fun with the Clark boys.

fall chores.

Two Yards and a Cloud of Dust

Cullen took his first steps towards Gridiron Great in his inaugural year of BGC Flag Football.  Grandpa Mark anointed himself the nickname "Flyer" back in his playing days, so we referred to Cullen as "Little Flyer."  Cullen was the youngest kid on the team and it took him a couple games to catch on.  His first two carries he took the handoff and sprinted straight out of bounds.   But with the help of some of his older teammates and alot of practice (after every game he would ask to go home and practice) he began living up to the nickname.  Cullen ended up scoring a few TDs, had some great runs, pulled a bunch of flags.  However, the best part was seeing the excitement on his face no matter what happened.  Whether he was jawing with kids on the other team, this part was hilarious, 5, 6 and 7 year olds giving each other earfuls.  Whether he was blocking. Whether he was fumbling.  He was always smiling, skipping, or cheering.  The best story that demonstrates this was during the second game.  Cullen took a handoff and fumbled.  The other team recovered and ran the ball into the endzone. Cullen's team huddled up and then broke away, he came out of the huddle skipping with his hands in the air, screaming "We are running the exact same play, We're running the exact same play."  It was just classic.  Needless to say the next play didn't go to far.  It was a fun and memorable season and Cullen is already talking about next year.

Oktoberfest.

We enjoyed this years Oktoberfest with a family-friendly parade party - followed by an adult night out at the fest grounds (thanks Mimi and Bobby).  The kids loved the parade, the bands, the candy and hanging out with their pals.  Dirk and I also celebrated our anniversary - 12 years ago at Oktoberfest we got together and have been inseparable ever since!

pizza party.

What do you do when you have to pinch hit for dinner?   Have the kids make their own english muffin pizzas - complete with veggies, meat, cheese and sauce.

Apple Orchard Field Trips

I was lucky enough to take 2 mornings off and accompany Cullen and Simone's classes on a field trip to Ferguson's apple orchard.  It's a great outing for the little kids.  Farmer Tom takes everyone on a tractor ride, teaches the kids a bit about apple trees and then urges everyone to find the perfect apple!

Go Bucky!!!

Note to self:  95 degree heat for a badger game can cause serious toddler melt-downs.   Now that we know that fact we will never go to another UW football game during a serious heat-wave!  

The morning of the game, we arrived at Union South for the pep rally around 9:15 am.  This part of the day was awesome.  There was a live band, bounce houses, games, a Bloody Mary bar, a huge Bucky balloon and cotton candy.  At 10 am, the UW marching band and cheerleaders arrived to pump up the crowd.  It was a great time for kids of all ages!  But when game time arrived, the heat index kept climbing and it felt like 100 degrees (with no air circulation) inside the stadium.  The kids were hot, tired, whiney and crying for most of the 1st quarter.  We were forced to make the executive decision to call it good and embark on our 2 hour car ride home (translation:  2 hour nap time).  If you ask Cullen and Simone, they had a great time and loved seeing Bucky.  As we were walking into the stadium, a rowdy college kid pointed to Cullen and yelled "future Badger!".  I think it actually brought a tear to Dirk's eye!