Summer Week 1

Summer has been off to a great start! The girls had one final day in daycare (their last day...sad) but Michael and I took advantage of them being busy to sneak off to a movie during the day- Angry Birds. We saw it at Flix and ate lunch during the movie which I think is just genius. It wasn't my first choice (I wanted to see Jungle Book) but it was enjoyable. 

On the first Saturday of summer, I took the kids to Jester Park for the morning and it was lovely! (above photo)

On Sunday we had brunch at a new business that Scott is insuring. It is the flavory cafe in Ankeny and it was awesome!! The girls did so good and we took a little walk while we waited for Scott to settle the check. 

I have decided that Mondays will be our trip days and we have a whole list of places we want to go. Up first was the Historical Museum in downtown Des Moines which I had never been to before (except once for a wedding). I really enjoyed it although Michael was not super enthusiastic about the dark exhibits. Best part is that it is FREE so hopefully we can make it an annual summer pilgrimage. 

I honestly had no idea Dire Wolfs were real animals- I thought they were made up for Game of Thrones. Turns out, they did live in the ice age and were a type of super predator. Never stop learning, people! 

We had read a book about Wooly Mammoths and I had told Michael that they used to live here in Iowa because they found bones of one while building a new building downtown. And sure enough, here they are! It is a neat story and crazy to see the collection of fossils that regular people found on their farms and such. 

I enjoyed the Iowans in the Civil War exhibit- it reminds me how much my brother and I loved history when we were growing up. Hopefully this will be more interesting to Michael as we can read more about it as he gets older. I loved the musical instruments display and I love the music of this time period. 

Since we were right across the street from the capitol we took a detour there on the way back to our parking spot for a little photo session. It was a beautiful day! 

I love the grounds of the capitol. I can't even imagine what it looked like before they redid it...a parking lot maybe? A tour of the capitol building is on our list for the future when the girls are out of the stroller! 

Tuesday is our trail day where we take our bikes out for a spin and some playtime. On this day we hit up the Clive Greenbelt Trail and had a picnic and playtime at Campbell park in Urbandale. It was really fun and I'm glad we can all do it together!

Wednesday is our friends day but lately we have been having trouble rustling up friends to come over and play so we headed to a morning errand at Target instead. It was actually a really nice outing and the girls loved looking at all the stuff. This day my dad also swung through for a visit so I guess that can count as friends day, right? 

Thursday is hopefully going to be the day our neighbor girl comes over to help so I can get out of the house for a bit. It went well this week and she is coming back again next week so hopefully it is a positive thing! 

And Friday is library day! The girls did so well at story time and it was crazy for me to think that it was their first story time at this library. I spent so many mornings there with Michael and I'm glad that the girls can be a part of it as well. Michael helped during story time and I think he had a fun time too. 

On Saturday, we helped Scott in the Grimes Governor's Day parade. Michael rode in the bug with Scott and I walked with the girls and threw candy. It was a short route and it was fun seeing all the cute kids in the community. The girls were a hit and had fun waving to all the puppies in the crowd. I only hit about 4 people in the head with candy. 

Michael and I also snuck out of the house on Saturday afternoon to go to the carnival for a bit. I splurged and bought myself a wristband too so I could ride with Michael and it was really fun. Hot (there was a head advisory), but fun. I think his favorite the bumper cars and I had to admit it was my favorite too. You can take this teacher out of the middle school but you can't take the middle school out of this teacher. :o) We also got a lemonade and a funnel cake and then had stomach aches afterwards so hopefully that was a good lesson to learn early in the summer. 

On Sunday we took a family bike ride on the Raccoon River Valley trail from Waukee to Dallas center. Can you believe I didn't even take a picture? It was a lovely morning and we went early to avoid the heat. I think Michael's favorite part was stopping in Dallas Center for a donut on our break- you can't beat it! We rode about 12 miles with Michael on the tag a long bike with Scott and me with the girls. Scott got plenty of flak from other riders on how he was making his wife pull the kids but I don't mind. It looks like a big load but doesn't feel like anything and the girls are so cute saying hi to everyone. I love seeing how they still make people smile!

We've been busy but it is good to get out of the house a bit each day. The days are so long especially when everyone is up by 6 a.m. every day so it helps break it up a bit by staying scheduled. Every day really feels like three days but it is all good and I am having a great time. I think even though the days can feel long, summer is going to fly by! 

Thanks for stopping by!