Mendota Football

I was able to catch a football game at Mendota High School last month.  My nephew Nate is a senior, so I had to go and watch him play.

I thought I was going to miss most of the game, but it hadn't started by the time I got there, due to rain and lightening delays.  But I did get to see him in a few plays.

Have fun this Friday night, kid, at your Senior Homecoming game!

okay, so I might have screen-shot this off of Rylee's snapchat...  Look at these awesome kids!

new number for senior year - anyone surprised that he chose Clay Matthews' number?

Photography Challenge Day 11: Something Blue

June 2010

Okay, first of all, 2010 was when I bought my camera.  I might have taken a lot of pictures that year.

Tina let me know that Rylee was going to play softball at a tourney North of their place, so closer to our place, so Jeff & I went for the day.  If I remember correctly, it was hot and steamy, but it was fun to play with the "sports continuous" function on my camera.

Then, last week, when I knew I had "something blue" coming up for the Photography Challenge, I knew that I wanted to upload the pictures to my Google Photos, and crossed my fingers that Google would "auto-awesome" the sets of sports continuous photos.

As you can see, Google did as I had hopes!  It's so awesome!  

Wow, can you believe how much Rylee has grown in the last 4 years?

And this is my favorite photo of that day.  I love it!  It shows just how much power and exertion she's got on the pitch!  I think I was really lucky to get this shot!

Why last night was the best hockey game I've been to.

The first time I went to a hockey game it was a Men's UW Badger game, and I was going with a coworker (2002).  It took me 2 periods to be able to know where the puck was.  It was fun, but crowded.

The second time I went was with a friend and her sister & friend.  It was also a Men's UW Badger Game, probably around 2004 or 2005.  I had been given free tickets from a coworker.  Again, crowded, and this time the dynamic was a bit awkward...

In 2010, Jeff, Rhyanne, and I went to a Women's UW Badger game, which was fun, but in the Kohl Center with low attendance.  The atmosphere was very low key and (no offense girls) kinda boring.

Jeff & I went to a Stoughton game in 2011, but we got there late and sat in the visitor's section, so, again, awkward...

Last month I had the opportunity to go to a Men's UW Badger game in a Hospitality Suite.  That was sweet!  I went with people from work, and had a good time.  BUT our suite was in the middle of the student section, and their chants have become quite, uh, not family friendly.  When the coworker I drove with was ready to go, so was I.  But it wasn't because of the game, it was because of the students.  That was disappointing.

at the Kohl Center

playing with the panorama function on my phone

But last night, last night was the best hockey game I've been to.  Kiaj and Jereyl had come up on Friday to surprise Jeff for a birthday weekend, and we decided attending the UW Madison vs. Harvard Women's Hockey game would be something fun to do!

hey, where you goin' Bucky?

We were lucky to get tickets - which we did online in the AM.  We got tickets in Row 1 - so we were right up on the glass.  Look at Bucky up there - that's not zoomed!  Standing up we were right on the glass.  At one point a puck hit the glass HARD, right in front of Kiaj & Jereyl, and they totally flinched.  Darn good thing that glass was there.

This game was in a much smaller arena, and it was full.  There was great energy the entire time, and the chants were very PG.  In fact, when the announcer said that there was one minute left in the period, the crowd responded with "Thank you!"  The crowd was on the whole time, and the game was really action-packed.

panorama didn't work out so well on this one...  we were sitting in the bottom left, right on the glass

It was a great time, so much fun to be there with everyone.  Best hockey game I've every been to!

the happy Hartwigs

SHS Football Banquet

 We just got home from the Football Banquet to end the season.

Guess who lettered in Varsity Football?

This girl!

Way to go, Rhyanne!

So, how was your weekend?

I went down to see the family this weekend.  Fun times watching Nate's football game (in which they decimated the other team),

celebrating Tina's birthday with a Casey's pizza lunch, and playing Yahtzee, Sorry, and Sequence.  How was your weekend?

Last Game of the Season: Stoughton vs. Monroe

Last Thursday was Rhy's last game of the season.  She was nervous/excited/sad all at the same time.  I was just *hoping* she would get to play.  She'd only played 3 plays all season.  It's the sophomore team, Coach - let them all play!

I was being wimpy and didn't go with Jeff for the beginning of the game because of the weather.  But when he started texting me with the scores, I knew I needed to take the camera and go see our girl play football.  The Vikings were up by 5 touchdowns!

Rhy got put in 3 or 4 different times!  And unfortunately my camera didn't do a very good job at capturing the awesomeness of it all...

So I obviously need some help...  Anyone have any advice on taking night-time action pictures?

9-27-12: Stoughton vs. Fort Atkinson

Last week the Vikings played against Fort Atkinson.  Unfortunately Jeff couldn't be there, so I didn't completely understand everything that happened.

Also unfortunately, Rhy didn't play *sad* but Stoughton did win *happy*.  Rhy was even jumping around on the sidelines because she was so happy with how the game was going, so that's a good thing - she was enjoying it.

Hopefully this week she will get some playing time.  You listening to me, Coach?

Luckily, I got a couple of in-focus pictures, which is something that I struggle with at night.

Unluckily, I just missed Eli with his arm around Rhy - which was sweet.  I need to find a good mix of watching the game and being in my camera...  Any advice, sports parents?

Rhy - Defensive Tackle!

Last night we traveled to DeForest (you know, what you go through when to Grandmother's house you go...) for a football game.  It really wasn't too cold, but it was just breezy enough that I was chilly.  Perhaps I should have worn more than a tank top and Packer's sweatshirt?  Hm.  I'll consider dressing more appropriately next time.

