Chicago Trip Recap - Gonzaga vs Illinois

My buddy Nathan and I have made a tradition out of taking an annual trip to see the Zags whenever they visit the Midwest.  We've seen them in Memphis a couple times, Indianapolis, and they even played SLU once here in St. Louis.  But this time, we went to Chicago to see our beloved Bulldogs exact revenge on the Illini for an ill-gotten beatdown we suffered at their hands back in ...oh... about 2006. 

With Nana and Papa in town for a few days to celebrate Christmas with us, the trip morphed into a father/son event.  To maximize his quality time with Bennett, we flew back and forth for this trip, whereas we normally pile in a car for these adventures.  We got into Chicago on a Friday evening and hopped the "L" right downtown where we exited the subway a half-block from the ESPN Zone where we all met up.  Thankfully, we didn't have to walk far, as temps were in the single digits.

Immediately, games ensued.

I love those pictures of us shooting hoops.  It's not every day that a guy gets to shoot hoops with his dad at our ages.

After a short wait, we were called to our table.  We all enjoyed dinner and a couple pints while telling stories and rehashing memories of past Zag-trip shennanigans.

Dad and I got to crash at Aunt Kris' condo for the night.  Thank you, Kris.  What an incredible view.  And not only that, but she graciously offered us a ride to the United Center so we wouldn't have to walk to the subway, and spend an hour being frigid while transferring trains and walking to the arena.  She took us on a quick tour and pointed out some of Chicago's coolest features to my dad, who had only ever seen Midway airport before.

Once inside, we mingled with the GU Alumni group for a bit, and then found our seats and anxiously waited for the action to begin.

The game and the atmophere were electric that day.  I've never seen so much orange!  The Zags pulled out a huge win in the form of an overtime thriller.  Our seats were with lots of other Gonzaga fans, so it was fun to commiserate and celebrate with them druing and after the game.

After the game, we followed Nathan's lead - he has a nose for autographs - and looked to catch a few players.  Legit 7-footer, Robert Sacre, stands next to Nathan in the picture below.  Nathan is already standing on a step, and RS is still hunching over a little!

Below is a perturbed Bruce Weber.  Poor guy.

And also, there's Zag-fan Stephen Bardo, giving us the thumbs up because he knows the Zags are "the best in the West."

That wraps up another installment of the Annual Midwest Zag Game adventure.

The First Ever Frozen Face Marathon

I went to a SLUG (St. Louis Ultrarunners Group) meeting this morning at Queeny Park, but I wanted to run before it started because it only seemed fitting.  My buddy John planned to meet me at 7 to get started, but he got there early... just like me... so we hit the trail at about 6:30AM.  The thermometer in my car read 3F.  There was also a steady 15mph wind all day.  We got started, and simply didn't stop until we had covered a little more than a marathon... just in time for the meeting!  We covered 26.6mi in 4:07.

Needless to say, there was some coldness going on.  Our face masks became solid blocks of ice.  And our jackets, once they absorbed some sweat, became shells of ice.  They lost their ability to "breath" or "wick" about 20 minutes into the adventure.  It DID block the wind though.  Ice is good at that.  As long as I kept moving at a good clip, my Under Armor base layer kept me warm enough under my ice-coat.  I had some trouble talking at the end of that video clip because there wasn't much feeling left in my jaw and lips.  So no making fun of that.

To keep me moving, I ate 2 Gu gels, 6 Fig Newtons, a handful of chocolate covered espresso beans, a few Teddy Grahams, and a decent amount of water.

For my next trick, I'll probably rest like it's going out of style.

Snow Day!

We got 3 or 4 inches of snow the other night, and it has just been bitterly cold! Meredith was nice enough to come over to play in the snow with Bennett so I didn't have to go out.  They had a lot of fun, but it got pretty windy, and Bennett didn't like the snow blowing into her face (can't say I blame her!).  Below you can find a picture of the two of them before they went out, and a little video of them enjoying the snow day.  

Christmas, Part 4

You thought, three parts of Christmas is plenty, right? Nope! It keeps going! December 30 through this morning, Brandon's parents came to visit and celebrate Christmas with us.  While they were here, Brandon and Wayne left for a little over 24 hours to go up to Chicago for the Gonzaga/Illinois basketball game.  While they were gone, Lorie and I got to do some shopping and we went to see It's Complicated.  Bennett had so much fun playing with both Nana and Papa! In fact, she wouldn't really let Brandon or me do anything for her while they were here.  Nana or Papa had to do it! They slept down in the basement, and as soon as Bennett woke up in the morning, she ran right downstairs to wake up Papa so he could play with her! We had a great time and opened even more gifts! Bennett just played and played with her new Little People castle from Nana and Papa and all of its accessories from Aunt Erin and Uncle Jake.  She truly LOVES it! Also, Wayne was able to accomplish some big projects around our house that I'm so excited about! He fixed my dryer which wasn't drying properly, he repaired a broken pocket door going into our kitchen that was hanging crooked, and the one I was most excited about, was that he drilled a hole through our floor and connected our ice maker on our freezer!! After having the feature for years, it finally actually makes ice! HOORAY!!  They left this morning, so now it is time to finally take down the Christmas decorations and start really thinking about this baby coming in just a few weeks! It's hard to believe that he will be considered "full term" this Saturday, and he could come at any time! 

