The Lieslands

simply livin' it up

Happy Birthday Lucia

We sang Happy Birthday to Lucia tonight, with just our family. She didn’t go to school today, but is feeling much better.

Missing In Action

Today was Lucia’s birthday party, but we didn’t take any pictures because she was not feeling well. We still had the Hylands, Liesses, and Reagens over for dinner, but Lucia wasn’t feeling well, so it was a short night.

Neighborhood Birthday Party

The neighborhood kids put together a birthday party for Lucia in the pine tree in our street.

Rose’s Soccer Game

Cold Fans
Rose In Action

Howell’s Pumpkin Patch

Mar-Mar and Be-Bob arrived in town this afternoon. We picked up the girls early from school and headed to Howell’s Pumpkin Patch for Lucia’s birthday. This will be our third year in a row.

Bath Tub Train
Bath Tub Train
More Bath Tub Train
Corn Maze
Happy Howelloween

Conference Cross Country Meet

It was the conference cross country meet for Mari and Elliot this afternoon, their last meet of the season. They both had good seasons and I already can’t wait for next year.

Elliot, near the finish.
Mari, near the start.

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.

Hanging out in Andrew’s dorm room.
Touring campus.
The girls and Reggie.
Dinner at In-N-Out
Garden of the Gods.
Climbing
Andrew worked hard to get to this spot.
Mari
Susan and Rob
Family, minus me.
Sunday – We drove up Pikes Peak
We didn’t take the cog railway, but it was cool.
Pikes Peak Visitor Center
Rose and Lucia on a hike.
Susan and Rob on a hike.
The kids, on a hike
Still on a hike
Family pic, with Pikes Peak in the background
Andrew’s birthday dinner at Casa Grande
Andrew’s birthday dessert at Casa Grande
Happy (almost) Birthday, Andrew!

Rose’s Soccer Practice

Rose is playing 8U soccer this year with West Des Moines Soccer. I am her team’s coach. Susan took a few pictures at practice tonight.

Go!

RACE Day

Today was RACE Day at the girls’ school. RACE stands for Run Around Crossroads Elementary.

Rose’s class at the start.
Us all at the finish.
Lucia running.

Lucia and some friends.
After RACE Day we went to Menchies with some friends.

Knoxville Cross Country Meet

This afternoon we went to Knoxville for a Cross Country meet for Mari and Elliot. It was finally nice, cool weather and running around the golf course in Knoxville was beautiful, but I hear it was hilly.

Mari at the start
Elliot chasing the gator, which is a good place to be.
The girls JV team, or at least some of it.
The boys JV team

Pine Tree Island

Our house is on a corner that is structured like a cul-de-sac. In the center of the cul-de-sac is a big pine tree that the neighborhood kids have fun playing in.

Rose climbing the pine tree.

Homecoming Dance

This Saturday was Valley’s Homecoming Dance. Mari and Elliot were in the parade on Thursday with the cross country crew and tonight was the dance.

Mari went with friends: Caroline, Nissa, Loran, Lila, and Mari.
Elliot went with a cross country group: Greta, Elliot, Callie, Aiden, CoCo, Will, Autumn, and Jack