The Smith Family Times

Happy Birthday, Grampa!

"When I get older, losing my hair, many years from now..."

                                                    --    The Beatles: "When I'm Sixty-Four"

(Rob:) Grampa Smith turns 64 today! Here is a random smattering of Grampa images (actually, I'm doing this from work, so these are all of the Grampa pics I happened to have with me in my laptop.)

(above) Looking good in the Miller Racing Hat

The Smith Boys in Ouray 2000

Grampa and Zanny at Christmas

Grampa's NASCAR seat at Kansas Speedway

Grampa helping out Sam with Nuk replacement 2001

Rob and Grampa at Broncos-Chiefs 1999 (with Grampa's annoying ex-girlfriend edited out of the frame)

Brokeback Grampa

 

Tessa Jean, Grampa and Mitchell at Cody and Amy's wedding 2002

Grampa and the Peach 2000

Have a good one, Gramps! We love you!

January Blues

(Susan):  This strange January weather has us befuddled.  It should be snowing and I have pansies in the garden that have survived the winter and are blooming.  The daffodils are up about two inches.  Thankfully the January blues have officially one more day to deal on us.  Tomorrow is pajama day at school.  I'm going to participate and wear my pajamas to work as well.  How about the pants that say PINK across the butt?

Happy Friday

(Rob:) Thus begins what I described to my dad last weekend as my "8-month long bye week," characterized by a complete lack of football. It's not all bad, though- I'm looking forward to a weekend at home with the family for the first time in a while. Time to relax, play a little guitar, read the new Sam Cooke biography, Dream Boogie (by Peter Guralnick,) catch up on the "Colbert Report" shows I have Tivo'ed, and listen to the new Robert Earl Keen CD that my friend Konen left for me at the office today (Thanks, Bill!.)

No new pics, but here's a picture of the kids from last November:

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Hope your weekend is nice and relaxing, too!

Championship Weekend!

(Rob:) Lets start with the important stuff: Tessa Jean's basketball team played a great game on Saturday, and while no official score was kept, Grandma Delores reported an 11-6 victory for the Visitation...team (Visitors?)! Tessa Jean played a solid game -- she raked in 6 rebounds (3 offensive), played aggressive defense and scored her first career basket!

Celebrating at Planet Sub after the game.

Click HERE to see Tessa Jean's sweet 5-ft jump shot find nothing but net!

(More Tessa Jean bragging: she brought home the best grade in her class on last week's U.S. geography/state capitals test!)

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On Sunday, Grampa Smith and I flew to Denver to see the Broncos play for the Lamar Hunt trophy, which goes to the winner of the AFC Championship game. The Broncos ended up getting their rear ends kicked by the Pittsburgh Steelers, but we still had a good time at the game with Zanny and Jack:

Tailgating across from the stadium- (Jack is inexplicably eating a circus peanut, widely known  as the worst food ever.)

All decked out and layered for the game - 35 degrees but warm in the sun.

The game started great with lots of balloons.

Click HERE to see the balloon release and Zanny groovin' to the pre-game frenzy (there unfortunately was no during-game frenzy.)

 

Click HERE to check out the cool flyover by some jets at the end of the National Anthem.

Ultimately, the Broncos let us down, losing at Invesco Field for the first time since 2004, and losing their first home AFC Championship game (they are now 5-1 in Denver.) Now begins the long 8 month wait until football starts again. I am looking forward to seeing what happens around the house here in Kansas City on weekends, though. Thanks Susan!

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Here's a parting shot of Mitchell with his cool new Star Wars X-wing fighter. See you in March on Spring Break, Mitchell! I'll give you some more pokey kisses!

Broncos Country

(Rob:) Here's a photologue of my trip to Denver last weekend to see the Denver Broncos!

Me and Zanny out in front of Invesco Field at Mile High, home of the AFC West Champion Denver Broncos!

Zanny entering the gates for her first NFL playoff game

Free pom-pons!

We sat down near the field right next to the big inflatable Bronco

Zanny in her new Jake Plummer jersey (replacing the old lame-o Jason Elam jersey she used to wear)

Thunder the Wonder Horse

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Freaky Leprechaun guy

Go Broncos!

