Reds Caravan

Greetings from the 2008 Reds Winter Caravan, where the Cincinnati Reds hit the road to meet and greet their fans from around Reds Country.

I got a wonderful opportunity to meet a few members of the Cincinnati Reds last weekend in Indianapolis. We left from St. Louis Friday night to visit my bro-in-law, who lives in north Indy. The caravan venue was at Champps Americana, only 10 miles away. Andrea and I packed up the 2 little kids, but when we saw the long line she dropped me off and picked me up when I was done. I also took my nephew, Jarvis, with me too and introduced him to Reds Country. He is a high school freshman and is into sports, especially the Colts. I think he had a blast, too.

I didn't know what to expect, but yes, the line seriously was like Disney World and it moved just as fast. We were standing outside in line in the freezing cold when all of a sudden we heard someone behind us shouting "excuse me, coming through!". Reds star second baseman Brandon Phillips (BP) came running from around the corner and hopped inside through the crowd. It was so funny because we least expected it. Then came walking Reds radio announcer Marty Brenneman, General Manager Wayne Krivsky, former Reds pitching hero Tom Browning and the rest of the production crew. Then the line began to move and we were inside shortly. I was surprised to see how much free stuff I scored, like an Arroyo hat (with the hair), some signs and stickers and free sharpies. Gapper, the Reds mascot, even stopped to take a picture with me.

I heard comments from people eating at the restaurant like 'I didn't know there were that many Reds fans in Indiana'. Well, I'm glad I could join ya all the way from Cardinal Country! It took me over an hour to get through the line, but I got to talking to some guys behind me about how far they came. They said Kokomo. I resisted breaking out into song. I told them I came from St. Louis and they were like, 'Hey, you're the guy that wrote on the ESPN Reds message board about coming here.' Yep, that's me, GP coming to see BP. I got autographs from Browning, BP, Kriv, and Marty. They thanked me for coming all that way from St. Louis.

I thanked Browning for throwing the perfect game on my 14th b-day and for winning the 1990 World Series. You know he was happy to do that. I was telling BP how I called in to an Albert Pujols radio show in STL and told him to apologize to BP for nearly taking him out at 2B and Kriv interrupted and said how that was a terrible play. So I don't remember what BP said to me except I thanked him for the autograph and told him he's still a Gold Glover in my book. I told Marty how I enjoy listening to the games on WLW 700 AM and XM, but I forgot to play him my ringtone with his famous words "And this one belongs to the Reds!". Marty was nice enough to stop and pose for a photo opp with me and 'wow!' what a nice guy and a class act. All of them were well worth the trip. When Andrea picked us up and she could tell that I had just been to heaven. Thanks, Uncle Bob, for the Reds Caravan.

2008 St. Louis Auto Show

We went to the 2008 St. Louis Auto Show. We were hoping to see a big event, but we got there too early for that. We got to see all the latest models, but for some reason they didn't show the Batmobile and other concept cars. We made our rounds to all the displays, tried our luck at winning Andrea a Jeep, and even saw our Acadia (same color and everything).

There was a display for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Andrea saw they were giving away stuffed Cardinals teddy bears. I suddenly found myself talking to the newspaper guy and tried to back out of a newspaper that I can read for free online. My last ditch effort was to flash my Reds sweater underneath my coat to ward him off. "Sorry, the Cardinals aren't even my team," I said. He quickly came back with a "Hey, wait, we got one of those bears." He whips out a Reds teddy bear. "We've been trying to get rid of this one." Ha ha, yeah I see. So I got suckered in to getting the paper delivered on Sundays, made an improbable friend, got Blake a stuffed Reds teddy, and they even threw in a Cardinals backpack for Josh.

Well, if that wasn't the top story for the night... Just as we were giving up looking for the hot new concept cars (never saw any), we passed this fun Toyota display. Now, keep in mind, the Auto Show is nothing like going car shopping at the dealership. Instead of being hounded by car salesmen who know more about the cars than you do, the Auto Show is full of marketing people and runway models showing off the cars with memorized lines and Donald Trump-Apprentice-like gimmicks. This is more Show than Auto.

The Toyota display let guests stand in for a commercial video shoot. I have never been on TV, and I'm usually behind the camera - because that's what dads do. But the idea of making a video in front of a green screen just sounded like fun. So, I volunteered and was like the first of many to do it. They let me choose which car to stump for. I chose the Yaris, not knowing much of what it was. I read my cue-card and after 1 rehearsal I went live. I went for the college-age audience while flashing my cell phone as a prop and extolling the virtues of the "16 Valve to-the-Vizzle-Tizzle" VVT engine. I had a lot of fun doing it, and my boys got some free entertainment out of the deal. They even burned me a CD to take home.

Check my video:

Rock a bye Blak-e

Blake has taken to getting into the rocking chair himself after we put him to bed, we are not sure exactly what is going on but I think it is his way of finding comfort, due to jealousy for Juliana. Anyway often times we don't even know he has moved himself until we go to check on him and he is asleep in the chair. I can totally picture him rocking himself right out of the chair. But it is sooo cute. This morning he woke up really early and I went in changed him and put him back in bed, he fussed for a minute and then was quiet, when I peeked in on him he was getting out of the chair, I thought he had seen me but I shut the door and he was still quiet, when I checked in again a few minutes later, he had moved himself to his bed and was fast asleep. He can be such a sweet little boy.

Are you not eating your dinner too?

