January 2021

A couple heafty snowfalls led to a fun creation in the yard

Noelle thought it would be a great idea to store snowballs in the freezer for summer use

Dallas and Robert went to Pella for Dsylexia determination and brought me back my favorite childhood cookie from Jarsma Bakery

Robert traveled with a friend to pick up his brand new Corvette from the factory. He had ordered a 2020, but you know the drill by now, COVID messed that up. So a 2021 model it was. Robert helped drive it home to Iowa from Kentucky. 

Dallas played a lot of basketball in January. Robert and I got flat butts!

 Murphy, as always a studious dog, helps with high school Biology

Escape to Sabula, IA - Iowa's only island on the Mighty Mississippi

June 2020 trip

In a great desire to leave Covid craziness in our house in Ames, we rented an Airbnb for the weekend in Eastern Iowa. 

Sunset on the Mississippi

We hiked on the IL side of the Mississippi. Noelle found someone's leftover bouquet on this lookout.

We drove up to Galena for some ice cream. You could not eat in any business. We happened to be in Galena the very first day they were allowed to open back up. All the cute shops were scrambling to open outdoor dining. 

The house we rented, floated. Robert figured it was a repurposed gas or tackle filling dock. It had no motor, but it was fully floating on the dock. 

The upstairs had four single beds in an open loft. 

Dallas prefers to sleep closer to us, so couch on the main floor was his spot. 

We stopped at the Field of Dreams on the way home. The kids have never been. 

 

Riverside Bible Family Camp 2020

 We (I) needed a last minute, August getaway before the school grind started. We were really missing the pool by this point so I was looking into anything nearby with chlorinated water. 

A friend had told me about renting the Riverside pool, they were not able to open and host their camps, but they employed some of their staff and opened their awesome pool for rental.

I stumbled onto their family camp once on the website. 

I was sold, 20 minute drive to Story City, $200 and they cook for you.

Our family was put up in the Lord of Lords cabin, a whole bunk house to ourselves. Best part it had bathrooms and showers inside our cabin. 

The pool was the bet part of the weekend, besides making Noelle and Dallas dreams of riding a horse come true. They have a a ROCK WALL in the pool. It was so much fun. They social distanced the families at camp, so we had three chances at the pool for 2 hour/change swims!

The horses trail ride was also a highlight. Dallas was on a big "I want to live on a ranch" kick because of the Hardy Boys books he has been reading. He was stoked.

We also did other campy things like play lots of carpet ball.

Canoe and Kayak

Food was great, and Noelle loved that they prepared special GF treats for her

September 2020

 

More online school

Murphy got a new blanket

I found the game of Life at a local consignment shop. Everyone plays without pouting, its WAY faster than Monopoly, Noelle really wanted it and it was $1 (and all pieces appear to be here).

Sports! So, so grateful for our church pulling off a successful Upward sports season. This guy flourished in flag football this fall. 

Emily chopped and donated 10 inches of hair

We tailgated at a friends house for the first home game of the season. Fans were not allowed in the stadium for this game, but Cy was driving through their neighborhood

We went to our favorite Orchard on Labor Day weekend.

They had a beautiful field of giant sunflowers.

I think its' the first time Robert has been able to join us at Deal's Orchard in the last couple years. That made it more special.

Our dear friend Sara and her boys Christopher and Ben stopped through to hang out with us. Of course we had to stair-step them. Six-ish months between Christopher and Emily or 12 inches!

Robert did some traveling and went to Moparty. This is NOT our '69 Charger.

Summer Vacation 2020 Universal Studios

After Robert booked his car driving school trip we started dreaming up a way to meet him for a little vacation. He drove from work in Kentucky and West Virginia to Georgia for his school. The kids and I hopped on a flight from DSM to Atlanta. Robert picked us up and we swam at a hotel for a day and a half. We drove to Orlando and stayed at Universal. Universal had been open a couple weeks before we got there. They were at 1/3 capacity and you were guaranteed entrance if you stayed on a Universal property. Tickets were also buy two days get two days free. Three days was all we needed. Universal Studios has two parks and a water park. We were most excited for the Harry Potter rides. Hagrid Motorbike Adventure had just opened and was amazing. Our kids were the right age for HP magic. Noelle and Dallas have made it through book 5. The rest of us have read the whole series. I used to read HP aloud to Robert when we would drive between Iowa and MN. 

The kids introduction to the Simpsons

Back to the Future train with Doc

Having a beer at Moe's, basically Robert's dream since age 14

All masked up in Diagon Alley

Hagrid's motorbike

The Fast and Furious ride

Blue's mobile

Hogwart's Castle

Entrance to Diagon Alley

Hogsmeade 

Butterbeer

A true English breakfast, bangers, blood pudding

More Butterbeer, you can get them frozen or not

Outside Olivander's Wand Shop. We did the interactive wand choosing ceremony. Each wand picked the kid. 

We purchased the interactive wands. The had a tiny eyeball like in a cell phone that would interact with features around the park and make magic.

The Knight Bus

Always waiting, even when the park was at 1/3 capacity.

Shrek and Fiona. The characters had to social distance. There was often a place marked out to stand so you could get a picture. Also asking cast members to take a picture was frowned upon.

Back to the Future DeLorean

DC spider man