Congrats Illini!

Congratulations to the Illini on winning the South Padre Island Invitational Tournament and starting the year at 6-0. This team has played with a lot of heart and is beginning to erase some of the pain from last year. They have been in a lot of close games and have found a way to win. I'm not saying that they are a great team, but they are a team you can be proud to support. Go Illini!

Maisenbacher House

November 22nd - Excuse me, there is a house blocking the road! On Saturday after Brandon's basketball game, we drove downtown so I could show the kids the house in the middle of the road. They relocated this old house in order to save it from being demolished due to the Springfield Clinic expansion. It started off as an interesting story with the house being moved through town. Now the story has changed into a political hot potato. The city helped pay for part of the move, and the mayor was asking for more funds to complete the move to the new location. An old building was demolished to create the new home for it and there is not a foundation built yet for the house. It has to be off the wheels it is on now within 30 days, but now the funding for the foundation is in jeopardy. There have been many stories in the SJ-R on the house (October 7th, October 9th, November 11th, November 19th, November 21st, November 22nd). I've added two videos from the newspaper on the preparation of the move and the actual move below my pictures.

Video of the preparation of the move.

Video of the move to the new location.

Native American Day

Brittany had her Native American day at her school. Angie went to help out while they did lots of crafts and had a fun day at school. Since there hasn't been any bad repercussions from Brandon's Native American Day from last year (NCAA ban, protesters camping out, etc.), I let Brittany participate this year.

Brittany sporting a big smile for the camera.

Brittany making her traditional Indian pasta necklace. (I really learn a lot about Indians that I did not know!)

I didn't realize that Native Americans used to play bingo. I guess that is how they started getting into the casino industry.

Thanksgiving Play

November 25th - Brandon had his Thanksgiving Play at school today. He was Massasoit, Chief of the Wampanoag in the play of The First Thanksgiving. Everyone did a really good job in the play. I have the video of the play below divided into three clips. Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone!

Opening of Play

Thanksgiving Play - Clip 1 from Brian Turner on Vimeo.

Brandon's part and bulk of Play

Thanksgiving Play - Clip 2 from Brian Turner on Vimeo.

Final Credits of the Play

Thanksgiving Play - Clip 3 from Brian Turner on Vimeo.

Mr. Yellow Belt

November 19th - Brandon had testing this past week in his karate class and has now earned his yellow belt. He has practiced really hard. He was really excited that he got his belt and is looking forward to many more to come. Congratulations Brandon!

Circus Time

November 15th - While I was at the Illinois - OSU game and the Chief performance, Angie and the kids went to the circus with the McKeowns. Angie said that it was not as good as it had been from past years, but it was still a lot of fun for the kids. Brandon and Maddie rode ponies that you can see on Janet's blog, while Brittany and Melanie rode an elephant:

Waiting to climb on the elephant.

Here we go!

What's a circus without a bear riding a bicycle?!?!

As an added bonus, here are photos from the 2006 Shriners Circus:

Turner Halloween Party

October 25th - Since we were going to be out of town for Halloween and the kids were going to miss the traditional trick or treating in the neighborhood, Angie decided to have a Halloween party at the house for the kids and some of their friends. Originally we were going to have outside acitivites, but that weekend it turned really cold and we knew we needed to bring it indoors. Angie planned out various activity stations for the kids that they won prizes at each one. We had the infamous pumpkin bean bag toss game, along with the musical pumpkin, halloween bingo, craft table and many more. The kids had a lot of fun on the evening and really wore me out. I had to keep a close eye on the kid that dressed as a Cub player as I was concerned about him choking!!!!!!!

Cub Scout Firehouse Visit

October 25th - Brandon's cub scout troop visited the fire station and learned some tips about fire safety. The kids really enjoyed getting to see the firetrucks up close, seeing the firemen's gear, and where they spend their time at the fire house. As you can tell, they had a fun morning.

New Feature

I have made a Thanksgiving Resolution (should be as good as a New Year's Resolution) to try and keep my blog a little more updated. I am behind on posting and will try to catch up over the next few weeks. I just finished creating a couple of photo books on Snapfish and it got me to looking at some of our old pictures. I thought I would start posting a random picture each week (located to the right) as a way of sharing some of the older pictures with everyone. I am just randomly picking a folder and choosing a picture from it. As it changes each week, you can click the photo and see a photo album of all the previous weeks photos. Wish me luck on my Turkey Resolution!

Habitat Day, What Did You Say?

October 19th - Brandon had Habitat Day at school. When Grandma and Grandpa were up for the weekend, he wanted to take them to the habitat area next to his school to show them all the stuff he learned. He made up a motto for the day, "Habitat Day, What Did You Say?" It was a nice day and we had a good, long walk around the area. You can see some of the fun in the slideshow below:

Farmingdale Basketball

Brandon finished up his short basketball league this weekend. He has really improved since last year and enjoyed it a lot more. He was willing to take his shot if he got it, but he also always looked to pass the ball to someone else if they were more open. At his last game, I took a couple of short video clips of him in action.

Rebound and Put Back

Brandon Basketball 2008 - 1 from Brian Turner on Vimeo.

I'm Open / Followed By His Skip

Brandon Basketball 2008 - 2 from Brian Turner on Vimeo.

Brandon On The Break

Brandon Basketball 2008 - 3 from Brian Turner on Vimeo.

The Chief Returns!!!!!!

For the first time since February 2007, Chief Illiniwek made another appearance in Champaign. He even showed up in the horseshoe during halftime. During the band's traditional 3-in-1 performance, I heard cheering to my right and saw the Chief walking from one side to the other of the horseshoe stands. He stood at the other side with his arms raised until the end of would have been his normal performance and then disappeared back under the stands. After the football game on this very cold and windy Saturday, they had the Chief's "Next Dance" at the Assembly Hall. The student organization, Students for Chief Illiniwek, rented out the Assembly Hall and sold tickets to a tribute to the Chief. They had ten former Chiefs present, a video tribute of the Chief and its honored history, and a few people that spoke. After that, Chief Illiniwek performed his traditional dance while an alumni band played the 3-in-1. It was truly a great event. I videotaped the performance on my camera:

Chief Illiniwek's Next Dance from Brian Turner on Vimeo.

UPDATE: There is also a good version of the dance and video presentation on YouTube here.

Here's a panoramic picture that I took of Assembly Hall with everyone leaving after Chief's performance.

Happy Veterans Day!

Brittany and Brandon pose with his 2nd Place poster he did for veterans!