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Today the Jr. Bulldogs won 33-16 for a 7-0 season-Brian was happy. Last Friday his team got to wear their uniforms and sit together at the varsity game. At halftime, they were recognized on the field for their undefeated record. We've seen the varsity coaches at their games several times, doing a little scouting, and hoping for the future. We've had fun watching the boys. Speaking of last Friday-we were all happy! The varsity Bulldogs won their first playoff game 42-6. How could we possibly leave yet? So far the weather report doesn't include the words ice or snow, so we're hoping the weather saints are on our side. They play in Columbus, NE, Friday night, about 2 hours west. After that game, we'll head to Branson. If Jake and the guys make it to state, we'll drive up in the jeep to see them. Regardless how they do, we've sure enjoyed the games!!!

QUITE A WEEK

Other than the hacking incident, our week has been quite nice, with the ups and downs in the continuing saga of the Mulert grandchildren's sports events. Dan is done with cross country and currently has started wrestling practice. He had a successful season and improved his times. This is from his last run.

Joe finished his short season of soccer, winning three games and the fouth ended in a tie. You may be able to see a smile on #4.

Joe had his first basketball game yesterday and plays pretty good defense. Brian's football team is undefeated and some have been blowouts. He has another game today. He also has started playing basketball for a YMCA team. He's not the tallest, but he's a real scrapper. He's very happy, because he also made the the 8th grade basketball team at Beveridge Middle School-he's spending a lot of time at practices. His football team posed for a team picture in front of the containers of food they collected for the food bank-#42 is smiling.

Jenna finished her volleyball season yesterday as a freshman on the JV team. We saw her improve and do very well. Next month she starts playing again on her club team. She's behind #2.

A week ago it was Senior's night at Jake's varsity game. Here is #55 in the middle of his parents.

He really was happy later, after they won the game and the district championship. Happy enough to even hug grandma! The win also clinched a spot in the playoffs. This Friday, they got a little revenge on the #1 team in the state by beating them in overtime. Wow, were they happy! They're now seeded #1 in the playoffs which begin this coming Friday. We certainly plan on staying this week and then it's in the hands of the weather saints! (Thinking of saints-we're extremely blessed with 6 grandchildren who are not only good athletes and great scholars, but good kids. Who would of thunk it?)

QUITE A DAY

Well, it's been quite a day!!! Our phone has been ringing all day. For those who are worried, we're in Omaha, and we're just fine. It would be fun to be in London-I could do research on my mother's family. However, sad to say, it's a scam. Our e-mail account has been hijacked and we're unable to get into it, so, if any of you sent us e-mails today-we didn't get them. It happened to Don's brother last week. Don's working on it and we'll probably have a new address. Right now he's trying to figure out a way to retrieve our address book. We were at volleyball all evening and at the dentist in the morning, so his time has been limited. We hope this doesn't happen to any of you. But-trying to look at the bright side-we enjoyed hearing from all of you, especially the friends who were willing to send us money to get home. It's a nice feeling to know people care! We'll keep you posted.

SCULPTURES???

On Tuesday, we switched back to Lake Manawa in Council Bluffs, and are happy to be walking the trail here, that doesn't have any hills. Yea! We're still walking as far, and we have our cute little circles to keep track. (Note to Rotary members in Decorah-your new trail would be enhanced with these circles-it was a Rotary project here. I'll stop with my suggestions now, because Mulert accuses me of trying to change or beautify every place I see. And you all know I'm afraid of Don's ire!) Anyway, we're back here and I just had to show you the new 3 million dollar sculptures on a bridge in Council Bluffs. Not exactly my idea of beauty

Here's a closeup of two of them.

I sure hope a skydiver doesn't land on one of these things-it could be brutal! As though they aren't enough of a conversation piece around here, they actually made the national news. Rush thought they spent taxpayer money on them, but apparently the money came from a local art group. I wonder how many accidents will be caused by these. If you'd like a look, just take a spin down Interstate 80-you can drive under them!

