No fires or blood yet as YBHA IV hits halftime

Amy holds Noah and Levi prior to her departure.

Hard to believe we are almost half-way through the 4th installment of the Yeager Boys Home Alone. Here’s a little recap on what YBHA means (YBHA1). It is a fun distraction as I also get ready for the 4A championship game in Cedar Falls on Friday night.

This week, Amy has returned to Holland for more work. We’re just hoping there’s no volcano to delay this return home.

We are in the middle this week. Let’s get caught up on what’s happened so far.

We did the Saturday drop-off this weekend to begin the YBHA4.

Before Amy left, we did the ceremonial picture of her and the boys. The only time we didn’t take this sort of picture, Amy decided she wanted to drive 19 hours from Holland to Madrid.

The cleaner, the player and the ping-pong paddler.

Following the Des Moines International Airport, we headed for Aunt Kris‘ house. Maddox was ready to see Levi. Or Wee-vi as he calls him. Maddox only knows Levi, he wasn’t sure on what Noah‘s name was. Mad-dog will be 2 on Thanksgiving, so he and the 1 year-old, Levi, didn’t really play well together. They are still working those issues out.

But when they did invade the basement, Levi was entertained with a broom while Noah and Maddox tried to play ping-pong. Toys R Us will not using these boys for their next commercial.

Maddox, Noah and Levi are pretty worn out after an evening of playtime.

Noah was very interested in the ping-pong table and wanted to play that all night. Noah is just practicing for Thanksgiving when we’ll be back at Kris and Brian’s for a wonderful holiday experience.

 

Following the playing, the boys were tired. Actually, that’s as close as I came to getting them to pose together for a picture.

Maybe in year.

Ok, who am I kidding. They likely won’t sit still for a photo until they graduate high school.

Grandma Honey, Noah, Levi, Farmer Papa survived the night together.

Sunday brought the Jesup cavalry. Grandma Honey and Farmer Papa helped watch the boys as I had a call committee meeting. Noah just had a simple instruction, not to listen to anything Grandpa Fish had to say. Easier said that done, but my father loves kids this age, he can just tease them and get them all riled up and it is quite enjoyable to watch.

Monday put us back into preschool and day care. No big surprises there. I just needed Grandma Paula and Grandpa Wil to be on stand by as I had to go to Jefferson to talk to their Rotary. I also snuck in a quick trip to see Aunt Lynda and Barb and Uncle Harold and also my cousin Laura.

Tuesday morning was a little different as Wil and Paula got the boys to school so I could get to West Des Moines by 7a for another IPTV speaking engagement. That will hopefully be the last of the excitement.

We did make it to Kindermusik tonight without many issues. Levi was getting tired and just wanted to go home and go to bed. Hopefully he stays asleep all night.

Now time to get ready for Dowling and City High…

Curtain closes on YBHA II – Thank Goodness

Reunited

The epic that included tours through 5 European countries finally closes after a 13-day run.

Amy’s European Adventure ended Thursday afternoon with her airplane touching down just after 1230p in Moline at the Quad City International Airport.

Her journey was a wild one that I’ve documented here. I’ll do a recap on another day, but a little bit on the end of this adventure.

Amy started the day in Spain, flying on the Deere corporate jet with a direct flight. Some 250 Deere employees were stranded by the volcano is Iceland in various places.

Amy’s boss Gary and other travel companion left Thursday as well on a commercial flight that went from Madrid to Washington, D.C., and then to Chicago and Des Moines. So, they were going to have a long day.

Touchdown in Moline. Photo by Michael Graham.

Amy landed in Moline and Chef Mike became chauffeur Mike. The best friend a guy could have, drove from Iowa City to Moline to pick up Amy. Huge thanks to him. He even played photographer for the moment, capturing this picture of plane taxiing into the hanger.

The wife of one of the pilot’s was stuck in Europe. She too, was stuck with the KWQC-TV6 viewer trip to France.

So, Noah’s birthday party will happen on Sunday. We will be going to the Kindermusik family fun night and all sorts of other stuff together.

Again, thank you all for the concerns, thoughts and prayers about Amy’s travel. Her story was just one of the many. We gave a ride back to DM to someone from another DM area Deere facility. He had been in India. Got a flight to Italy, couldn’t get off the plane because there was no hotel rooms, eventually landed in Germany. Then to get to Madrid to catch a plane, he and almost 2 dozen others rode on a bus for 22 hours. He was glad to be home.

Thank you again for thinking of us in our situation.

