excited to show us all of her favorite things.  There was also an exhibit called "The Posters of Paris".  I also thought it was a very interesting exhibit.  This piece was made for pins.  Every shape is made from hundreds and thousands of pins with the shapes being made from the heads.

 
After a couple of hours looking at paintings and sculptures Ali was tuckered out so then we went to the Milwaukee Public Market for lunch, which was also a place that Ali wanted to go.

When we were done we got in the car and I had to go around the block in order to get around the one way streets and get headed going north.  While we did, we had a celebrity sighting, Tommy Shaw of the band Styx.  If we had stayed where we were sitting when we had lunch, he would have walked right past us.

That was about it for Ali's day, except for going shoe shopping when we got home.  Ali wanted a couple of pairs of shoes (Converse Chuck Taylors and a pair of casual, boat shoes).  But we had a heck of a time finding a pair in the styles she wanted, let alone a size to fit.  We didn't get back from shopping until about 6:30 or so.  And then I had to fire up the grill for dinner because she wanted to make burgers and hot dogs on the grill.

Finally, it was time for Ali to blow out her candles.  This year, Alison didn't want a cake.  Instead, she asked for a birthday cookie.  It was hard to get the candles to stand on it because it was a flat cookie, but I managed to do it.

So all in all, Alison had a very good birthday I think.  She was a little tired from running around, plus I had to go to work in the morning, so we put off watching The Lorax until tomorrow.  I looked it up on IMDB and it only got a 6.4 rating, so I can't wait to see how they butchered this story.

Summer Repairs

Yesterday while we were out running around I had to stop at the local home improvement store to look for supplies to resurface my driveway (as I do every year).  After cutting the grass yesterday and blowing the clippings off the pavement, I noticed just how hard the heat has been on the driveway this summer.  Last year I filled in a bunch of the cracks and holes with a trowelable patch mix, and then resurfaced over it.  This year because of the heat, the cracks have opened up due to the expanding pavement and all the stuff I used to fill the cracks has fallen out.  It has been a very rough year because of the heat.  No rain for the grass, the driveway falling apart, and the ground so dry it has cracked and pulled away from the garage foundation, opening holes and gaps under the concrete.

So now I'll be spending the next couple of weekends cleaning all the dirt and old patch mix out of the cracks and replacing it.  Hopefully I'll be able to get it done in a couple of days and it'll last more than a year this time around.