Anna sang for her high school “Evening of Cabaret” the other evening. She was the opening act for a fund-raising concert of solos, duets, and group songs.
She sang the classic song from Showboat, “Can’t Help Loving That Man of Mine”. The lighting was a bit off due to the very bright spotlight. Nonetheless, enjoy…
The picture shown is actually during the 4th quarter of a 55-0 blowout loss to Oklahoma University. If you look close, there is almost nobody left in the stands. How ashamed I was of my fellow Wildcat fans.
We were down 35-0 at the half and quickly gave up an interception resulting in a quick touchdown as soon as the 3rd quarter started. We never looked good, but I never considered walking out on my team.
The team needed us there and most of the 50,000 turned away on them. How shameful.
Better luck next time, K-State. I’ll be right behind you.
We had a fabulous summer vacation this year – a trip out to Los Angeles and San Diego. Linda has been trying to get the family out to California for several years, but I’d been very resistant due to the time it would take to travel out there and tour the state. However, we finally agreed on flying out (instead of driving) and also visiting a couple cities, instead of all of them.
We flew in to Los Angeles about 10am and, after getting a surprisingly nice Chevy Cruze rental car, went directly downtown to the Grammy Museum next to the Staples Center. The girls were incredibly happy because there was a Taylor Swift exhibit with lots of her artifacts and dresses.
After touring the Grammy Museum, we drove over to Warner Brothers Studios for a tour around the lot. What a magnificent tour through back lots and stages – we could easily see many of our favorite TV shows and movies come to life as we gazed upon sets, streets, and stages.
The highlight of the tour was getting to see the stage where “The Ellen Degeneres Show” is filmed; Emily is such a fan of the show and had been hoping we’d be able to see it. The tour was coming to an end and we had not seen the anything in regards to the show. We had been told up front that some of the stages were filming and we’d not be able to go anywhere near them. I assumed this was the case, but the guide offered “one last stop, if nobody minds having the tour go a little long”. We all agreed and went in the back entrance through a seemingly nondescript doorway – and right on to the set of “The Ellen Degeneres Show” – Emily began to cry uncontrollably. We weren’t allowed to take any photographs inside, but we did get this one of Emily outside the studio.
Additionally, Linda wanted to make sure I got a photo with me and Bugs Bunny, one of my favorite childhood cartoon characters.
We finished the day off by going to the Hollywood Walk of Fame and searched out different stars on the sidewalk – finding the star for Ellen Degeneres, of course.
The second day in LA was filled with a tour around LA on a guided tour bus. This was perfect, because we parked the car and let someone else do the driving and explaining about all of the sights. We started at the Santa Monica Pier and then went to Venice Beach where we saw skateboarders and the famous Muscle Beach (but no one working out at 9am).
After walking around Venice Beach, we then made our way to Beverly Hills. We drove around a bit and saw some mansions and then walked along Rodeo Drive and did some window shopping. It really did feel like walking around The Plaza in Kansas City, but I know the prices were quite different.
After lunch, we drove up to the Griffith Observatory, which gave us a gorgeous view of the entire LA basin. Additionally, it gave us the best opportunity for a picture with the “Hollywood sign” in the background (look real carefully over Anna’s left shoulder).
We then finished the day of the tour back at the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the TCL (Grauman’s) Chinese Theatre.
Our 3rd day found us waking in Anaheim so we could be close to Disneyland. We arrived and parked with very little difficulty (what an amazing HUGE parking garage they have). The tram ride was easy and we were at the front gates within 15 minutes of arriving. After all the years of hearing about lines at Disneyland – we witnessed firsthand how awesome they really move and you don’t feel like you waited all that long.
The worst thing to happen was getting stuck on the “It’s a Small World” ride. We sat for about 15 minutes near the final exit – right in front of a blaring speaker – blasting “It’s a Small World” over and over and over and over and over and over…. (you get the idea).
The parades were awesome – especially the nighttime parade, but no iPhone picture was going to do it justice, so you’ll just have to view at the collage of the daytime parade.
We got our pictures with Tigger, Eyore, and Pooh. Linda’s been a Winnie the Pooh fan since early childhood.
The 4th day was one of leisurely travel down the coastal highway to San Diego. It was a Sunday morning, so we got up and went to Mass before striking out on a gorgeous day of travel with beautiful oceanside scenery. We stopped in Oceanside, California for a long lunch at a seaside restaurant.
We made our way to the hotel in San Diego and promptly fell asleep, waking in time to get some dinner. First half of the trip completed and a couple more days to go.
Much like our first full day in LA, we spent our first full day in San Diego on a tour of the city. We started with a tour of the harbor and then had a tour of the city via a tour bus. I didn’t really take any pictures of the city tour, but highlights were going through Little Italy and out to Coronado Island.
