Fall Football Fever!

Before I share about our weekend's adventures, I would like to ask you to say a prayer for my father. He has been admitted into Intensive Care on Saturday because they discovered at least one brain tumor. Since he has been using blood thinning medication, they could not operate immediately. Surgery is scheduled for Thursday, and we would really appreciate it if you would lift him up in prayer at this time.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program...

As i pulled up our driveway after work on Friday evening, Nathan ran up to me and said, "Dad, can I ask you a favor?"
"Sure," I replied, not quite knowing what to expect.
"Can you please take me to the Avon Eagles football game tonight?"
The Avon Eagles is the name of the Avon High School football team. It's a tradition here to go and support your local high school sports teams, and Friday nights are usually set aside for the football games.
So we ate our supper that Liesel had prepared at a faster rate than usual, in order to get to the stadium by the 7pm kickoff. This was the first time Nathan and I went to a high school football game! We were amazed by the local support. As we were driving there, our car came to a standstill about half a mile before the school, as hundreds of people were making their way to the same game! While we were stuck in the traffic, we saw a number of people of all ages, wearing the Eagle's colors of purple and gold, walk past us on the way to the school! As we got closer to the school, we saw that police had the traffic situation under control, as they directed the cars into the school grounds. We eventually got to park the car and made our way to the stadium. Once again we were in awe to see all the support the Avon Eagles had! Children from Kindergarten all the way through to 12th graders, parents, grandparents, and many other Avon residents packed the stands, in their purple and gold shirts, caps, scarves, blankets, jackets and even socks! The school also put on a show with their cheerleaders, and marching band that entertained us during the half time break. In fact the visiting team's marching band also took part in the entertainment, and all in all, we had a great time. It also helped that Avon won 35 - 7 that night, which added to the already high spirits!

On Saturday, we went to the Cleveland Metro Park Zoo with our good friends the Bosley's. It was a beautiful Fall morning, with temperatures around 65 (18C), which meant that the animals weren't lethargic, like they were in the summertime. We took our red wagon to pull the boys around should they need a break from walking. Unfortunately, they both were not willing to walk up the steep incline to the aquatic/wild cats/primates area of the zoo! So it was up to me to get these two boys to the top. All I can say is, I think I have discovered an additional grueling exercise that future SEAL or Green Beret teams should be subjected to, in order to test their strength, endurance and mental attitude in one go!

Sunday was another beautiful Fall day, with blue skies and mild temperatures. Liesel took Nath and Josh to church, while I stayed at home to wait for an insurance assessor. Back in August we had a very strong storm with high winds and hail that damaged a number of roofs in the area. The assessor arrived and after a thorough inspection agreed that our roof was also damaged and should be replaced. We are quite happy about that, since the estimate for a new roof is around $11 000, but we are only on the hook for $500 as per our insurance policy.
In the afternoon, Nath, Josh and I played our version of football (which is actually pretty exhausting). Later on that evening, after dinner we rounded the weekend off with a bicycle ride around the neighborhood!