Rod Smith (my favorite Bronco) catching a touchdown pass right in front of us in the south end zone

This one was taken by a professional photographer sitting behind us! (Prints can be ordered in the "Comments" section below)

Miles the Mascot in Jake Plummer beard

Rod Smith after the game signing autographs (I got one from him last year)

BRONCOS WIN! Next week: Pittsburgh comes to town to play for the right to go to the Super Bowl!           ****************************************************************

Mitchell in his cool new Herbie the Love Bug jammies. Before the game, Suzanne and I were talking about how pumped we were, and Mitchell chimed in: "I'm pumps, too!"

Sam: 5 Boy

(Rob:) Sam turned 5 yesterday! Gramma Judy and Daisy drove up from the lake for the party, and Beth & Abbey stopped by as well. Sam had a great time and got plenty of presents, including this new Star Wars lightsaber that is practically real!

Padawan at 5

Click HERE to see the young Jedi in action! (I would have given anything for one of these when I was 12)

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Blowing out candles on the actual cake (not to be confused with the practice cake)

Susan and the Peach

Happy kids

Tessa Jean and Abbey slamming cake and margaritas (just kidding, police!)

Practice Cake

(Susan):  Sam got a little practice on Sunday night with this Batman cake.  I don't know what the actual day will bring tomorrow (probably more cake and maybe a trip to the Cheesecake Factory, sssshhhh).

Tessa plays a little "D"

Tessa gets instructions from the coach

The Countdown Continues

Hi, from Tessa Jean

(Susan):  Grandma Judy and her little butter enjoyed some Batman cake last night.  Tonight the adults fell fast asleep while the kids went about their business watching Teen Titans.  I guess we are the old ones or else the twelve hour day caught up with us. We are off to bed. . .

Week of Sam

(Susan):  Sam will turn five this week on Wednesday and I officially declare this the week of Sam.  Hard to believe the little guy is growing up.  We had a weekend of cleaning up from Christmas, which included two very nice days, nice enough to wash the car!  (Heard it is snowing right now in Minnesnowta).  Tessa had her first basketball game and Grandma Judy came for a little pre-birthday dinner!! All in all, a great weekend. Oh, lest I forget, Battlestar Galactica resumed on Friday night and we will watch it tonight!  Perfect.

Hawkeye New Year!

(Rob:) Last weekend the Fab Four of Hawkeye football fame (my brother Cody, dad Jim, friend Guffey and I) travelled to Tampa, Florida to bring in the New Year in Hawkeye style with 25.000 of our closest friends to cheer Iowa on in their bowl game against the Florida Gators. We flew down on the 31st and met up with Page, my dad's old college buddy from Iowa City in the 1960's. My earliest memories are of the married student housing apartment complex in Iowa City when my dad was a student and I was a toddler. I recall watching Johnny Rivers records go around on the turntable while Dad and Page sang along and consumed beer. Page hasn't changed a bit in 40 years except for his ears:

On New Year's Day Cody and I hung out downtown with the Hawkeye faithful. Here we are in a cool area called Ybor City. There were a lot of fun clubs and theaters and we even caught part of a trained parrot show:

That night, we attended the "Hawkeye Huddle" a collection of Iowans 12,000 strong, complete with inflatable Herky:

Here we all are receiving our next instructions from our leader, "Big Brother" Coach Kirk Ferentz:

After the huddle we went out and partied in an area called Channelside, which was a blast. It seemed like a night in Iowa City, except it was 75 degrees in January. I don't remember much about that night, but I do know that Cody talked me out of getting a tattoo.

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Monday was finally game day! Here we are tailgating outside Raymond James stadium:


You may note that Page has split allegiances between Iowa (hat) and Florida (shirt). This way he can be happy no matter which team is doing well at any given time.

We had killer seats that included access to an indoor club area where we spent halftime:

The Hawkeyes didn't play well until the fourth quarter, when they scored 17 straight points to close to within a touchdown, only to fall victim to some horrible officiating that denied them the chance to complete their comeback. Nonetheless, we had a great time on the trip and look forward to next season (only eight months away!)

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It was great to come home and see the family again, who had travelled to Minnesota on a surprise visit. No photos yet exist of that trip, but here's one from last month that I like:

Here's hoping your New Year is a great one!