We ate a fabulous lunch in Little Italy. After the tour was over, we grabbed some fabulous Italian desserts from a deli and then walked down to the Ballast Point Brewery where we enjoyed appetizers and drinks.
Finally, we finished the night off at the Balboa Park free outdoor pipe organ concert.
Our final full day in San Diego was reserved for the San Diego Zoo and also the San Diego Safari Park. This was one full day walking around and enjoying the amazing exhibits at the famous zoo.
After finishing at the Zoo (just as a thunderstorm arrived), we travelled the 30 miles out to Escondido to see the Safari Park. This was an amazing tour (although hot and muggy after the rain went away). Riding the tour bus around this huge safari park suggested as to what it must be like to go on a safari in Africa. The animals are all co-mingled and running around together. Very cool.
After a long, hot day of walking (6.8 miles of walking according to my Apple Watch), we stopped off for one more round of refreshing drinks and appetizers at the Stone Brewing Co.
Our last bit of vacation in beautiful, sunny California was spent at the USS Midway Museum, right down on the harbor and just a few miles from the airport. This was a fabulous experience, getting to see how an aircraft carrier works and how the crew lived and functioned. There are lots of airplanes and helicopters, both inside the main hanger and up on the deck.
The best part for me was seeing the medical ward, ICU, OR, and dental clinic deep down in the bowels of the ship.
After our tour was over, we returned our trusty little Chevy Cruze and boarded the plane back to Kansas. California, it was awesome visiting and we look forward to coming back again!
After having a packed summer with little time for relaxation, the girls have returned to school. Anna is entering her Senior year and Emily is now a Junior.
They’ve already been busy with band and drill team, meeting just about every morning for 2 weeks before school started.
Here are the required “first day of school” pictures:
Additionally, since it’s Ann’a final year in high school, Linda pulled out the picture from first day of Kindergarten:
I can’t believe I didn’t post that we have a new Basset Hound added to the family.
We got Suzy Beatrice on May 31. Linda and I had been discussing a second dog for a while, but when you’ve only had one dog for a lifetime, it’s a bit weird to consider a second dog. However, we have several friends that have pointed out how awesome it was for the first dog to have a second dog as companion.
We found Suzy in Polo, Missouri – a small rural town northeast of Kansas City. We drove up and picked her from a litter of 6 other adorable Bassets. We were hoping for a tri-colored female – and she was the only one!
She has certainly become part of the family. Sally wasn’t quite sure what to think of her for a while, but they have become solid partners – although Suzy wants to play a lot more than Sally.
Behold the pictures of the cuteness of a Basset Hound puppy:
Often times, you can find Sally and Suzy napping together. Suzy doesn’t want to be far away from Sally.
I picked up running as an exercise option last fall, trying to find something different than the biking that I’d been doing. My sister (and her husband) and also Linda’s sister had been running for a couple years. I thought to myself, ‘if they can do it…”.
One must understand how much I’ve hated running throughout my entire life. Being made to run a mile in 5th grade made my side hurt with cramps every time. When I ran any time in middle or high school, the same thing happened and I was always at the back of the pack. I’ve never been fast and I have NEVER experienced a runners high.
Upon joining the Army, I was made to run a lot. Despite the multiple opportunities to get better at running, I never found any joy and actually came close to despising the exercise. The only thing I hated more were the pushups that were also required. One of my driving reasons for leaving the military was having physical exercise (including the running) as part of my job requirement (as a nurse). To put it plainly – I hated running. The only time (and last time) that I ran since then was about 15 years ago when I ran a bit for exercise during medical school.
Back in the fall, I decided I needed to do something about my weight as I had slowly gained back all the weight I’d lost back in 2010. After losing almost 35 pounds, I’d gained it all back by enjoying my food and craft beer. Biking did it’s best to keep my weight in check, but it wasn’t providing the needed kick to get the calories burned and help convince me to drop extra calories. I began to run a couple miles on the treadmill at the gym. This was a good beginning.
I started using a few apps on my phone to start tracking everything I did. I used MyFitnessPal to track my calories and RunKeeper to track my runs. When February came around and the Bill Snyder Highway Half Marathon was announced, I quickly made the decision to run the race. I’ve never run a 5K or a 10K or anything close to it. I used the RunKeeper app to create a training plan.
I ran alternating 3 and 4 mile runs with increasing distances each week. Eventually I was up to 12 miles, but quickly found my left knee a bit sore. As I would get to distances past about 5 or 6 miles, I had a hot-poker pain in my left knee every time my left foot struck the ground. If I stopped and walked, the pain would almost go away; but resuming the run would recreate the pain. As a physician, I had no real answer as to why this was the case. I chose to rest the knee as much as I could and take it easy on the runs to prevent extra stress on the knee.