So Joel said I needed to share this moment with everyone.
On Monday we decided to go celebrate the holiday (MLK day) by going to Texas Roadhouse. Really we just were in the mood to go out but hey. So we are all eating and enjoying a really tasty dinner, well all except Blake (and Juliana, she ate before we left and slept the whole time we were out) But Blake was just too busy checking out everything around him. We were starting to finish up and we look over to see this little blonde head peaking over the top of the booth. Well Blake saw him finally and that was that, a friend for life, or at least until we left the restaurant. Blake ended up standing on his booster chair in order to get a good look at this kid, and the two of them were having a blast "talking" to each other and poking at the cactus on the railing. It really was cute. But Joel was like Blake is saying "hey, are you not eating your dinner too?" So true it was.
All in all we had a good time and Blake got to enjoy his left overs for lunch the next day.

Thanks For Lunch, Dave

On Saturday, I took Josh and his friend Nick to a St. Louis Blues hockey game. I knew a few months ago about the free food promotion and since the game time was at a family-friendly 1 o'clock on a Saturday (before "the regular crowd shuffles in"), I bought 3 tickets in advance just before they sold out.

At first Josh didn't want to go. I tried to convince him that hockey was like soccer on ice, but of course I got voted off that island. Then I bribed him with the free food line, like all the chicken fingers he could eat. Still no. I bluffed that I would sell the tickets - and that almost happened - but then I got wise and got one of his friends to go and make it cool.

Speaking of cool... it wasn't! It was a reported 18 degrees outside. And since Josh forgot his winter coat in his school locker on Friday, he chose to wear his 4th grade coat, considerably thinner and without a hood. We caught the Metrolink and braved the wind and the icy temps. The game barely started before we got there. Our seats were up at the top but the cool part was on our way we grabbed handfuls of chicken fingers, hot dogs, chips and soda. There was literally food everywhere in all the concession stands. Since there was no money exchange, the lines moved super fast. We somehow paid attention to the game while stuffing our faces. The stadium was jam packed with fans of all ages. We sat shoulder-to-shoulder, it was so tight. I told Josh to watch for the goals - most of them were for the other team - and any body crashes and fist fights. You don't get that in soccer! What caught our eye at first was this lady on the Jumbotron stuffing her face with hot dogs and soda and ignoring the action on the ice. They showed her face again 5 minutes later and she was still chomping away, oblivious to her 15 minutes of fame on the big screen. Finally, she picked up on it a third time and smiled at the camera and promptly slammed a Snickers bar in her mouth. Josh and his friend got a kick out of that. Later on, I actually heard Josh say "Let's Go Blues", probably because he felt sorry for their uncharacteristically poor play that day. We saw a fist fight - finally - and our guy got bodyslammed on the ice and ended up with his shirt pulled over his head. How embarrassing! When we left the game, I asked Josh how he liked it. He said it was okay but we lost the game and the fight. How right!

At the end of the game, Blues lost 5-2, we saw fans with signs saying, "Thanks for lunch, Dave." That would be new Blues owner, Dave Checketts. I like to call him Bro. Checketts because he is a member of our church. (Note: I am not really that big into hockey, but since it's the baseball offseason, the Blues have a fighting chance for the NHL playoffs and seem to be on the rise while the Rams and Cardinals are falling apart, I thought I'd give hockey a chance.)

To illustrate how cold it was, we were waiting for the Metro train to take us back home, I could feel my face go numb and the wind blow through my coat. I could only imagine it must've been worse for Josh with his tiny coat. (Note: he has since started wearing the warm hoodie we got him for Christmas.) Of course, while we were waiting for the train, the P.A. announced that our eastbound train was running late due to technical difficulties. Luckily Nick noticed 2 more of our church friends who were standing in the westbound line. I asked them if they knew where they were going. Good thing we showed them the way. It was a fun G.D.O. - Guys Day Out and we got to see a hockey game.

Fun at afternoon church

So I really wish I had a picture to share of this but you will all just have to visualize it for yourselves. We started afternoon church this year, which I was dreading and looking forward to all at once. Dreading because it is right in the middle of nap time for Blake and I wasn't sure how that would work out, and looking forward to because I get the extra time to get everyone up and dressed and out the door without being late.
Well we got to church with 1 minute to spare, and found a bench, also a nice thing. Well Blake decided that he was going to sit far away from any of us but hey he was sitting so I wasn't going to complain. During one of the songs Joel taps my arm and is like hey look, I look over and Blake had gotten a hymnal for himself and was sitting on the bench holding the book like "hey this is what I am supposed to be doing" Oh yeah the book was open and everything. Only problem was it was upside down. Oh well it was sooo cute.

Then to add to his cuteness he is walking to and from class greeting everyone in the hall with his adorable,, "HI!!". So he took a late nap when we got home but we had no problems at church. 1 week down 51 to go. :) Now if we can only get Juliana to sleep at night all will be great.

Count Your Blessings in 2008

Happy New Year 2008 to all. WHEW! We had a breeze of a year! And if you thought I was referring to an easy year, think again. More like, "Where did the year go?"

We had a few highlights, but the best highlight of them all was saved for last. Juliana joined our family just 2 weeks before Christmas on Dec 11th. Those who know the Conte family, we have waited a long time for a Conte girl. She is healthy and cute as a button. She will hopefully add balance to the boys in the home.

As we begin the new year, let me first give thanks to those who blessed our lives last year. Many of you just gave friendship and others reached out in service to us. We hope we can "pay it forward" this new year

I think New Year's Resolutions come and go, but most of them are for improving self and family. I know our goals this year are to get out of debt and to prepare for our growing family in the future. And maybe even get back in shape!

Stay tuned to this blog to see where life will take us this year.

Juliana's Baby Blessing

Our Christmas Angel Juliana was blessed in church on Sunday, December 30th, 2007. Her Grandma Wells handmade her dress and the bonnet she wore was the same her mother wore at her baby blessing. Here are some photos. It was short and sweet. We wished you could all have been there but we hope even more to see you soon.