Matt and I did some road trippin' for a couple days at the end of April. It was great to get away from the never-ending demands of motherhood for a few days and enjoy each other's company! Keenan came along, lest we get too out of tune with reality. And for entertainment lest we run out of photo subjects.
We headed north on Thursday afternoon, doing some shopping/returning in Coralville, meeting Jonathan for supper in Cedar Rapids at his favorite local burger joint, and then northeast to a tiny river town called Harper's Ferry, Iowa...via Strawberry Point, home of the world's largest strawberry.
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| Keenan obviously did not understand the significance of this attraction, or his smile would have been as big as his mama's. |
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| This boy has always loved anything to do with his car seat. Until this trip, that is. So while Matt got gas, he and I enjoyed walking through the lovely streets of Strawberry Point. |
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| Another pit stop to calm a cranky baby... |
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| FINALLY arrived at our airbnb, a beautiful cabin in northeast Iowa! |
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| Pikes Peak State Park on Friday...so pretty! |
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| Matt really wanted to be a monkey and climb over to this rock, but the sleeping baby in his carrier did not allow for such nonsense. So we just stopped and gazed longingly at the rock on which he otherwise would have been standing. |
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| We found the COOLEST playground in the town of Waukon, Iowa. One of those places that made us wish all of our children were along to enjoy it!! If you decide to visit the area, add the WW Homestead Dairy to your agenda, where you will enjoy homemade ice cream made from fresh, local dairy and maybe even find some cheese curds at this "cheese curd capital of Iowa." We also ate dinner at the Old Rossville Store - a very popular restaurant in the middle of nowhere! That is, in an unincorporated town called Rossville that is probably only on the map because of this restaurant. |
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| We tried to visit as many Iowa attractions as possible on our trip, and the Field of Dreams happened to be en route home on Saturday. The Central College baseball team showed up while we were there to make the ambience of the "Field of Dreams" a little more real. "If you build it, people will most definitely come..." They played us an imaginary game of baseball. |
The children stayed with grandparents while we were gone and it was good to be home in our crazy home once again! We had a wiener roast at our place Sunday evening with a few others, and then Monday morning Matt left us alone to go up to Ames for work for three days. The kids had colds, which really wasn't a bad thing because we cancelled all of our plans and had a very low-key time at home.
Lil' guy turned 8 months in April! He was kind of high maintenance that month!
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| The weather was in the eighties for a few days so we got out the pool and soaked up some sun! |
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| I made up a new recipe called Greenie Meanie Pancakes. I told Keenan not to tell anyone that I put spinach in the batter. I'm sure they weren't one bit suspicious. |
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| Joel and Abi hosted a Sunday School Class Reunion for Matt's class - these kiddos have been out of school for 15 years now! It was a nice evening to hear about how God has worked in everyone's lives for the past fifteen years, and a good reminder of how impactful it is to be raised in Christian homes and surrounded by a loving church family! Having Stacey home from her missionary work with her new fiancé was a highlight! |
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| The week after we got out the pool for the children to swim, Matt moved "Franklin" the turtle from the basement into its new outdoor home. A very spoiled turtle, if I do say so myself. Fortunately for everyone involved, the turtle managed to escape a week later (presumably into the pond). |
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| I happened to see the wood duck and its ducklings for the brief five minutes they were on our pond! They promptly waddled down the road to wherever wood ducks go to raise their ducklings. |
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| Bill & Vienna hosted a garage sale at their place the first weekend of May during town wide sales. Russell sat himself down in the free pile. He clearly needs help improving his self-worth. |
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| The Lanz children had a successful bake sale Saturday morning! |
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| Keenan and Joanna got to come for groceries one evening. Keenan thought he was big stuff driving the cart around! |
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| We celebrated Mother's Day with both families- one on Saturday and one on Sunday. Also included in the Massner gathering was March/April birthdays. 54 and 19. Next year will come with less anti-climatic ages. |
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| Matt was gone the next week as well. Tuesday I took Levi to Iowa City for his annual eye exam, and came home a little bent out of shape. Not nearly as bent out of shape as the person I met up with...who was driving a brand new 2021 Mercedes! Oops. And the whole thing was totally my fault. Sigh. |
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| And while Matt was gone for the week, Keenan started taking his first steps! He was 8 1/2 months old, just like Micah and Joanna were. It took him a little longer to really take off. |
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| Levi sweetly told me I didn't have to worry about doing the dishes one day, because he was going to wash them all for me. I came out to peek and my heart melted at his diligent efforts to scrub the pans clean. And I held back the urge to mop the river off the floor for at least a few more minutes. |
Then it was graduation weekend...always a nice weekend that is actually worth the effort of getting everyone dressed up and out the door three evenings in a row, just so I don't have to make supper! :) I was motivated to watch the Mediapolis graduation on YouTube after I heard my brother Jesse was playing the piano for the whole event...his performance did not disappoint! I would have said it was flawless, but he informed us later that he missed a note on the Battle Hymn of the Republic!
We were so thankful to hear that Jesse didn't miss a beat on the last day of school when he stopped at Jon's on his way home to give his life to the Lord! Our family is rejoicing that all of us siblings have chosen to serve Jesus! Now onward toward the Heavenly goal we press, and we pray that future generations will know Him too!
The next weekend we had a cabin/project work day at Mom and Dad Schulz's. It was a productive day with lots of progress on the cabin roof and a lamp post project out front! And lots of cousin time... :)
Sunday, we went to Mediapolis church because Bill & V were serving lunch. That evening we had no plans, so we had a picnic and played at the Morning Sun park.
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| Keenan turned 9 months old. Had a much happier month, has about 7-8 teeth now, and taking lots of steps (now, two weeks later, walking is becoming his primary mode of transportation)! |
The next week was busy with random activities. Memorial Day weekend Matt spent a couple days helping roof at Jason & Kelsey's and then Monday morning making more progress on the cabin roof. Sunday night we didn't have anything going on so we had a birthday cake for Matt. We spent Memorial Day afternoon and evening at my parents' because Abby was back for a visit!
The boys had a lucky afternoon with Daddy!
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| We got it kind of cleaned up and presentable for the birthday boy! He turned 33 last week! |
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| I tried a sugar free birthday cake since I am trying to go 100 days without cheating on THM. For some reason I thought it would work to put thawed frozen strawberries on top. The whole topping just dissolved and fell apart. Otherwise it did taste good! |
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| Our birthday gifts to ourselves this month...a new-to-us kitchen table and chairs! So exciting to put away the folding chairs and narrow, handed down black table and feel like we are eating in an official kitchen! |
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| How we sang to Matt on his real birthday. English muffins are basically cake around here because I rarely buy them! :) |
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| I added a new term to my children's vocabulary...a Dagwood Sandwich! |
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| I've also been trying to get in some more walks lately...and most of the time it is during or after sunset when the kids are in bed. The skies are so beautiful in the evenings! |
Then...then. Levi needed a covid test prior to a procedure planned the next day. I got a phone call at 9:30pm the night before that the results came back positive. What?! ...at that point no symptoms or known exposure so I figured it was a fluke, but over the next couple days the kids all developed symptoms, the two youngest were sick with fevers. So I guess they got to take their turn at covid. And we
had to know about it and couldn't just go about our lives pretending it was just a little cold bug...! So anyway, that appointment was postponed and we have been laying low for awhile!
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| We were home from church on Sunday with our sickish kids. Daddy took us all on a ride around the countryside and the boys got to pose with the Fairview Zoo Gorilla! |
That about wraps up the last month an a half. Quite busy. The next month isn't looking any less busy. But memories will be made and lessons will be learned! Have a blessed week and summer!
