Around the Garden

I have been having a lot of fun in my yard this spring and early summer. Things are looking really good and I am feeling good about the way things are looking. I still have a few holes to fill in and some areas that need work but I am saving those for next summer. This year I just dumped some zinnia (my favorite!!) seeds into the holes and hope they will be filled with cheap and easy color later in the summer. 

 

I've just been loving all the layers of color outside. It makes me so happy to see it outside my windows. I spent two whole hours outside yesterday morning and it just made my heart so full. Nothing to think about except the status of all my little plantings and pesky weeds that keep popping up.

We even had a visitor on my bright pink Lupine (after Michael was done examining it). This was a big, fat, fuzzy bumblebee and boy he was LOUD! I'm so glad he is enjoying my flowers as much as I do.

I've been dreaming of a deck and patio filled with pots and flowers of all kind but I am thinking that is not going to happen for a while. Pots and dirt and annuals are expensive and they add up! I'm using all my pots I have this year, plus two my mom gifted me for Trace's headstone that I picked up before Memorial Day cleanup- otherwise they get tossed. I figured I might as well enjoy them at my house! I actually bought a lot of my annuals with a very nice giftcard from some friends for photographing their very sweet newborn son so I am happy that I can enjoy the plants all summer long. Don't you think plants make the best gifts?? :o) I sure do. 

Have a great day! 

Mississippi River Museum + Water Park

 

So while Scott and his family were being crazies riding their bike up and down through the bluffs of the Mississippi River Valley on TOMRV, Michael and I decided to check out some of the sights in Dubuque- the National Mississippi River Museum and then later the Grand Harbor Waterpark. 

Scott and I had visited the museum when we were celebrating our first anniversary 6 years ago. I knew Michael would love it and we don't get to this part of the state often so we took the chance to visit. He had a blast! It is a great museum for kids and adults of all ages. 

 

Michael loved the friendly turtles that greeted us when we arrived. We got there right at 9 when it opened and basically had the place to ourselves for about an hour. The turtles really were friendly and were doing tricks and saying hi to us. We went back several times that day and they were never out like they were in the morning! I had a cute video of this, Michael was having a ball. 

Michael made a friend over by the ray and eel tank and they had fun watching the eel ribbon its way around the water. They also made several Little Mermaid connections, which made me proud. Michael kept calling it a seal which was cute. I think this is the first time he's seen one in real life so he learned a lot- especially how they like to hide in the rocks (just like in the Little Mermaid!). 

 

The museum has a ton of areas to explore- lots of tanks and river things to explore. They had a special visiting exhibit of turtles when we were there and we had fun seeing the different types of turtles (and tortoises, as I was schooled by a young college volunteer!). We even visited the National River center which is on the same grounds and watched a short 4D movie which was only a few dollars on top of the admission. It gave our legs a chance to rest. We did actually end up leaving to grab lunch and quick nap in the car and came back for another hour in the afternoon. They even said with our paid admission for that day we could have come back the next day too but we ran out of time. It was a great value.

 

He also loved the otters and loved watching them play in the water. I have a cute video of him watching them and he hasn't stopped talking about them since. He'll say, "what were those things that were black and liked to play with toys at the fish museum? Oh yeah, otters!"  Otters are so stinking cute! 

 

 "That's a catfish" 

He says every fish is a catfish- not sure if that one really is or not? 

He was also interested in seeing the beavers- "those things that live in the water and chop down trees with their teeth" but they were napping all day in their cave.

 

 

Around 3 we decided to head to our hotel and check out the water park. Michael was so excited and we had been trying to prep him on all the fun we was going to have. He had a blast! He did the two big water slides (sitting on my lap) at least 20 times, lots of running around the big treehouse, lots of times on the little baby slide, and lots of running through fountains. He was worn out and so was this mommy!!

We got our fill of water play both that afternoon and the next morning before we had to go pick dad up. It was really fun and I loved that Michael had a blast. He is such a sweet, special and fun three year old and I hope these are good memories that we can both treasure.

We've had a great start to our summer so far!

Summer List + TOMRV

 

Michael and I did something I have wanted to do for a long time- write up a summer list of things we wanted to do this summer! 

