Soccer

Aside from John in baseball, which I recapped thoroughly yesterday, Edie switched to soccer for the fall. One teeball season per year is enough for her! She was in a boys’ 7U division so she could play alongside good friend Brexton. She didn’t score any goals (for the right team, anyway) but she had fun and the team had its share of wins! I didn’t get to see her play all that often because baseball overlapped with soccer so often. It was always so ungodly hot at all her games. It was the hottest September, October, and so far November on record, making the fall literally hotter than many summers in Austin’s history. Just painfully uncomfortable weather for every single game.

Coach and kids roasted through every soccer game thanks to the unrelenting heat.

Concerts

I don’t go to all that many concerts, but I did take in a pair of shows in a single week! I saw one of my favorite 90s country stars Mark Chesnutt perform at Cedar Park’s Haute Spot in a hot outdoor show alongside Brian Mego. A week later, the Plumpes joined us for the Flaming Lips and Weezer show at the new Moody Center.

I had never seen Weezer live before 2023, but have now seen them in back-to-back years!

Edie Turns 6

We celebrated Edie’s sixth birthday with a party at the park with all her friends from kindergarten and past friends from Four Seasons. We did it on a Sunday morning to avoid the worst of the heat and to get home before football!

Flaming Moe’s

For the third year in a row, Lauren and I went to my favorite Austin bar Nickel City, which every October transforms into Flaming Moe’s! We were joined by the Grosses, and got to meet famed Simpsons writer Bill Oakley.

Hanging with Bill Oakley, writer from some of the glory years in the 90s.

Halloween

It was a standard Halloween, with the kids trick-or-treating as a group with us and some of their friends. Lauren wished for the family to go as Mario characters, which embarrassed John, eventually changing once we met up with his friends.

Edie runs into kindergarten classmates out on the streets!

Spurs vs Wolves

I promised John I’d take him to San Antonio to see the Timberwolves play the Spurs if he homered in his Little League game that morning, and he wound up doing it! So we went to the game, where my van window broke upon arrival. It was fun to see Anthony Edwards up close, but Wemby and the Spurs won easily.

John gets down on the court pregame next to the Spurs.

Tacodeli Party

Lauren got exclusive tickets to Tacodeli’s 25th anniversary party, where we got to enjoy free food and drinks and live music alongside the popular taco restaurant’s founders.

Dallas

I had to go up to Dallas for a few days for work. On Tuesday night we did a fun team-building event at The Great Big Game Show. On Wednesday it was all-day meetings, with a big dinner followed by Tiger Woods’ PopStroke golf place. On Thursday it was more all-day meetings. I rode the Vonlane bus each way… no better way to travel!

Part of the lifecycle team takes in a team building event in The Colony, TX.

Nashville

For the third straight year, the gang and I hit up an NFL game on the road. Following my 40th birthday trip to the Chargers vs. Jaguars in LA in 2022, we did Vikings @ Raiders last year, and Vikings @ Titans this year. I flew in on Saturday morning and had fun on Broadway by myself before the rest of the gang caught up. Sunday we hit the town hard for pregaming, took in the game, and then, well, hit the town hard again after, with an escape room mixed in. On the way home a storm diverted my flight to Houston which derailed what was supposed to be a relaxing vacation day.

Walsh, Luke, Nick and myself cheered on the Vikings to victory in a very Viking-heavy crowd!

Lauren’s New Gig

Lauren has a new job I’m sure she’d love to tell you all about. I’m not the only full-time remote person in the house, anymore!