Unfortunately, we did not win.  It's hard to win a football game when you're playing against the other team and the refs.

BUT...

Rhy made her High School Football debut!  Yeay Rhy!

She was named one of the captains this week, and she played the end of the game!  Last week they only played the starters, so I'm very excited that they put her in this week.  I think that her normal position is offensive lineman (Jeff - correct me if I'm wrong here), but she played Defensive Tackle.  Yeay!

When they put her in the other parents around us were like "They're putting her in!  Rhy's going in!"  So I jumped up and went to take pictures!  It was kinda hard under the lights to really keep everything straight, but here she is...

do you see the other team's female player to the far left with the ball?  apparently she's a junior playing down.

Go Vikings!  And keep kicking butt Rhy!

Are you ready for some football?

Rhy is playing football this year.  She played in 8th grade at her school in Iowa, was the Freshman Manager up here last year, and decided she'd rather play than manage this year.

Unfortunately she rolled her ankle in practice about a week before the first game, so she was out for the first three games, in her jersey but not dressed for the games.  Thursday she was finally able to dress for the game!

Rhy is #53

The game was against Monona Grove, a bigger school, and they proved to be tough opponents.  The game was already in the 2nd quarter when we arrived (after finding a flat tire and dealing with all that), but the Vikings were already ahead!

The Vikings led the entire game, but it was close, and the other team could have quickly gotten points to tie or win the game.  In fact, the very last play on the clock was a couple of Vikings tackling their ball carrier when he was within 5 yards of a touchdown!  Man, was it a close one!

Final score:  8-0

It was such a tough game, they only played first string.  Finger crossed that next week she'll get some playing time!

University names and nicknames...

Oh good.  Another football game.

Jeff's watching the Badgers play the Aggies from Utah.  Which begs the questions...

1.)  If the University of Wisconsin is called UW for short, then would the University of Utah be called UU?  And would that be pronounced "you you" or "double you", or "dubs" for short?

2.)  What in the world is an "Aggie"?!?  Seriously people!  Jeff says that's short for "agriculture" - WTF people!  What kind of a mascot would you have?  A photograph of a farm?  Makes Millikin being the Big Blue sound genius!

A weekend with the folks...

This past weekend was the Sweet Corn Festival in Mendota IL.  I was able to head down to my parents' house on Friday night, and Jeff & Rhy followed on Saturday after football practice.  It was nice to visit again since I hadn't been there since Easter and had only had brief visits with them.

I picked up Nate (my eldest nephew) on Saturday from football practice.

He's the first to ride in the new car that Jeff and I got the end of last month!  More on that in another post...

Tina & I took 4 kids to the Sweet Corn Festival.

Trekker (youngest nephew) had a corn dog (or a Lion Dog, since it was from the Lion's Club) and a lemon-aid.

We like to look around at the crafts & vendors.  There was some nice stuff there.  I bought a couple of towels from Mary Horn (neighbor when we were kids, makes baby & Barbie clothes, used to give us orange push 'ems, really nice person) and we had walking tacos made with Doritos at the Heiss's food stand.  I really wanted to stay longer, but my back had been giving me problems for a few days and it got to the point that it hurt too bad and I had to leave early.

Saturday night we had a cookout at Mom & Dad's.  Well, can it be called a "cookout" if we didn't actually cook anything outside?  Mom crock-potted a couple of different meats, made cooler sweet corn*, and we had various other side dishes and chocolate covered cherry cake (Thank You Tina!).

*Apparently People Who Camp know that you can put your shucked corn into a cooler, pour boiling/hot water on it, close the cooler for about an hour or 90 minutes, and your corn will be cooked.  Thank you, People Who Camp, for keeping this information to yourselves all these years!!!  What the heck!  Share the info sooner next time, would you?  This was awesome!*

Emily & Adam came by bringing their adorable little girl Brianna with them.  She's just too cute!  She doesn't so much like being held by others, but she sure did play with us.  By the end of the night she was teasing us! Pretending she would go to someone and then laughing when she turned away.  So much personality!

So. Much. Cute!

It was a really nice night for hanging out outside.

South from the house

West from the driveway - you know this place is for sale if you want to buy it...

The kids played on the property (3 girls and 1 boy - all teens and-preteens, plus the going-on-7-year-old Trekker), and Oreo enjoyed the extra attention.

It was really great to get to spend some time with family away from the regular chores waiting at home, like dishes, laundry, etc.  I just wish I had felt better and could have gone to the festival on Sunday too!

12-U Softball - Rylee hits a double

Today was the first time in a couple years that I watched my awesome niece play softball.  She'll be 13 (zoinks!) in October, and she's been playing sports for just ever.  She started playing baseball many moons ago, and after a year or two switched over to girls softball.  It was a great switch - she's a freaking natural.

The girls were in a tournament about an hour away from here, so I caught the first two games.  By the time the second game was half over, the steamy heat had set in, and I was glad the girls had a 3 hour break and it was time for me to get back in the cool air conditioning of my little car.  If nothing else, the Nissan Sentra really does of good job of heating and cooling.

Of course, like any good aunt, I had my camera with me...

The video of is Rylee's double.  The ball hit the fence in the outfield!

look closely and you can see the definition in her calf muscles...

My sister told me that they took third in the tourney.  Rylee pitched a great last game (she is such a great pitcher) and she caught a game as well - I'm pretty sure catching is her favorite.

Good job girls!

And, my favorite Rylee Playing Softball picture of all time...

6-26-2010