Bennett and Nana playing with her new castle

Bennett loves Nana!

Snuggling on the couch with Papa

Not the greatest picture, but Bennett and Papa even braved the extreme cold to go play outside and jump in leaves for a little while!

Christmas, Part 3

The 26th was a break from Christmas festivities.  However, that night I had my 10 year high school reunion.  I was so excited that Courtney and Stephanie were in town for it! We went out to dinner with a few friends first, and then Brandon and Tim were exempt from attending the reunion, and they got to hang out and catch up at J Buck's while the rest of us went to the reunion.  It was fun to see some people that I truly hadn't seen in 10 years! I was disappointed, though, because again our little camera was acting up and saying the battery was dead even though I had charged it all day.  I did manage to get 1 picture at dinner before it stopped working.  I'll have to get some more from Courtney and Stephanie.  

Courtney, Mary Anne, Julie, Stephanie and me at dinner before the reunion

On the 27th, we headed up to Aunt Leola and Jim's house for the Reed Christmas celebration.  We really had a great time seeing everyone. Aunt Leola came up with a fun game for us all to play, we had a delicious feast, then we all opened presents and then enjoyed some laughs during the White Elephant gift exchange.

Bennett and GUS having a "heart-to-heart"

Cousin Sam had Bennett's name, and he gave her some great farm-themed gifts.  The Legos were a big hit!!

Great Uncle Tom gave Bennett an adorable rocking chair and giant bear to go with it! Thanks!!

Bennett and I enjoyed reading one of her new books

Brandon and Josh with their new shirts showing some "hostility" toward each other. (Don't worry, Gonzaga ended up winning the battle!) 

Uncle Jeff seemed to like his new "grill master" apron from us.

Brandon and Bennett both enjoyed a little "quiet time" after the present opening was finished.  

Christmas, part 2

I forgot to mention that we woke up to it snowing on Christmas morning, which was really fun! We only got about an inch, but it was beautiful and much better than the rain we had on Christmas Eve, and it was very beautiful.  After we finished opening gifts at home, we went over to my Mom and Dad's house to celebrate with them.  Meredith made some delicious coffee cake, and we went to town opening some more presents!

Bennett really loved her baby boy doll and had to bring it with her to show everyone!

We really made Pa work to get into his gift...new mats for his Jeep!

Merry Christmas, Aunt Murph!

Thanks for the fun presents, Grandma Joje!

Later in the afternoon on Christmas Day, the Rulls all came over to Mom and Dad's to celebrate Christmas.  

Ann, Grace and Bennett watched while Brandon worked on building Bennett's new Playmobile castle

Everyone enjoyed reminiscing while looking through the Shutterfly book that mom made for Grandma...  

We did get Bennett to nap in her "big girl bed" at Grandma's house (AKA my old bed!).  After her nap, she enjoyed reading a Christmas story with Great-Grandma Rull...

Christmas, part 1

Bennett finally opened her last present yesterday.  My decorations are still all up, but I'm going to work on those today.  Christmas is officially over.  I'm going to try to go back and recap Christmas in a few different entries.  So here goes! 

Christmas Eve: We went to Mass and had our traditional dinner at Algonquin with the Tessiers, Auffenbergs and McCuskers.  Bennett decided not to nap that day, so we were really worried about her making it through dinner.  We decided to take an extra-long drive to Church, and she ended up falling asleep in the car, and slept through the first 40 minutes of Mass, which rejuvenated her quite nicely and she was a very good girl all night.  Our camera battery died at Algonquin, so I will have to get Christmas Eve pics from Grandma Joje, but here is a picture of Bennett in the car on the way to dinner in her cute hat and coat...

Christmas morning: First we woke up and Santa had come to our house! After we opened stockings, Bennett immediately saw her new nursery center which was a big hit! It was a little difficult to get her interested in opening her other gifts because she was so enthralled with it.  Eventually she got going and loved it all.  Santa was good to her this year!

Bennett and her new "baby boy" doll

Putting the baby to bed in her new nursery center. 

tearing into some more gifts...

Merry Christmas, Daddy! Thanks for the fun water bottle!

Trying on some of her new princess costumes...here's Ariel!

...and Snow White!