Day 12 – Awaiting Confirmation

I hope by the time I write again to you here, Amy will be fast asleep after a big day of traveling. There’s a good chance she will be on a plane by the time I wake up Thursday morning. Today Amy, Robert and Gary made the trip from France to Spain with hopes of flying back to the states today.

Levi is at attention to see his Mommy again.

It has meant a lot to receive all your wonderful comments about our family and Amy’s trip adventure. I don’t think she fully realizes how many people are hoping for a safe return and happy ending. Thank you so much.

We’ve also had some great help from everyone making these last 12 days go so well. Also, thanks to Levi for sleeping through the night last night. That is always a winner, winner chicken dinner.

Tonight while feeding Levi before bed it gave me a chance to reflect. I have really enjoyed this time with my boys. It has just been us, with huge amounts of help, to hang out and have fun. I’ve gotten to spend time with them and be there for them. That being said, it is even more fun to share that with Amy. I love being a dad. This is the greatest job I’ve ever had. And I can’t wait to see us together again.

Noah holds up his treat.

Ok, back to the nice things others have done for us and speaking of good things to eat, a big thanks to Chef Mike for the random package he sent yesterday. He had sent a picture earlier in the week. Then we get a package sent to the Yeager Boys. Noah holds the loot. He also tells Mike thanks in this video. Always good to have Cardinals peanuts.

And more with the video talk… Levi really is developing into the talker. Imagine that. I’m really not sure where that comes from. He really gets going about 35 seconds in.

Here’s a little fun video to just listen to. It makes me happy.

Also thanks to everyone’s friend Romelle and this nice post he wrote on The (Convoluted) Mind of a Single Man. Give it a look. Thanks Romelle.

Finally, this European Vacation for Amy (really, don’t you think it feels like “look kids, Big Ben, Parliament,”) has been some fun. She’s been in 5 countries in the last 6 days. Germany, Holland, Belgium, France and now Spain. Not bad for a work trip that was only to last 6 days. Now I’m just hoping she can make it 6 countries real soon.

Best of the Week Nov 23, 2009

Here’s a look at the some of the stories that I’ve found this week that I thought many of you may enjoy or should read if you get a chance. Some of them are videos, so that’s the fun part.

One of Iowa’s largest employers in Dubuque, Waterloo, Davenport, Ankeny and Ottumwa reports a 4Q loss, but a gain for the year. Deere and Company (which pays my mortgage, full disclosure) posted the results Wednesday. Here’s the QC Times story.

An assistant principal in the middle of a strip search incident involving an Atlantic student has resigned. IBNA board member Ric Hanson has the story on Radio Iowa from his KJAN post in Atlantic.

He may be gone from the Des Moines School Board, but Jonathan Narcisse is now hitting the road to debate Republican Candidate for Governor Chris Rants. Here’s a story from the Iowa Republican. Jon has not said if he will challenge Chet Culver for the Democratic nomination, but is leaving it up to the media to decide. If you’re not from DM, you can see the debates in Bettendorf, Cedar Rapids, Dubuque and Waterloo and Ankeny and Council Bluffs.

Kay Henderson of Radio Iowa also has a report on the Lincoln/Douglas type debates.

And some of the Iowa Film program is rolling again. Mostly paying what’s already been done and lifting the suspension. The state moved a tiny step forward in re-instating the movie tax credit.

This almost seemed like a no-duh type story, but was confirmed by data this week that Iowa’s community college enrollment is up. Traditionally enrollment at community colleges goes up in a down economy. NIACC is Mason City is seeing the same thing as others as reported by KIMT-TV

An environmental group says Iowa’s power plants are some of the oldest and most polluting in the country. Radio Iowa reports.

This one may end up on the comedy circuit from the DMR.  Man with bloodshot eyes charged with stealing Visine.

I have a couple of videos to watch this week, music videos. The first is about the Decorah Middle School as reported by the CR Gazette. The students are trying to win a technology grant and used Coldplay’s Viva La Vida to help tell their story. The school actually used students to help play the instruments.

Another music video involves the Muppets. If you know Queen, you know the melody, but this Bohemian Rhapsody is a little different. The video appeared only Tuesday and now is well over 1 million views. I’m sure that’s something people will be talking about this holiday around the table.

And this music video, maybe also another conversation piece, involves some late night fun at the J-lab at Wartburg College in the Communication Arts department. Good stuff. Enjoy waiting for Miley, even if the song will be stuck in your head.