We were at a friend’s farm this evening for their annual Independence Day party. It was a weird weather evening, but the shape of the storms made for a beautiful sunset.
Farm Sunset
Northern Lights
We received word late tonight that the Northern Lights were visible in Des Moines. The whole family quickly hit the road and drove to a golf course outside of town. We’ve done this before and failed. Tonight was a major success. The pictures are way more amazing than the live experience, but the live experience was still very cool.
Eclipse
There was an eclipse. We couldn’t travel because of some obligations in town, but we made the most of it. Cracker Barrel came through with some last-minute glasses and we pulled the girls out of school. It was fun.
Snowboarding at Mt. Clive
One of Andrew’s goals while he was home for winter break was to snowboard on Mt. Clive. Mt. Clive is a big pile of dirt the city uses for projects and is located at the back of a prairie near our house. The city recently took a huge chunk off the front, creating a drop that Andrew couldn’t resist. Andrew was out there for a while in temperatures that were so cold it was hurting our hands when we took the video. He was determined, but Mt. Clive came out on top today. Andrew thinks he could have done it if he had his regular snowboard that he uses in Colorado. His final attempt is below.
More snow!
It snowed another 8 inches or so and we now have a lot of snow on the ground! The temperature also dropped to super cold, but that didn’t stop the girls from building a cool tunnel/fort in the snow bank on the side of our driveway.
First Snow
We had our first big snow of the year through yesterday and today. I think it was 8-10 inches of snow.
First Snow
Senior Picture Prep
Mari’s senior pictures are coming up this week and Susan, Lucia, Rose, Ruben and I went location scouting, in the rain.
Friday – Jacksonville Beach
No college visits today, so after an early lunch we headed to the beach.
January Catch-Up
Colorado Visit
This past weekend we went to Colorado to spend the weekend with Andrew. He is on Fall Break at school, which lined up nicely with his birthday. We left Des Moines on Friday, picked up Andrew, and then went to Woodland Park, which is up the hill from Colorado Springs. We spent Saturday and Sunday exploring the area and then on Monday we drove Andrew back to school and headed home.
It was great to see Andrew again and get the gang back together. We all miss having him around.
Colorado Getaway
After dropping Andrew off at college, Susan and I got to spend a couple of days in Colorado. We moved to Idaho Springs and hike to St. Mary’s Glacier on Thursday and then Mt. Flora on Friday.
