Kate's Trip to Ames, part IV
Kate spent this weekend in Ames with Matt as they stayed with Uncle Mike. And if a bad 80's movie creeps into your head when you hear that you shouldn't be alarmed. It's becoming an annual tradition and as also is tradition, Matt documented this excursion and is guest blogging the event for our enjoyment.
. . .
The trip started with a Friday afternoon visit to the Sukup Basketball Complex so we could take in Iowa State Women's Basketball practice. After an hour long discussion about her favorite player, Anna Prinns, I had Kate convinced that Anna was going to be busy practicing and that we could not try and talk to her or distract her. Kate begrudgingly accepted.
Of course the first thing to happen when we walk in is that Anna and Amanda Zimmerman come directly over to us, introduce themselves and say hi to Kate. After a few minutes practice starts and Kate is over the moon forever remembering to not trust Dad about anything further. A few minutes later while the girls are stretching and Kate is on the sidelines mimicking their moves, Head Coach Bill Fennelly waves Kate over takes her into the lockerroom gets her a Powerade drink and tells her to help herself if she needs anything else. Finally, he gives her an official Iowa State Women's Basketball T-Shirt.
From there we headed out to Oddfellows Burgers in Ames. Where we dined upon tater tots with blue cheese and bacon . . .
followed by the Oddfellow burger. It's a normal bacon cheeseburger. Oh, and instead of buns it uses glazed doughnuts.
It was Homecoming in Ames, but not just any Homecoming - the 100th anniversary celebration. As part of that the Iowa State Alumni Association hosted an evening pep rally the night before. It was a beautiful night with over a thousand people coming and going. One of the main events is a sketch competition where the goal of the students is to demonstrate an exorbanant amount of school spirit.
When Sarah asked Kate what she did Friday night, she described it as this "Um, Dad and Uncle Mike took me to this party where these naked people painted themselves and were really loud."
Yikes.
While at the Alumni Association, Uncle Mike and I grabbed a couple of copies of The Bomb, which was the Iowa State University Yearbook until roughly the early 90's. We made our way over to 1971 which was the Spring before our parents met. And we saw our mother's dorm floor photo.
That's our mother on the far right, back row. A perfect example of mother and her professional dress and smile that we know to this day. We expected nothing different. Now lets take a look at the man she met months later and decided to marry.
So many questions sprang into Mike and I's head. Why is their picture in the bathroom and why are some of the guys standing on urinals? Why is the guy in the front row apparently wearing a dress? Why are so many guys holding bananas? But, hey we all have crazy friends right? We shouldn't be judged by what our college friends of 40 years ago were like, right? Lets reserve judgment until we find our father in the picture.
My God. That would be our father in the white coat, fedora and what is he holding? A gun? A Baby Ruth? Did he lose a bet? Is he secretly linked to Al Capone? Should we think less of our mother because she married him? Does he still have that jacket? Who do we call to get copies of this photo? This is Iowa State - birthplace of the computer. Did any professor ever advise them of this thing called the internet was being developed? So many questions, so little time. I think we would have taken it easier if we found out he had a 2nd family in Shanghai.
Kate grabbed some sidewalk chalk in an attempt to cope.
Saturday morning started with a couple of Kate's favorite things. Pancakes . . .
After a game of bowling, we moved onto lunch. When planning this trip, I asked Kate what she wanted to do. "Eat at that fancy restaurant." What fancy restaurant? "The one with the machine that takes your plates away." Kate would be describing this one that she visited two years ago.
This would be Iowa State food service. Full of college kids falling out of bed at the crack of noon and wearily getting themselves pancakes and cereal for lunch.
While Iowa State does not have the greatest football tradition, they do have the greatest tailgating tradition.
Kate loves her some marching band. Especially some tuba. God help us if that's what she wants to play in a few years. And yes, that is a giant pumpkin painted as an angry Cy.
Some potato soup and only two or three beers later, Kate was tailgated and ready to hit the game.
As I'm sure we've all heard many times over, kids make us appreciate the things we stopped appreciating long ago. Kate will someday learn that there are TV channels that show teams other than Iowa State and that her Eastern Iowa classroom is probably made up of 20% Cyclone fans instead of 80%. But for now I can sell her on anything, and if you make that tone of your voice super excited, she'll think I'm proposing eating ice cream for breakfast. And while I originally sold her that Iowa State is greater than Santa Claus, Scooby Doo and our mailman, she does seem to have taken a genuine interest and love in all things Iowa State.
And while I worried how I'd keep her interest in 40 degree weather for three and a half hours, I shouldn't have overthought it. Especially when I spent most of the night answering approximately 16,782 questions Saturday night.
No Kate, there is not a remote control for that "TV".
Two particular moments stand out. First was doing the wave. Not only was it a normal wave, but after it went around a couple of times, the student section did a super slow wave . . . and then a super fast one. She watched it build around the stadium as if Al-Quada was mounting an invasion. I've never been a huge wave fan, but watching her jump up and yell whoooo! at the top of her lungs put a large smile on my face. Not as big of smile as when Kate
got herself a foot-long corn dog. Meat candy, I believe is the appropriate description.
Iowa State won the game over Baylor handily and Kate insisted to stay for the end and make our way down to the field.
And as she made her way to the car against her will, I knew that I had secured another Iowa State buddy. Operation Indoctrination is a continued success. Oh yeah, and remember that T-Shirt she got from the women's basketball team? Here is her Sunday outfit:
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