Celebrating our 2024 State Basketball Champions!

We parents organized a community celebration event for our State Champion Basketball Team and it was a great afternoon of celebration!  

We invited the previous State Championship teams to join us and Dad pulled out a lot of great memorabilia from those seasons in 1987 and 1994.  We all enjoyed looking through the pictures, articles and stats.

We had the semi-final game against Beloit showing on the big screen as people arrived.  It was great catching up with so many community members and alumni as we re-lived the excitement of this game.

 There were some legendary coaches in attendance.

When it was time to start, the lights went out and the players were announced one-by-one to the sound of "Sirius," just like the Bulls.

Then Brad Burkdoll, our AD, welcomed everyone and recapped some of the highlights of the season.  The coaches followed Mr. Burkdoll with a few words about the boys and their run for the State Title.

Next on the program included talks from the 1987 team and the 1994 team.  It was awesome that so many were able to make it.

Then Dad and Rut talked (as they coached the first 2 State Champ teams), and Calvin and Willie talked about their experience as seniors on this year's team.  Pretty cool I got to listen to both my dad and my son speak during this celebration!

The the lights went out again and we showed the "One Shining Moment" video.

The celebration concluded with the team autographing posters for their fans. The line was long and I think the boys' hands were cramping up a bit by the end!  I was thankful that Kristel was able to print these high-quality posters at MinuteMan Press, where she works, for a great price.  They looked awesome!

Aunt Joy got little heart on hers :)

We got a group shot of State Champs, past and present, and a Senior Mom/Son picture.  I'm going to miss this group of boys SO MUCH.

It was an awesome afternoon reminiscing and sharing stories and celebrating the unforgettable season we just experienced. I'm so thankful for our community and the support they always give the kids!

(our new championship on our new sign looks great!)

Tax Day and Getaway 2024

 Tax Day actually fell on April 15 this year for the first time in forever. And I think my sweet husband probably was wishing for a few more days this time around. Oh well, he made it through, yet again! Per tradition, we went out to dinner as a family (except Violet, who was driving around with Grandpa Denny and Grandma Jo).  We tried out the Baldwin City Beer Company and it was great!

Why is Calvin wearing goggles at dinner, you ask? That's a very valid question and has a pretty good answer.  To have some fun as they finish out their high school career, the Senior Class is in the middle of a "Senior Assassin" game, in which all participants have an assassin and a target.  If you are wearing goggles, you can't be assassinated.  Therefore, goggles are part of the everyday attire these days.  Of course, if Jace had come around the corner with a water gun, Calvin would have had to get those goggles on his eyes to be effectively protected.  So we spent our dinner watching all around for any sign of Jace.

With that, I'll turn the rest of this post over to my sweet husband to tell you about our quick trip to Pittsburg for Post-Tax-Day-Getaway-#10. . .

Every romantic getaway should start in Iola for a a few hours of windy golf spectating, right?  Okay maybe not, but Beth and I were glad to see Oliver crush the competition on the way to our true destination for the night, Pittsburg, KS.

Why Pittsburg?  Beth and I prefer to ask, "Why not Pittsburg?"  

With that, we found ourselves a newly-renovated, downtown studio Airbnb apartment and were really impressed.  I think we were only the second people to stay here.

Directly across the street from our place was a really neat tribute to the mining history of southeast Kansas.  This early 1900s shovel is impressive, though not quite as big as the one on Big Brutus (as pictured below, the last time our family visited in 2016).

The memorial recalled mining accidents and paid tribute to those who toiled in the mines in the early days of the unsafe and unregulated industry.

I love our tradition of stopping by at least one cool old church.  This one was Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, located right next to St Mary's-Colgan High School.

In an attempt to put a little lipstick on a big giant pig, the state of Kansas has reclaimed many old strip mines and made them into the "mined land wildlife area," where people can camp and fish.  You've got to give the state an A for effort because these old strip mines weren't reclaimed by the mining companies back in the old days.

We hit the jackpot as right down the street from our place was a Thai restaurant.  It seems like Thai has become our go-to on these little getaways.

We woke up bright and early and found ourselves at the world's most efficient diner for breakfast.  We literally had our made-to-order meals in the time it takes to toast bread.  Nice work, Otto's Cafe.  I'm still laughing about it as I pepper my biscuits and gravy.

We made our way down to campus and one thing we didn't realize is that Pitt State has an exact replica of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington.  This is really a must-see for anyone passing through or visiting Pittsburg.

These folks in Pittsburg love gorillas.  They are everywhere.  Gorilla pictures.  Gorilla signs.  Gorilla statues.  The only thing missing was an actual gorilla.  I'm surprised they don't keep one caged as a live mascot at football games.

We even walked around "Gorilla Village."  

This is a neat little chapel right on campus.

We were able to sneak onto the football field and make ourselves at home.  Pitt State has one of the nation's best Division II football programs so it was pretty cool that we just got to wander around this state-of-the-art stadium.

Well there you have it.  Another tax day getaway in the books.  Pittsburg didn't disappoint and I knew it wouldn't because I've never been disappointed yet "getting away" with this gal.