Every night before bed Susan and I get the pleasure of checking on all of our sleeping kids. A couple of months ago we moved Lucia into a big bed with Mari and Elliot into a room with Andrew. Elliot would rather sleep in the room with Mari and Lucia (probably because he has slept in the same room as Mari his entire life) so we made a little bed for him with our futon mattress. Sometimes it is quite a sight!
Yesterday we celebrated Andrew’s 11th birthday. It is hard to believe how old he is getting! This past year Andrew has really opened up and is becoming more comfortable interacting with new places and people. He continues to enjoy many activities, including anything involving balls, wheels, or music. His favorite song right now is ‘Hey Ya’, by Outkast. He still likes staying up late and sleeping as late as we will let him. He reads all the time and this year for his birthday one of the things he received was a gift card to Mayhem Collectibles, where he wanted to buy some comic books. While we continue to have Skyline every year on his birthday, his favorite food is ‘Chicken Noodle Soup Bread Bowl’ from Panera.
Today we hit the Farm Crawl with the Reagens. We visited several farms about an hour outside of Des Moines.
Today we went on our annual trip to Adventureland with the Reagens. We could not make it during the summer and today turned out to be the perfect day, with plenty of sunshine and very short lines.
I was hoping to do more with these, but time is not on my side, so I decided to just include them all separately.
Adventureland 2014
The kids on the raging river
Susan, Erin, and Nate on the Raging River
The ladies on the Sawmill Splash
Andrew and Ian on the Storm Chaser
Andrew in the Juggling Show
The Search Begins
The Search Ends
This afternoon we were back at Jester Park for our Nature Guild hikes. I think we are entering our 4th year and there is now a traditional cookout after the first and last meetings of the year (and sometimes in between). It was great to get out and enjoy the cool weather.
Fun Around the Campfire
This past weekend Susan and the kids once again participated in Meals from the Heartland, and helped pack over 4,000 meals for people in need. Overall the event packaged over 4 million meals.
Today Mari had her first violin lesson. I didn’t get to go to the lesson and it was great to hear the sound of the violin in the house!
Mari Playing the Violin
in 3rd grade we like the kids to start learning an instrument. Andrew has been taking piano lessons for almost 2 years now and Mari has decided to start the violin. We went to the music store today to get her violin and now it is off to the races. Not really. We can’t even figure out how to make a sound. Mari has her first lesson tomorrow.
In other news, Susan and I had dinner with some friends tonight and Erin watched the kids for us, including Lucia. When Erin asked the kids, “Who made this mess?” Lucia answered “Pickle.” She thinks her name is pickle, which is what Susan calls her sometimes. if you ask her what her name is, she says “Pickle.” Hilarious.
Our new house has a nice, big driveway, almost perfect for a basketball hoop. Last week we were on a walk and we noticed that one of our neighbors, about 4 blocks away, had a hoop that was used so infrequently that it was being grown over by a nearby tree. I told Susan that I wish we could just ask them if we could have it.
Well, they had a yard sale this weekend and Susan bought it for $5! All I had to do was haul it down the street and we were ready to play!
Today we made out annual visit to the Iowa State Fair. We usually like to go in the evening, but this summer has been busy and we had to find time during the day today to make it happen. It was a cool, rainy day, which made for smaller crowds and less stress. Still, by the end of the day, we were all tired.
If there is music, Lucia can’t keep from dancing.
Today we dropped Andrew off at Catholic Youth Camp. Susan went as a kid and worked as a counselor when she was older. Andrew was super-excited. We pick him up on Wednesday and can’t wait to hear about his time.
There was nothing on the calendar for today, so we decided to knock-out a few summertime standards. This morning we hit the Downtown Farmers’ Market, where we enjoyed some treats from La Mie and our traditional fried rice and egg rolls, which I think we get every time.
After the farmers’ market we headed to hooping in the park, where our friend Leah was leading this week. She had everyone working on some new skills. WE all have fun hooping and hanging out with a fun group of people.
By mid-afternoon we were back home for Lucia’s nap and some downtime. By 4 we were on the road again, headed to Ledges State Park. Ledges State Park is n area near the Des Moines river with the corn fields suddenly turn into a beautiful canyon that has been carved out of the sandstone. It offers some interesting hikes and a great creek that flows right through the heart of the park. We hiked, ate a nice picnic dinner, and then the kids enjoyed playing in the creek.
