Life in May

May was good-really good.  We spent some time on the house but a lot of time together as a family and it was wonderful!  For some reason, I always like May.  I feel like here in Iowa you really start to feel like summer is beginning.  Looking back at the past years, I always seem to have a lot of photos for the month of May so it must mean we are busy doing stuff together and this year it was the same way.

The first weekend in May we went to a birthday party in the morning for Andrew-a friend from daycare.  Elsie had so much fun in the bounce house and playing arcade games.  We rode over with Amber and the kids.  That took up most of the morning and then in the late afternoon we went to the High School to watch Prom Grand March.  Tanner went to prom this year so we wanted to go and watch her.  Right as we were getting ready to leave it started to rain but that didn't stop us.  I took this picture and thought it was so cute-we joked maybe one day these two will be going to prom together ;)

 On Sunday May 4th we went to SCC Partners Spring Festival for the second year in a row.  You can read more about that here:  SCC Spring Festival.  Another wonderful event.  For fun here is a picture of Elsie from last year.

 

Beginning May 1st, our little family decided to try out a 10 days of real food challenge.  I am still working on a wrap up post but you can read more about it here and here.  It was really eye opening and has definitely helped drive our diet towards more natural, whole foods and helped us eliminate many processed foods.  

MOTHER'S DAY WEEKEND

Mother's Day this year was a little off. We actually spent more time together as a family on Saturday vs. SUnday.   We had a wonderful Saturday of the weekend...we got up, headed to Des Moines to the Downtown Farmer's Market and then walked over to the Science Center for a little bit.  Thanks to our membership we felt like we didn't need to make a day of it and only spend time in one exhibit:  Small Discoveries.  

Afterwards we headed to Rock Bottom Brewery for some lunch and enjoyed lunch out on the patio for the first time of the season!  It was wonderful! 

Elsie and Daddy keeping busy while waiting for our food. 

Sunday was busy!  We had been working on our guest bathroom and really wanted to get it done (note:  almost two months later and it sill isn't complete ;).  So we spent most of the morning painting that.  While I was painting the trim Elsie sat outside the door "reading" me stories and singing me songs so that was nice.  Late morning we headed to John's parents house for a Mother's Day Brunch with his extended family.  After that we came home, painted some more while Elsie napped.    

After Elsie woke up, Bev came over and planted some flowers in our flower pots.  We had picked up some plants and flowers on Friday night and Bev and Dale bought some for me for Mother's Day so it was nice to get all of those planted.  

After that I spent most of the rest of the night cleaning because I had a little get together at my house the next day.  Around 10PM we were under a tornado warning so we scooped Elsie up out of bed and headed downstairs.  She thought it was so neat to be awake and hanging out reading books in the basement.  I would have never thought to take the helmets but good ole Ed Wilson, our meteorologist had mentioned it right before we headed downstairs.  Actually, now that we have a real basement vs a half basement with crawl space I feel so much more comfortable in bad weather.  I think this year I have a little less anxiety (as long as I know I can get somewhere safe).  Thankfully, we didn't have any tornadoes actually come through town.  

Tornado Selfie :)

OUR GARDEN
We spent sooo much time in our flower beds during the month of May.  They are actually really out of control-overrun with Wild Violets, Rogue Phlox, and Japanese Knotweed (a really bad, invasive species that was introduced for its ornamental value).  At first the Japanese Knotweed looked like bamboo and then I finally figured out what it really was and our battle on the crazy weed began.  This thing grows like crazy! Here are two pictures taken one week apart exactly.

As I am posting this two months later, we are still spending most free evenings and nice afternoons during naptime getting these flower beds under control.  We have big plans for our backyard and will hope to post about our progress and plans.  

Elsie picked all our daffodils for Pey Pey for her birthday ;)

Playing with worms!

I finally cleared a space for Elsie's sandbox! 

CSA

John and I chose to join a CSA again this year after taking last year off.  We received our first weekly share at the beginning of May.  Elsie just loves veggies and really surpises me how much she likes greens. In our share we had a few pieces of sorrel.  Somethings that I had never had before.  It was a green leag that hand a little tangy taste to it. It was yummy.  Elsie loved it too and ate most of it on the care ride home (see pic below).  This is what our first share looked like:  

Enjoying carrots from the farm. She was eating it like an ear of corn.

KING'S POINTE

As mentioned in a previous post we went to a waterpark with Brandi, Todd and the girls.  We had so much fun and Elsie just loved the slides and the water.  

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

We spent Memorial Day Weekend in Northeast Iowa near McGregor/Marquette.  It was a WONDERFUL weekend and we had so much fun camping!  You can check more details here.

RANDOM HAPPENINGS

Elsie and I started a new Friday tradition of "Friday Donut Dates"  Every other Friday when I am home with Elsie, we go out for donuts and either bring them home to eat or enjoy them at the bakery. Elsie loves it and I don't mind the donuts either ;).  

Elsie started playing real games.  She is still working on figuring our rules and taking her turn but she seems to really enjoy it.  Even though you can't tell by the look on John's face, we are enjoying the new activities too :)  So far we have played "Go Fish", "Memory Match", "Candyland" and "Chutes and Ladders". 

 Elsie loves having her own shopping cart! 

We love hanging out on the deck and watching the birds. 

Lunch on the deck. 

Memorial Day Camping

Every year, we talk about going camping over Memorial Day weekend but when it comes down to it, it just doesn't end up happening.  Mainly because there always seems to be severe weather that weekend-at least here in Iowa.  I was trying to recount what we have done over the past few years over Memorial Day and this is what I came up with:  

2007:  Amber, Marc, John and I went camping in Northern MN at Tettagouche State Park

2008:  John and I went camping at Wilson Island State Recreation Area in Western Iowa. 

