What a frustrating day on Monday. It started out good from the weekend high, then a complaint about the rink, then the girls being super good at home after school/daycare, then Michelle gets an email about our vaca house in NC got sold and is no longer available.

Breaking out the Easter decorations.

Ok, so I took picture from the Gazette, but it's all the talk around town. Latest estimate is there is a 69% chance of flooding again this year. 2008 was around 19%. Yikes!

Katy's got some regular summer teeth going on. Summer here, summer there. Ha!

Too bad there's isn't a market for these things.

Bubble wrap. The funnest piece of garbage money can buy.

Hey, Katy is the same number as DJ Richardson, the Big Ten's Freshman of the Year. Coincidence?

Ahh, the last Friday home game for Iowa. No more 1:00 am closing times for me until next fall!

Molly about to jump in the deep end on the last day of lessons.

Hey, what did he ever do to you?

Tuesday

Celebrating another Illini win! Of course I let them stay up past their bedtime. It's not every day your team wins at Wisconsin. Oh wait, Illinois seems to do it quite often.

It's time for school Valentines!

Friday

A quiet, empty house all to myself for the weekend. Man, I'm lonely.

Ok, another pic from last nights game. Wayne Larrivee in the house. A cool guy who gave me a couple of minutes of his time to chit-chat.

The Orange Krush in full effect at Iowa. Pretty awesome. It doesn't look like that many, but 160 strong!

The angry dragon finally sleeps.

Mmm, spaghetti night.

It was cold at Culvers so we warmed up with a little ice cream!

Saturday

I seem to be a day behind.

Katy playing excellent D.

Friday times 2

Sorry I didn't post any pics the past two days. Long hours at the rink with synchro teams practicing from 5am to 11pm both days. I didn't get any on Thursday, so I'll use two from Friday.

The University of Illinois synchro team stopped by for practice. If they don't win, it's just another example of the man trying to keep a brother down.

But one of them spilled their coffee as they were leaving.

I found my old Nolan Ryan jersey in the closet. Molly must not be an American League fan.

Molly's first dentist appointment today. No crying so it's was a win for everybody.

Katy lost a tooth today!

The insanity of Sunday morning.

Molly getting ready for a mean game of memory, baseball version of course.

Ice Arena employee Scott Jensen kissing the newly installed rubber floor in the home hockey box at the Coral Ridge Ice Arena

Project 365 (well how about 345?)

I saw something on a different blog about a project they did. They took a picture everyday for a year. It looked interesting and fun so I thought I'd give it a try. Sort of a peak into the lives of the Garrisons. And it begins....

Some of the wood trim I'm staining on our living room project. I'm almost done.

All growed up

Oh Molly,

How did you grow up so fast? Sledding used to be our thing now you just want to do it by yourself. A sad and happy day all rolled into one. Sad that I don't get to sled with you anymore. Happy that I don't have to walk up the hill anymore.

A girl after my own heart

The other day, Michelle and I were discussing groceries and eating out and spending money. I made some comment about how I don't like to spend money, things are too expensive, etc. when all of a sudden Katy chimes in "I don't drink juice at school because it costs money." Which is true, getting juice instead of milk at lunch costs an extra 30 cents. She's turning into a little mini-me. Of course she has a little bit of Michelle in her too. I guess she justifies getting an extra milk (which costs 40 cents) because she just saved 30. It's a start.

Good news comes in 3's

You know how they always say bad news comes in 3's? Well, I don't believe that, but I do think that good news comes in 3's. Yesterday had to be one of those days.

1. Illinois won. Granted it was over Iowa who probably won't win 3 games the rest of the year, but a win is a win.

2. The Cardinals and Matt Holliday came to terms on a 7 year deal. I don't see them losing a game all year.

3. I deposited my dependent care check for the week. Ok, this is a stretch as I get one of these every two weeks. But how do you explain that I just happened to drive past the bank and deposit it on the same day as these other two events? I can't other than that the Gods were looking down on me and smiling.

99.99% fun

Road trips with friends are one of those things that makes life a little more tolerable. I've been on a few, mostly good, some not so good. Yesterday was one of those good ones. It's hard for me to put it in that great category, but it's close.

Brian, Beau and I went to the Illinois/Gonzaga basketball game at the United Center where we met up with a good friend from High School, Bill Roth. We left at 6:00 am and made it to Chicago in record time. And when I say record time, I can't think of anytime I've gotten there faster. By 10:00 we were at the UC and that's after stopping for coffee at the oasis. So far, so good. The United Center is nice, clean and efficient. Really nothing spectacular and in all honestly, a little bland. Not that it's bad, it just wasn't what I was expecting. Well, I guess I didn't know what to expect. My stadium experiences extend to mostly baseball stadiums with a few college arena's sprinkled in. Maybe this is what professional arena's are like.


Anyway, the game started out very bad for Illinois. Down by 20 but battled back to within 8 by half. In the second half they took the lead, and I think at one point were up by 8. It was nice to be surrounded by orange after being subjected to black & gold for so long. Things got tight down the stretch and Illinois ended up losing in overtime by 2. That's where the the .01% of non-fun time comes in. Gonzaga made the go ahead basket with about 11 seconds left and Illinois couldn't answer. Game over.

After the game we ate at Harry Caray's. Decent food, but again, the traffic was a non-issue. We even got a parking space right in front. Unbelievable. Drive home went good and back in Cedar Rapids by 8:00. So, the entire trip lasted 14 hours, 13 hours, 49 seconds of it enjoyable. 11 seconds is all that separated this from being a good trip into a great trip. Oh well, maybe next time.