Friday, July 23, 2010

RAGBRAI!

Well the countdown is over. Tomorrow I pack up my bike and head to Sioux City. There we are going to camp overnight and start our 450 mile bike ride early Sunday morning (5am.) There are 10,000 registered riders...so sure it is going to be a madhouse!

You can follow my daily ride at www.ragbrai.com to see what I am up to. The daily routes are posted there and give great details!

Pictures and stories to come!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Auntie Em's Birthday and Pool Adventure

This weekend came and went too fast! I kept the Kenna home Friday and we had quite the girls day. First was swimming lessons, then lunch at Palmers, then we ran errands (which included a very long trip to American Furniture - it was Kenna's "job" to make sure she sat on every sofa), then we went swimming with Chloe and Lucy. American was time well spent as we found a few sofa's and entertainment centers we liked. But, with no nap, Kenna was in meltdown mode by the time Chloe got to the pool. Luckily as we were leaving (after 30 minutes) she saw some more of her friends come in and she calmed down. The splinter in her foot was really ruining her day. We had a snowcone and calmed down, then had a really great day after that!

Daddy picked up Zachary and we all went back to American and bought a sofa and entertainment center. We are excited to get them in a few weeks, and have spent a lot of time getting rid of stuff in the basement. Emmi is having a garage sale in a few weeks and we will definitely be crashing!!! PS - if you clicked on the links, ignore the prices...we basically got 50% off!!!

Saturday I got up early and headed out to ride my bike to Kathy and Denny's. Luckily there is a bike trail that goes from Ankeny to Slater, then one that goes from Slater to Cambridge. The last 3 miles were the worst as they were all uphill! Yuck! But it was 34 miles and I wasn't even sore the next day...so I think I am ready for Ragbrai next week! We had a fun day, celebrating Emmi's birthday. The kids went swimming and we got to hear a little bit about their 2 week california adventure!

This morning was less exciting, as we spent the morning playing, cleaning and going to the grocery store. Then after nap, we went to the local pool. Zachey was a little leery at first, but by the end he was splashing, playing, and going way deeper than I felt comfortable with :) Kenna is doing pretty good, just starting to feel comfortable putting her face in the water. She will be doing great by the end of next week's swimming lesson for sure!

Thought I would also put something that I found hilarious in here. We were driving to the store today and singing along to "california girls" by katie perry (I think.) There is a line that says - California girls we melt your popsicle-oh oh oh oh. Kenna says "mom - those girls are naughty. They melted her popsicle!" She was very upset...hilarious.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Notalotta Pix

We have had a LOT going on...but maybe so much I forgot to take pictures....oops! I will do my best to recap our crazy lives the last few weeks :)

After we got back from Grandpa Bob's wedding I had a few business trips to go on. I came back on a Tuesday, finished my last class for the summer, then went to Omaha and did an overnight on Thursday. The next week I was in Saint Louis for 3 days. I do love St. Louis, but was very busy with work. I did get to stock up on some Trader Joe favorites though - I do miss that store!!! They are building one in Des Moines this year. Josh has been so great playing single dad during my trips. I think he has fun though. He makes his signature dish - chicken pesto, and he invited Andersen's over for dinner.

--kenna looks crazy after dinner--

--Lucy enjoyed dinner--

--the girls--

On my way back from St. Louis I only had a 45 minute layover....which I didn't think anything of. Well, the plane left 35 minutes late. I was definitely worried that I wasn't making it home that night. As soon as we landed in Minneapolis I took off and had to run 40 gates in 10 minutes. Guess my Ragbrai training has been paying off because I made it!! Good thing too, I wouldn't want to miss the summerfest parade!

On the 10th Kenna and I got up early and went to reserve our normal "spot" for the summerfest parade. Most years people leave their blankets and chairs out overnight to reserve the perfect spot. This year we just got there about an hour and a half early to make sure we had a shady spot near the front. It isn't quite like the parades I remember with horses and clown cars, but it definitely has a lot more candy! The kids came home with an entire shopping bag full. Kenna has since forgotten about it in the pantry, but it is a tad excessive.

--kenna and I waiting for the parade to start--

--zachey--

--Maddie, Gracie, Macie, Kenna, Daddy and Damon--

--Andersen's on the left - we saved a spot for them, Kohl's and Gentry's. Auntie Em and Kade came too--

--mommy trying to real in Zachey so he doesn't get run over by a firetruck--

We had a fun day. We are also excited because we have decided to start actually furnishing the basement. Right now it is finished, but we have our ancient TV down there and a poker table. Oh, and the free piano we scored on craigslist. So, when Josh was in Seattle he asked Rika if she would mind using her newly acquired interior decorating degree to help us out. Below is what we are aiming for :)

We really want it to be a cozy space with the focus being on a sweet TV (that we have yet to purchase.) We are going to install a bar with fridge and there is some storage too. Aside from the color of the bar we are probably going to stick pretty closely with Rika's design. And we are excited to get started!

After the parade and nap we went to Homemakers and tried to find the perfect sofa. What a disaster! The kids were cranky and bored and hungry...so we left with no sofa and irritated kids - but we got started!

Another fun event this summer is Kenna'a first swimming lessons! We decided to go with the country club because the class sizes are smaller and it is really close to our house and Eski's.

--there are two pools, this small one and a larger one. They started in the kiddy one--

--having bubble races--

I am surprised at the lack of fear Kenna has for the water. She has learned to go underwater with her face and reach for toys, jump in the water, lay on her back with assistance, flutter kick, and the arms for a front crawl. Her favorite part so far are the goggles :)

Next week she will continue to get comfortable in water where she can't touch and by the end should be able to kick on a noodle by herself. It is nice because there are two instructors and 3 kids so she is getting lots of individual attention!

The rest of the pictures are rather random :)

--Zachey is getting better at using his spoon! Tonight he ate stuffed bell pepper with assistance--

--Josh was trying out the new EyeFi and took a picture of a picture. We love this canvas of Kenna....hanging on our main wall--

--another artsy shot, but we brought in a bunch of these hydrangeas from our yard and they are so pretty!--

I am now busy planning for Grandma Rue's visit, Josh's weeklong fishing trip in canada and my weeklong bikeride across Iowa. Hopefully the weather cools down. We had a heat index of over 105 with humidity yesterday, YUCK!

Saturday, July 03, 2010

Happy Birthday Baby

Today was baby Tiana's birthday (per Kenna.) She changes her baby's name...but this one has stuck around for a while. So, she gathered presents from Josh, me, Rylee and Zachary, and she made a lego cake. Then we all sat down, sang happy birthday, and she helped her "open" presents :)

It was so very cute, I had to capture the event...she is so sweet, and was SO excited for Zachary to get up from his nap to sing, that it made me smile!

--happy birthday baby--


--zachy eating lunch, and his silly sister--


--kenna put her up here to blow out her candles. I got to "lick" the icing off the candle when she was done"