Nature Camp at Story County Conservation

The kids enjoyed another great year at Story County Conservation's Nature Camp the last full week of July.  This year Lanie was a frog and Carter a waterbug:)  Matthew was even able to come to the end of week celebration with us! Carter enjoyed going to the Skunk River one day during the week to hunt for tadpoles and minnows.  Lanie liked looking for bugs and butterflies.  I am so thankful for the kind staff at SCC for taking care of both of our kids during that week.

Summer Bucket List #34: Reiman Gardens

                                 Yes, that butterfly in the background is a lego sculpture too:)

We finally made it to Reiman Gardens in early August:)  The lego sculptures were amazing!  I took pictures of many of them but my favorite was the lily pads and jumping fish.  Of course the best bird feeder in the competition was the pig!  The kids' stamina has increased and we were able to really take it slow and enjoy the beautiful plants. 

Summer Bucket List # 20: Go see Nicole and family

It was so nice to get away for a night, with Matthew, to go see Nicole and Jay and the kids.  We spent most of Saturday downtown at the Crown Center.  So much to see!  Matthew grilled us burgers and we boiled sweetcorn too for supper back at the house.  Baby Claire is just beautiful and as always Ellie makes us smile:) 

Summer 2012 Bucket List: #37 Visit a Zoo

After Matthew's last day as Marshalltown Perkins General Manager, he wanted us to get away as a family.  It had been over 5 years since we'd been to the Omaha Zoo and he wanted to go back:)  We went to Old Market to walk around in the evening and ate at Zio's Pizzeria.  Back at the hotel we even got Matthew in the pool!  It was early to bed so we could be early to rise, with temperatures in nearing 106 we wanted to be sure to get there right at opening before it was too hot.

My personal favorite this time was the gorillas.  The one on the right leaned his tired head against the glass and looked at us for the longest time with adorable eyes.  Carter is matching his hand on the glass to the one on left:)  Matthew's favorite was the bears, Lanie's was the alligator, and Carter's was "the puma or the bobcat."

Summer 2012 Bucket List: # 45 and #46 Story County Fair and Snow Cones

Snow cones may be the only thing in the world that hasn't increased in price since I was kid:)  It was fun to see what kind each person picked.  Cherry and Rootbeer for Carter, Blue Raspberry for Lanie, and as always Watermelon for me.

Summer 2012 Bucket List: # 21 Go see Jennifer

Last weekend the kids and I left town to go see my good friend and former colleague Jennifer and her family.  We had so much catching up to do both personally and professionally:)  The kids picked up their friendship right where they left off last year, teasing each other and having fun together immediately.  They also had an additional friend to play with, Jennifer and Rod's new baby boy Parker, who is already almost 1:) The kids played in the yard riding bikes most of Saturday and then we went to a park in Marion that had a huge playground and nice splash pad.   Sunday we walked over to Bella's school and played there.  Jennifer, as always, is my mentor for patience, calmness, curiosity professionally, and maturity. 

Summer 2012 Bucket List: #39 Bowling

Today seemed like the perfect day to bowl.  Swimming lessons were canceled and thank goodness, the rain just kept coming:)  I loaded the 5 daycare kids and Carter and Lanie up to bowl at Perfect Games in Ames.  At first most of the kids were not interested at all, but after they began to understand the strategy and technique and actually were trying not to use the bumpers, they were having fun.  We cheered loudly for each other and gave lots of high fives.  2 games were enough, but what fun we had:)

Summer 2012 Bucket List #5 Campfire at our house

Although the campfire was very small and was almost out by the time the marshmallows were roasted, it was a great first time for a campfire at our house as a family.  Matthew helped the kids roast the cheese brats on a skewer and then of course the best part was the delicious smores right afterwards.  Iowa weather right now is just perfect, mid 80's during the day, so by 7:30 when we were eating, it was low 80's with a great breeze.