Home Again!

Hi everyone. I wanted to write a short note to let you know I am safely back home in Iowa with Kristin.

I am VERY tired from my trips to St. Louis and Houston. I know Kristin is also very tired.
I want to thank Kristin and her Mom for taking me to Houston. I had lots of fun (and I even learned about quilting!).

Until my next adventure...bye for now.

Kristin Goes Back to High School

Hi everyone!

Guess what? Kristin went back to high school this week. Can you believe it?! OK...Kristin didn't go back to take classes! She visited her old high school this week. Kristin was a student at Klein High School in Klein, Texas for a few years before her family moved to Iowa.

Kristin went back to Klein to visit her favorite teacher, Mrs. Crowe. Mrs. Crowe is very nice.

Kristin told me that she was in Mrs. Crowe's first junior high speech class 20 years ago. Wow...that sure is a LONG time ago! Mrs. Crowe now teaches speech classes at Klein High School. Mrs. Crowe likes to have Kristin talk to students about her radio career. I think it is pretty cool that Kristin went back to her old high school to talk to students. Don't you? Here I am with Kristin and Mrs. Crowe.

Kristin talked to SIX classes. Kristin even introduced me to some of Mrs. Crowe's students. The students were very nice to me. They were also very interested in Kristin's job and the many places around the world she has visited.

Right after we left the high school, Kristin showed me the house she used to live in.

I can tell Kristin really liked living here in Texas. Maybe some day she will get to move back to Houston. That's all for now. Kristin says our "vacation" will end tomorrow. :(

Until next time.....

Quilts, Quilts, and More Quilts!

Hi everyone. I hope all is well in Iowa.

I am still enjoying my "vacation" in Houston with Kristin and her Mom.

As I told you in an earlier message, Kristin and her Mom are here for a quilt convention. The convention is known as the International Quilt Festival. I thought this would be like the radio convention I attended with Kristin and my friend Keith. There were about 500 people at the radio conference in Philadelphia.

But this convention is HUGE! There are more than 50,000 people who like quilts here in Houston this week. WOW! Who knew that many people like quilts.

Kristin and her Mom have been taking classes to learn how to make quilts this week. I think this is really boring. Who wants to go to "class" when they are on vacation? I think Kristin knew I would be bored during her quilting classes so she kindly bought me a few books about Texas. Now I can learn more about the Lone Star State. Thanks Kristin!


While I was reading, Kristin and her mom made what they call "quilt blocks." I'm not sure why they are called blocks. They sure don't look like a block of houses in a city.

When class was over, Kristin and her Mom took me to a place at the convention where LOTS of businesses sell quilting items. I really wasn't very interested in looking at fabric and other "girlie" things. But guess what? We did see someone from Muscatine! Here I am with my new friend Sabrina. She is very nice. Sabrina and her friend Kathy own The Cotton Shop in downtown Muscatine.

I think it is cool that I saw somebody from Muscatine here in Houston. I must remember to tell Aunt Lynn because Sabrina told me she knows Aunt Lynn.

Until next time....

Happy Halloween!

Hi everyone! I am having a great time on "vacation" with Kristin and her Mom.

Today is Halloween and I was a bit sad that I didn't get to trick-or-treat with my friends. I think Kristin knew I wanted to trick-or-treat so she suggested I dress up in my St. Louis Cardinals uniform as my costume. What a great idea!

We are staying at a hotel in downtown Houston so there wasn't a good place to go trick-or-treating. So Kristin kindly bought me a Halloween book and some candy corn (that she and her Mom helped me eat already!). It's not quite the same as going out with my friends in Iowa but I still had a neat Halloween.

That's all for now....

Back in the Lone Star State!

Hi everyone! I am SO excited. I am back in the Lone Star State! Today I am in Houston, Texas. See if you can find it on the map.

I am excited because this is my second time in Texas this month! A few weeks ago I spent a few days in West Texas with my friend Kristin from the Stanley Foundation.

I am in Houston with Kristin and her Mom. They are here to attend a convention about quilting. It doesn't sound all that exciting to me but I'm not sure anything could be more exciting than the World Series! Kristin told me she brought me along because she knew I wanted to visit Texas again. She also says she will show me some special places later this week.

Kristin is on vacation this week so maybe I will just relax and be on "vacation" too!

Until next time....

World Series Wrap-Up

Hi everyone! Kristin and I are home from the World Series!

WOW! I still can't believe the Cardinals won the World Series. Kristin says the World Series is like the Super Bowl. Now I understand why Kristin was so excited. I would be just as excited if the Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl.

I must tell you that I was very worried Kristin and I would not get to see the game. It rained VERY hard most of Friday. It stopped just a few hours before the game started. Whew!

