200

200. What does that mean? A prequel to a Gerard Butler movie? The number of laps in the Indy 500? Rosie O'Donnell's weight when she was 14? All good guesses, but not applicable for this entry. For me, 200 is a milestone. Two years of focus and hard work. Two years of beer drinking. Yes, after a little over two years, I finally did it. I made it into the Ring of Honor.

Let me fill you in. In Downtown Kansas City, there's a bar called the "Flying Saucer". Based down in Texas, there are fewer than 15 of these places across the country. They are beer bars. At any one time, they have over 200 beers available. Not only domestic stuff, but the best from around the world. A good chunk of those are on tap. They are somehow able to get really good and really rare stuff on a regular basis. Racer X from Bear Republic in California. Cask conditioned Hop Slam from Bell's in Michigan. Trappistes Rochfort 10 from Belgium. Good stuff! Anyway, they have a program where if you try 200 different beers (no more than three per day), you get your own personalized plate on the wall. My big day was May 13, 2010. My after lunch beer for #200 was a Westmalle Dubbel.

Serving me my 200th was the lovely Casey...

So, a week and a half later, I had my plate unveiling party on a Saturday Night. I was asked to come to the bar, actually, get on top of the bar, with one of the manager's where my exploits were announced to the teeming masses. Thankfully, I was not asked to do any "Coyote Ugly" moves while on top of the bar.

Next, it was off to pull the shroud from the plate. First I needed to stop and get the accolades from the fan club...

So here it is. I'm the 108th person at this Flying saucer to enter the club. I'm actually in a pretty good spot. I'm along the main wall on the west side out in the open.

A final thanks to the person who probably has served me more beers at the Saucer than anyone else. Thanks Lani!

Feathers, Cleats, and Lace

It's Spring time in the big City. When we're not dodging the rain which never seems to stop, we're taking the girls to one of their games or events. This Spring, we've added another sport to our itinerary. Sara has decided to play softball. She's never played a competitive sport before, let alone swung a bat, so we were a bit unsure how things would turn out. Well, it turns out that she really loves to play. She has cleats, a pink glove, and a pink bat, so she's ready to go. She's already gotten her first hit and has scored. Pretty cool. The girls don't have one position, so Sara's been able to play in the outfield, at catcher, and as the pitcher (although the coaches pitch). Here she is at pitcher...

At catcher...

And at the plate...

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Sara had her first communion a few weeks ago. She was wearing the same veil that her Aunt Karen wore on her first communion, 30 some years ago.

Meanwhile, Libby has been busy as well. After Sara's first communion, Libby and I went out on an 18-mile bike ride (her longest ever). We rode from Shawnee Mission Park, north to the Kansas River, and back again. It's pretty hilly, and she was a beast on the climbs. Here's Libby at the halfway point...

Libby is also in the choir at school and the Spring concert had a Hollywood theme. To go along with the movie themed music, they were to dress up as their favorite movie star or character. It's pretty obvious whom Libby chose...

(If you can't figure it out, it's Cruella De Vil!)

Libby is also quite the artist. Two of her art projects were in the Shawnee Mission School District Art Fair. She was the only kid in her school with two pieces in the Art Fair (only 14 kids in her school were selected for the showing). This is a piece that was based on an Archie and Jughead comic strip.

Finally, besides her regular weekly dance class, Sara was in the tumbling program at school. They had their "Open House" last Friday after school.