It was lots of fun to think of new ideas of things we haven't done and also add our old favorites to the list. I hope we can get them all checked off and keep you updated as we go. It gives us a little focus for my days off with Michael to hopefully give us lots of chances to have FUN! Not like every day isn't fun with Michael but...sometimes it is good to have some choices of what we want to do.

One of the first things on the list is TOMRV, which Scott and his family rode in this past weekend. TOMRV stands for Tour of the Missippissi River Valley and it is a bike ride from the quad cities to Dubuque and back again, all along the Mississippi River. I obviously did not ride in it, but felt like I was along for the ride since Michael and I were Scott's support vehicle and self-appointed photojournalist for the weekend.

They started out early on Saturday morning, leaving Scott's parent's at 5:30 to get a 7:30 start at Preston.

 

From Preston, they rode about 70ish (??) miles into Dubuque where they convened at Clarke College.  I was pretty proud of Scott for making it the whole ride! Some people say that the TOMRV is the hardest bike tour in the midwest and I can see why- it is brutally hilly!!

At Clarke, they had an awesome banquet dinner for all the riders with tons of yummy food and pie. I was happy that Michael and I got to join the riders for the food because it was awesome. One of my favorite parts of doing a bike tour is the food!

 

 On Sunday morning the riders got another early start and rode south back towards their home base. Scott, Susan and Jen unfortunately called for support about 15 miles in and wow...it was a brutal day with headwinds to boot. I was happy to be available to to pick them up and had fun spending the afternoon with them in a cramped two hour car ride back home!  We stopped back in Preston to pick up bags and we had a nice picnic lunch with Michael complete with playing, swinging, and popsicles.

  

They all did a great job and I am so proud of them! 

Great job on your first TOMRV ride and a great kickoff to summer!

InstaFriday

 

Happy Friday!!

Today is my first real day of summer break! I am done with both of my schools! Hooray! 

I will still technically be teaching in the summer as I have 25 students signed up for my summer lesson program, but that is something I am really looking forward to. It should be a great experience for everyone involved. 

 

I found these while cleaning out my desk at United. Baby Michael! He was just 3 months old and so sweet. I remember thinking he was so big at the time. 

 

Michael recently discovered a bag of cotton balls that he has gotten lots of play out of. I'm not sure why they are so fun but he loves them. I think he likes to play with things he has multiples of- a huge pile of cars, a big thing of sticky frogs, four jars of playdoh. Safety in numbers, maybe? It is so cute to watch him use his imagination and hear him playing and telling stories. 

 

After a week of waking up the craziest hair after naptime, we finally got in for a hair cut. He has hair like mine that is thick and wavy and doesn't like to lay straight. The stylist said if it was longer it would probably be curly but I think it would just be crazy and messy like mine! I love him with short hair and I will never get tired of how cute he looks in the barber chair. 

 

I got a new iphone case for summer. I had a very minimalistic one on during the school year but mostly my phone was always in my pocket or on my desk. Now that I am outside working and out and about with Michael I figured I better step it up to an Otter box. I am usually constantly worried about dropping my phone so this gives me some peace of mind. 

And finally, things are doing well outside. I should take you on a full blown spring garden tour sometime! My lupine are blooming and are a bright spot of color this time of the year when not much else has popped yet. We got our little garden planted and can't wait to reap the rewards! I tried to mulch really well this year and hopes that helps with the moisture retention. We had barely any tomatoes last year but I am thinking that probably had something to do with the drought. :o( 

Happy Friday!  
 
        
        
            
            
        

Lately

 

We got Michael's progress report back from his school and his is doing great! He has learned so much this year in school and is doing so well. I am so excited and proud of him and it makes me so happy that his teacher says he loves to learn and always comes to school ready to learn. Because as a teacher, I know how important those two traits are! Attitude is everything!

However, there are still quite a few letters he doesn't know yet and we are working hard on them at home. We got some new activity books, a wipe off book with a dry erase marker (that was $2 and he thinks is just the coolest) and also some ipad apps. I just think he looks so cute when he is hard at work concentrating.

 

However, it is not all work and no play around here....

I picked up a bag of wiffle balls at Target and brought them home for Michael. He was so excited to play baseball with them!  He had a blast and was smiling ear to ear the whole time. I feel a little bad we didn't sign him up for 3 year old bam bam ball but I have to keep reminding myself there will be many, many more years for things like that.

 
He is such a sweet boy!

 I'm looking forward to all our summer fun coming up!