We have some amazing friends, that when they heard I was going to Haiti for a week, asked me to send our kids there for a week to stay with them. What a thing to offer!! They have three kids of their own, and she was offering to take my 2 as well. That is one amazing mom!

Well, after making darn sure that she was serious, I left on Friday and Nathan packed them up and drove them to Wisconsin on Saturday morning.

While they were there, they went to the beach, playland at McDonalds, and the Children’s Museum. They picked peas and strawberries. They had the best time. They are still talking about it!

They also got to celebrate Evan’s birthday, which was on Thursday that week. Nathan drove up Thursday morning, and after lunch they had cake and presents.

When I saw these pictures, I told Evan that the cake looked yummy. He said “yeah mommy, and the pieces were really big too!” Oh…kids.

Thank You to our friends Margo and Jason, who not only fed and clothed my kids for a week, but sent them home with a picture book full of the activities they did while they were there. It’s one of our favorite bedtime “stories.” And I feel like I didn’t miss much when I look through it with them.

After the birthday celebration, Nathan and the kids packed up and headed south…stopping in Decorah for the night to go camping. Camping with two kids by yourself…adventurous I’m sure – probably not something i would have ever done…but the hubs is a trooper.

He had practiced setting up the tent by himself while the kids were in Wisconsin, and said he managed just fine. Except that he hadn’t attempted the rain fly by himself. Apparently, this is the hard part. I still get a good chuckle thinking about the kids sitting there watching him struggle with the rain fly for a half an hour.

What is camping without smores? Or at least the marshmallows? I love this picture!

Camping was a huge hit! Sadly, this is the only time the tent got out this summer. We had planned a few other times, but the weather (usually too hot, since it was so dry this summer) or other plans happened and we just never made it. There’s always next summer!

We headed to the Children’s Museum in Coralville one Friday to break up the routine of being inside. We’d never been there, but had gotten free kid’s tickets with our donation to IPTV last year so thought we’d try it out.

This was Evan’s favorite place. He loved launching the rocket that he built with daddy.

Well…next to this…you built your own car and then sent it racing down the track. We had to pull him away.

Hot air ballooning.

Ellie…fashion model?

Ev and I tried our hand at the flight simulator. He thought it was hilarious to crash into the ground over and over again…so we didn’t actually spend much time flying.

The cube of mirrors – this was awesome. Both kids loved this (and it wasn’t just the kids – i got in too!)

What would a trip be without a stop at Chick-fil-a? Peppermint shake anyone?  Ev agrees they’re the best!

And a carousel ride to finish the day.

What a great day spent inside!

He asked me to marry him on November 3, 2000 on top of Mt. Hosmer overlooking the town of Lansing, Iowa and the Mississippi River Valley. So every year, we attempt to make it back to Lansing to celebrate.

This year, we added a visit to Sugar Creek Bible Camp in Ferryville, WI. A beautiful camp located in a beautiful valley.

I was a camp counselor there the summers of 1999 and 2000.

This is where I spent most of my nights for those two summers…back then they didn’t have electricity. Now, they do. Back then, they had mice. Now I hear they have flying squirrels. I wouldn’t trade it though. Oh, sure, it was always a gamble. You never quite knew what you’d come “home” to in those cabins…but they kind of taught you what you were made of.

To the left is Dick, the executive director of the camp, and on the right is Jake. We were counselors together, and he is now the program director there.

Jake gave us the best tour. Showing us all of the new things that the past 11 years have brought to the camp, all while playing a round of disc golf while walking down the valley and back.

I even got to visit with Gene in the kitchen for a bit, and talk about some Minnesota Viking football.

It had been way too long…and i’ve vowed to make it back there before another 11 years pass by…

There is a toy store there…Lark Toys…and it’s amazing.

My in-laws had stopped there a couple of years ago and bought some great wooden toys for the kids and had told us how it was a place we needed to visit. I wasn’t convinced….it was just a toy store, right? It wasn’t until I heard they had a carousel that I knew for sure we had to stop.

This carousel was incredible…hand-carved, wooden animals…they are beautiful! (And it’s fun to say you rode on a flying swan or a unicorn)

It was great…and if you have small children…definitely a place you’ll want to check out.

I don’t think my daughter would be too happy if i told her, I’m sorry…I couldn’t make your lunch today because I was on the computer. Somehow I think that qualifies as irresponsible parenting…

For now, you should just be excited for something new on here. And seeing us in t-shirts and shorts should be a welcome change from the parkas that we’ve all had to break out this week. Yes, winter in Iowa is coming.

But for now, I’ll take you back to the last hurrah of summer…

the state fair!

You know it’s our favorite. And you know why…

It’s all about the food!!

We always start the day eating Cinni Mini’s while waiting for Little Hands on the Farm to open.

This year, we passed some time climbing on cows too! It became Evan’s mission…to climb on every cow we saw. And there were A LOT of them.

Little Hands.

Atop “Dairy Potter”. Okay…you have to chuckle at that one. How clever!

Petting the newborn piggies.

and enjoying a favorite…with a twist. The new PB & J (on a stick of course). Too bad both of the kids were more interested in the 3 grapes they got that were separating sections of the sandwich than the actual sandwich.

It’s okay though…they didn’t go hungry…we made sure of that.

And as always, the true sign of a successful state fair trip…the number of people to fall asleep on the way home…this year’s count…5/7. I’d say success!