2009:  We spent the weekend in Northern Minnesota at my friend Erin's cabin with the whole clan.

2010:  I was working at Y Camp and had to work

2011:  I believe we were at a wedding that weekend for my cousin but I can not recall for sure.  

2012:  I actually blogged about it.  You can read about that here.   Relaxing, boating with Marc and Amber in Story City, campfire at their house.

2013:  We had planned a trip to St. Louis to camp and visit the sights of the city but it was forecasting severe weather and so we cancelled our reservations which ended up being a good thing because

Day 1 Day 2

So now here we are in 2014 and I made reservations at a state park.  I was actually shocked that it was late April and I still found a campsite when I decided to book a trip.  The state park that we chose to go to was Pikes Peak State Park.  I have wanted to camp up in that area for a few years now but could never snag a reservation over the 3-day weekend and we try to avoid driving that far with the camper for just a regular weekend (It is about 3-3.5 hours away).  So I was thrilled when I found the available site.  So Friday after work we loaded up some last minute items and hit the road.  We arrived there about 9:00 and it took a little bit to get everything situated.  I think Elsie was was asleep by 10:00 that night- (way past her bedtime).  John and I climbed right into bed too since it was already so late.  

Tally also came with us camping of course and this was her first camping trip.  Normally when we drive up to MN she is in her kennel in the back my vehicle but since we had the truck she got to ride in style in the backseat.  We bought her this harness and it attaches to the seat belt so she doesn't jump or climb on Elsie while driving.  It worked perfect!  

A Little note:  the past two years we have taken a mini pack and play for Elsie to sleep in but this year she gets to sleep on the bottom bunk.  She looks so tiny on the full size bed but she loved it!  If you asked her what her favorite part about camping was and she would tell you it was her bed :)  This is a little monumental because she has never slept on a bed other than a crib or a pack and play-something with sides where she can't escape.  Thankfully she never got out of bed either.  

So Saturday morning we were up bright and early thanks to Elsie who just doesn't know how to sleep in :).  We ate some breakfast and hung out for awhile in the camper because it was still "quiet hours".  We ended up deciding to head into town for the morning because we had planned to go to Effigy Mounds National Monument in the afternoon.  As we drove into Marquette we discovered there was a little flea market taking place.  Yay!  I had just made a summer bucket list and visiting a flea market was on the list.  

The only thing we found was a little pink and black softball glove for Elsie, a baseball to go with it, and a little horse figure that Elsie played with the entire day.  As we were at the flea market we heard a loud crash and looked towards the road to see a car accident.  People rushed towards, calling 911.  It just made me sick!  I couldn't stop thinking about it all morning.  I tried later to find out what happened but could not find anything in the news about the accident which I hope means that it was nothing more than minor injuries and car damage.  But just like that-those people's holiday weekend changed in a blink of an eye.  

After the flea market we let Elsie play on a little playground and then decided to walk through town a little bit.  There were tons of antique stores and I thought it would be nice to take a look.  What we also discovered was a winery-something else that was on my summer bucket list!  John and I have visited quite a few central Iowa wineries and enjoy doing the tastings.  Oh my-their wines were delicious!  We ended up bringing three bottles home with us!  Elsie also enjoyed the tasting-she got a cup full of chocolate chips to keep her entertained.  

After exploring Marquette for awhile, we got back in the car and crossed the river to Prarie du Chien.  We drove around a bit and stopped at a little park along the river for Elsie to play on the playground somemore.  It was just so nice to be relaxed and not have to rush for any plans.  After that we made our way to Effigy Mounds to have a picnic lunch and explore the ancient burial mounds.  For more info on the mounds go here:  Effigy Mounds Info.  When we arrived we headed inside to chat with the rangers about where to go and what to spend our time with.  They recommended a hike on the boardwalk for Elsie's sake because it was an easy walk and there was a good chance to see some animals along the way.  But since we were there for the mounds and the views of the river we chose to an uphill hike complete with switchbacks. Before heading out we enjoyed our picnic.  

After lunch we made our way uphill.  Poor John had to push Elsie up the entire way while I had Tally.  The views from the top were beautiful and well worth the walk-although Elsie was getting crabby and wanted to sleep because after all, it was naptime.  Oh well.  We still enjoyed the hike and for once in the last 7 months that we have had Tally, we felt like we actually wore her out.  Towards the end of the hike she was definitely losing steam. Here are some views from the hike

In this picture you can see the mounds. 

Stopping for a break-Elsie loves to hold the bowl for Tally

After we got done with the hike we headed back to our campsite for the evening.  It was nice and relaxing.  Of course we had to make s'mores. 

Also at the campground, we went on a lot of walks, played games at the picnic table, and Elsie rode her bike all alround.  She especially enjoyed the downhills where she would just glide down. :) 

Let me just a do a quick review of the park where we stayed.  Pikes Peak State Park was just beautiful!  The trails were really nice and views were wonderful.  It is a hotspot for motorcyclists which doesn't surprise me one bit!  The campgrounds were okay-the sites were really close to each other but at least the were shaded.  The bathrooms/showerhouse were modern and clean which is always nice-in fact I prefered to shower there than in our little camper shower.  I would definitely go back again though.  

Sunday morning we went for a hike.  We took the stroller again not knowing what to expect and hoping to go a ways down the trail. The trail started out paved and the switched between alternating stairs and boardwalk. ha.  It was interesting... but we made it down and back up.  John just pushed the BOB down the the stairs and then on the way back up we I held the front and John lifted the back and we carried he up the stairs.  

Late Sunday after noon, we packed up and headed home a day early.  We thought it would be nice to have a day at home over the long weekend and we were right-it was nice to have a relaxing day home and to work on the flower beds.