Kristin made sure to get downtown early so we could get into Busch Stadium as soon as it opened at 5:30pm. As soon as we walked in, Kristin walked very fast to get to the field level. She was hoping I would get to see some of the Cardinal players warming up. Not very many did come out onto the field but I did get to see a few. It was really cool to be so close to the field. Here I am watching a few pitchers warm up in right field.


And here I am watching some of the players while looking toward the infield.


It was really interesting to be close to the field. I really wanted to see more players but I did get to see the Fox Sports crew get ready for the television broadcast. Here, the crew is getting the anchor desk ready for the Fox pre-game show.


And here one of the Fox reporters is taping a segment in center field. If you watched the game on TV, I am sure you probably saw this report.

Did you know it was taped almost 90 minutes before the game started? I knew BEFORE you did what you were going to see on TV. How cool is that?!

Kristin and I spent about 30 minutes on the field level. Kristin then decided we had better find our seats. As we were walking to the "terrace reserve" level, Kristin stopped to take photos of the crew taking the tarp off the field. Lots of people cheered when the tarp was removed.


It takes a LOT of people to take the tarp off the field. It gets folded and then rolled onto a very large, silver tube.

Look at how many people it takes to roll the tarp onto the tube!

It was really interesting to see the infield once the tarp was off. I didn't get to see it on Wednesday night because of the rain. There were cool World Series and Cardinals logos painted on the field.



Once the tarp was rolled up and put away, the ground crew started getting the infield ready. Here they are making the white field lines near third base.

Did you know the field lines are made with crushed chalk? I had NO idea. I wonder how many sticks of chalk have to be crushed to make the lines on the field each day?

Just before we got to our seat, Kristin asked someone to take a photo of us with the field behind us. Isn't this a cool photo?

Once we reached our seat, Kristin had to use a towel to wipe off all of the rain drops. Here I am sitting in Kristin's seat in my warm spot in Kristin's back pack.

Did I mention that it was REALLY COLD and REALLY WINDY? Kristin had on two sweatshirts, a turtleneck, a coat with a hood, ear warmers, two pairs of socks, two scarves and gloves! She also had a blanket and she was still cold! Everyone got this really neat towel when they walked into the stadium. As you can see in the photo above, Kristin let me use it as blanket so I could stay warm. Here you can see the flags in near center field blowing in the wind. And if you look really closely in the lower right of this photo, you will see the ESPN anchors getting ready to broadcast from the ESPN booth above center field.


Here are some other highlights from my trip to the World Series.

Starting pitcher Jeff Weaver warms up before the start of the game.

Main scoreboard.

The anchors of the Fox pre-game show get ready to go on the air.

Shortstop David Eckstein at the plate.

First baseman Albert Pujols at the plate
(look closely and you will see the ball just before the plate)

View from Kristin's seat. She had great tickets, didn't she?!

Pitcher Jeff Weaver throws a strike!

Fredbird entertains the crowd!

CARDS WIN! CARDS WIN!

The crowd goes wild.....

....and the Cardinals celebrate!


Lots of confetti rains down on the field and the fans....

....and REALLY LOUD FIREWORKS light up the sky

Kristin and I watch the celebration on the field.

Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa talks about the game with Fox Sports on a stage set-up near second base just after the game ended.
Did you know that the New York Yankees club is the only team to win more World Series titles than the St. Louis Cardinals? I had no idea!

The World Series trophy!

David Eckstein wins the World Series Most Valuable Player Award. That means he was the BEST player of the entire World Series!

We are the champions!

I still can't believe I got to see the St. Louis Cardinals WIN the World Series. I thought Wednesday night was one of the best nights of my life even after the game was cancelled because of the rain. But now I know that Friday night was one of the BEST nights of my life. Kristin says I got to see something very special and that I will remember it for the rest of my life. I think Kristin is right!

I want to thank Kristin for taking me with her to the World Series. I also want to thank her husband Eugene for buying the ticket. I am a VERY lucky flat boy!

CARDS RULE!!!

Until my next adventure....bye!

Cardinals Win World Series!!

Hi all! Tonight the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series. That means the Cardinals are the BEST baseball team in the world for 2006. And guess what? I was at the game!

Kristin told me it was one of the best nights of her entire life. She was SO happy she even cried (but don't tell her I told you!).

It is WAY, WAY past my bedtime so here are just a few photos taken just after the Cardinals won the game.






I will post a longer message with lots of photos once I get back to Iowa. I am off to get some sleep now (although I am SO excited that I am not sure I will be able to fall asleep!).

CARDS RULE!!! Bye for now.