The rehabilitation and rest seemed to work as I was able to do the race this past week.
Linda and I celebrated our 22nd anniversary on May 22 last week. We went to Manhattan the night before the race to pick up the race packet. We also enjoyed our anniversary with a nice dinner at Bourbon & Baker. We stayed at one of the new hotels built in the downtown area; it was a gorgeous place and amazingly comfortable.
Because we were being bussed to the starting line in the morning, I was in bed by 9:30pm; unfortunately, I tossed and turned all night. I even had weird dreams that the race was really a front for a drug cartel and the race was not happening – all that training for nothing. I eventually woke early at 4:45am and was out the door by 5:15am.
I met a line of school buses at the Bill Snyder Family Stadium. They were there to bus the 1,008 participants out to the start line near I-70 on Highway 177 (The Bill Snyder Highway).
Once out at the start point (at 6am for a 7am start), we stood around trying to stay warm in a 55-degree morning with a brisk southerly breeze. I stood there shivering, thinking of all of the energy I was wasting by shivering. I met up with several friends from high school and enjoyed catching up while discussing all of our training that we’d done.
The race started with the first 8 miles running along Highway 177, over the viaduct and into town. The first 8 miles is essentially all downhill with the slightest elevation at one point. Around mile 6, there is a long downhill that lasts almost a mile. My average pace of 10:00/mile was quickly improved while running 8:11/mile going down the downhill.
Linda brought her bike so that she could jump around to see me at different spots along the race route. She was able to meet me at mile 8 (where I was able to dump off my jacket with her).
After getting around the mall and turning on Poyntz Ave, it was nice to finally be in town and no longer out on the highway. It felt like I was almost done, but I still had 5 miles to go. Fortunately, the knee was feeling really good.
There were water spots every 2 miles or so and also GU available every 4 miles or so. I had been a bit worried about my hydration status along the race (especially since I’ve never experienced this), but the water spots were perfect. It’s a bit hard trying to drink from a cup while running; I eventually started to walk briskly through these spots to get the water and Gatorade down (and not wear it on my face).
After running through downtown on Poyntz, we ran around City Park and then down Moro in Aggieville. There were supporters all along the route with signs and clapping. Best sign I saw: “Worst Parade Ever”. I honestly laughed out loud.
After passing through Aggieville, we crossed in to campus and ran through Kansas State University and then into the Jardine area next to the stadium. Once I could see the stadium, I felt amazing and really felt like I might be able to get the race done around the 2-hour mark. My goal was to have it done within 2 hours and 30 minutes. However, despite being able to see the stadium, I still had about 2 miles to run (or almost another 20 minutes).
Linda was waiting for me as I entered the parking lot at the stadium (with another 0.75 miles to go). It was at that point that I knew I was going to make it. I picked up the pace and put it all out there!
Click HERE for a video of me crossing the finish line.
Brian Schottler is one of my high school friends that had been training alongside me for this race (via RunKeeper app only). He finished a bit quicker than me, but was there with high-fives and a big smile!
Looking forward to more running – because I love running now and I’m hooked!
By the way – I lost the 35 pounds that I wanted.
Linda had the spring piano recital for her studio this past weekend. It’s so entertaining watching and hearing how all of the students have progressed from one year to another. Anna and Emily used to be the little kids that played the simple songs at the beginning of the recital. Now, they are two of the older students that are playing some big pieces.
Enjoy listening to Anna (Chopin Waltz in A Minor) and Emily (Schumann Traumerei) play.
I know it’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything. It’s been a lot like delaying writing a letter to someone, but the delay gets even longer because you’re ashamed you’ve taken so long to do so. In fact, I’m embarrassed that it seems every few months I need to post a “sorry I haven’t posted in a while” post.
I have lots of stuff to share from violin, flute, and piano performances. We went on a great vacation that at least needs pictures posted. Also, I’ve been training for a half-marathon that I’d like to discuss.
Now that I broke the silence, this will hopefully get me back here soon. Keep watching!
Anna has been taking voice lessons for the past few years from Catherine Boone, a voice teacher that attends our church. Catherine also teaches a lot of the high school singers up at Anna’s high school. As a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, she is able to enter her students in the regional auditions where the students can sing for judges.
This was the first year that Anna participated in NATS; she’s sung in other events, but never in NATS. The other events just had her singing her piece in front of a couple judges – nothing unusual. However, this time she specifically sang show pieces and lyrical pieces for different judges. Linda, as usual, accompanied. Enjoy the following four pieces that Anna sang.
Till There Was You (Music Man) by Meredith Wilson
I Have Confidence (The Sound of Music) by Richard Rodgers
O Come, O Come, My Dearest by Thomas Arne
Nel cor piú non mi sento by Giovanni Paisiello
After dinner at the home of Dave & Kaela Culkin