WALK, WALK, WALK

I know we sometimes get a thrill out of strange things, but then no one ever accused me of being normal. We were excited last week, when we finally made it around the lake, and could still breathe! This shows where the trail begins.

And this is the "thing of beauty" where the trail ends.

Yea!!!!!!! Who'd of thunk Mulerts could go that far?

FITZTOBERFEST

Last Saturday, we took a quick trip to Grinnell to attend Fitztoberfest at the home of Pat and Kathy Fitzgerald with their children and families and some of our old friends. Our daughter Heidi also joined us for a couple hours. Here Pat is giving a golf cart ride around the pond to Ava and Max, Bill and Suzi Hansen's grandchildren.

Fitz did a terrible job pinning the nose on the pumpkin.

The hayride looked like fun, but I decided to skip the possibility of hives, and take pictures instead.

They seemed to have fun.

Later more people arrived, some we hadn't seen in a long time. The food was delicious, the people were great fun-even the weather was wonderful. Thanks again for the invite!!!

SOCCER

Joe's in 6th grade and is playing soccer for Catlin Elementary. Last Thursday was his first game-they won, and he did very well. He seems to really like it. He had an interesting play that he called a "tree trunk"-it looked good, but I have no idea what it was!

Here he is in action.

He also played goalie and did well!

As you can see by these entries, we're busy with sports events. It's lots of fun!

JUNIOR BULLDOG FOOTBALL

Brian is in 8th grade and plays for the Burke Jr. Bulldogs. He's finally started to grow and now is almost at my eye level. At this age, it hampers him a little, because he looks shorter. He makes up for it in knowledge of the game,team spirit and strength. He doesn't always start, but has been playing a lot. They've won every game so far, and some with high scores. Sunday they got to play on the UNO field (University of Nebraska-Omaha), and played a team from Grand Island, NE. In their first 5 plays, they scored four times. The coach had them play in different positions, they ran the clock, etc. so it wouldn't be too brutal. Brian's # is 42-he plays linebacker on defense and center on offense in black.





I owe Brian a picture so you can see what he looks like-the one I took is really fuzzy!

VARSITY FOOTBALL

Jake is a senior this year and is the center for the Burke Bulldogs, which have had a great year so far. We missed the first two games-they won the first and lost the second. They've won the four games we've seen, last week in overtime. Jake, as usual, has left a few guys wiped out on the field-a pretty strong fella! He's especially proud of wrecking two homecomings-what a guy! There are three more games and maybe playoffs, since they're currently rated fifth in the state. This Friday is homecoming-hopefully his won't be spoiled. Here he's about to snap the ball. (#55 in white)

After the first offensive possession, Jake meets with the offensive line coach, and tells him what the defensive line did. It's his job to watch them. Here he's reporting.

I don't see him dressed up very often, so I snapped a quick one at a volleyball game on team dinner day.

VOLLEYBALL

Jenna is a freshman this year and she made the junior varsity volleyball team. It was a little tough in the beginning because she didn't know any of the girls since they're older, but she's fit in just fine. She's been doing very well. It's a good thing she's used to having four brothers. That way she's not too embarassed when her older brother watches some of the games with the football team and hollers dumb things at her like, "Make it rain, Mulert!" She just rolls her eyes, and hits the ball. She's #9.

Here she's in black.

She's moving so fast, she's like a ghost!

CROSS COUNTRY

We've been to several of Dan's cross country meets in all kinds of weather. Once we had rain gear on and had umbrellas and I could still wring out my shorts before I got in the car. Dan has done well this year, (he's a junior), and has a couple medals to prove it. He had a bit of trouble but an inhaler seems to have helped. He just started running last year and has made a lot of progress. Of course his grandfather couldn't help giving him a few words of advice after seeing him wave at a girl as he ran by-Don told him he should keep his eye on the path. This is really funny when you consider he's never been a runner, AND-he never keeps his eye on the road, especially in spring when girls start wearing shorts. But, I digress. Hears Dan, running by. (He's in black.)

A medal ceremony.

He's third from the right. Five out of the top seven winners were from Burke High School.

He humored me and posed for this one.