Good Guys 2016

It is our Fourth of July tradition to spend the weekend in Des Moines at the Good Guys car show.  

We get to see cousins, eat junk food, watch Robert autocross the Chevelle, and look but not touch many cars!

 This might be our Christmas card this year

Lots of friends usually end up finding Robert.  Aaron got to tag-a-long in the Chevelle.  The Chevelle's builder came out from New Mexico to spend the weekend from us, he got to drive!

We always stop to see the Shriner Clowns.  They tell the best jokes and can make anything out of balloons. 

Dallas liked this car the best

 

Uncle Mark gets the best spots to park his car.  He has to get in line at 4:00 am but the best spot! We love stopping by for a rest. 

This is the result of my kid eating crappier food than our normal diet for two days straight!

Grandpa Dallas 75th birthday

Grandpa Dallas birthday ended up being on a Tuesday.  At Windsor Oaks they celebrate all the month's birthday on the 2nd Tuesday at a special coffee gathering.  We decided to make a surprise visit with some cookies to share with the group. 

Little kids are always a hit around Windsor Oaks. 

I sat near a lady that clearly wanted to gossip! She kept asking me questions about my family and Dallas, prying.  Then she would jab and I mean jab her husband with her cane to repeat something I had said, he clearly had his hearing aids turned off!  

 Noelle enjoying second breakfast full of sweets.

 Robert brought birthday balloons from HyVee

 Tuesday night we gathered to eat Chinese birthday dinner.  Its so fun to sit at the big round table with the glass lazy susan.  My kids love pouring themselves cup after cup of tea (I always mean to ask if it is decaf!) and then spin the center to pass the tea pot to the next person.  We figured out they really like the chicken fried rice too!

Post dinner angel food cake made by Emily.  FROM SCRATCH.  We borrowed a pan from the neighbors.  Did you know that angel food cake has 10 egg whites in it! The recipe said it would absolutely not work well if you got any yolk in there, so in all I think we burned through 15 eggs getting 10 clean whites.  It was yummy and worth it.

Schools out for my mom!

My siblings and I put together a little shindig to celebrate my mom.  She was retiring from a lot of years teaching and as a bonus it was also her birthday!  I don't think she really wanted a party, but we did this for our Dad and Barb and it seemed like we should force it on her to enjoy the moment.

 The venue was the Lake Keomah Lodge in Oskaloosa.  It is a nice place to host a party when it is not 100 degrees! 

 I borrowed a chocolate fountain.  I thought it would be a fun and interactive type of snack.  We had cherries, strawberries, banana and pineapple for fruit to dip.  Pretzels, marshmallows, wafer cookies and nuts. 

 She did get a couple of great gifts and some arrangements.

 And of course the school gave her a Certificate of Recognition and a bronze Indian paper weight?

 Retirement Cake

and a birthday cake

Diving into June 2016

We didn't do much diving in June, Emily was still sporting her cast for most of the month and it seemed pretty unfair to hit the pool without her.  

 Dallas and Emily both know how to look up subjects or books on the library computers and then to locate them. This leads to lots of Lego books for this guy.  This book was special since it had a Lego General Lee on one page.

 Noelle got a nice summer hair cut.

 We watched Aunt Lynne run the Dam to Dam.  We met her with signs and encouragment at miles 3, 7, 12 and the finish line.  Then she graciously let the kids loot the finsish line snacks with her.

 Robert fixed the Chevelle a lot in June.  This is my leg, being the assisant, "pump, pump, hold" brake bleeder extrodiare.  Front brakes one night, and rear brakes another!

 Homemade cards for the birthday guy!

 We dropped Emily off for a full week of camp.  

 We hit up the Des Moines Farmers market and provided some lovely background music for all to enjoy.

 We then had to cool off, it was a hot morning in Des Moines!  We love DSM

 I went to a 39th Birthday Zumba party and it was fun!.  An hour of dancing with some sweet friends.

 Dallas was able to interview NBC TV13 Sportcaster Keith Murphy while visitng with Ty Dillon and seeing his NASCAR rac car at Karl Cheverolet.

 We roasted marshmellows with friends!

 We picked Emily up from camp.  She had fun and hopes to go back next year. She wanted a picture with her counselor and junior counselor (JC)

 Celebrating Robert with BBQ Ribs

 Robert fixed more things on the Chevelle.  It seems to never be perfectly running.  We noticed a good sized oil leak from the front of the car after our date one night (we got in a special week night date with 1 kid at camp and 2 others at vacation bible school.) New oil cooler fixed the problem.

And some nice stickers were applied just in time for Good Guys.