It is a hot, windy evening in Iowa. We now know who the new American Idol is, and last night we watched West Des Moines' own Shawn Johnson win the mirror ball on Dancing With The Stars. There is something kind of freeing about the week when all the TV shows we are addicted to are suddenly just over. Things are going well for us. Asher is more hilarious than ever, and has started telling his own bedtime stories. Rosie the dog is helping us simplify our lives by eating or destroying one random household object each day. Who would have thought that a dog would actually eat an HP printer ink cartridge (I think it was cyan)?
The temperatures here have gone up into the upper 80's the last few days, very warm for this time of year. Last weekend, though, was cold and rainy. On Friday night, I grilled chicken wings and 42 shish kebabs for an event at our church. Sarah did a great job loading all of that meat and veggies onto the skewers. The rain started pouring as soon as I was grilling full speed, but it still turned out very well.
On Saturday morning, we headed up to Ames, Iowa, the home of Iowa State. We did a little unsuccessful gift shopping on Ames' very cool main street, then headed to Reiman Gardens, on the ISU campus. When we got there, it was sunny and beautiful, but also very cold and windy, actual winter coat weather. The gardens are really nice, with a butterfly building that has dozens of different kinds of butterflies, from all over the world, fluttering around. Asher was impressed:
The gardens had a special exhibit of "Dinosaurs and Other Common Garden Pests." There were life-sized dinosaurs scattered throughout the gardens. Asher pretended to be very scared:
...but he really just thought they were cool:
He got to play inside a whale made out of sticks:
...jump on a giant musical instrument:
...and pump water up from a well:
And right before we left, he found the perfect little hill, and had a true milestone of childhood. His first time rolling down a hill:
At first, he kept trying to sit up as he rolled, but after a dozen or so tries, he was a pro. After one attempt of my own to show him how it's done (sorry, no pictures), I am convinced that preschool kids are immune to nausea.
On Sunday, after church, we headed to the Valley Junction Art Market. Valley Junction is a very cool little old-timey downtown area in West Des Moines, with several blocks of real mom-and pop stores in two-story, hundred year old brick buildings. It is the original little railroad town around which the suburb grew up. The art was very cool, and we had some decent tacos, too. We even did some more successful gift shopping, and finished seeing everything right as the rain started up again.
It is a hot, windy evening in Iowa. We now know who the new American Idol is, and last night we watched West Des Moines' own Shawn Johnson win the mirror ball on Dancing With The Stars. There is something kind of freeing about the week when all the TV shows we are addicted to are suddenly just over. Things are going well for us. Asher is more hilarious than ever, and has started telling his own bedtime stories. Rosie the dog is helping us simplify our lives by eating or destroying one random household object each day. Who would have thought that a dog would actually eat an HP printer ink cartridge (I think it was cyan)?
The temperatures here have gone up into the upper 80's the last few days, very warm for this time of year. Last weekend, though, was cold and rainy. On Friday night, I grilled chicken wings and 42 shish kebabs for an event at our church. Sarah did a great job loading all of that meat and veggies onto the skewers. The rain started pouring as soon as I was grilling full speed, but it still turned out very well.
On Saturday morning, we headed up to Ames, Iowa, the home of Iowa State. We did a little unsuccessful gift shopping on Ames' very cool main street, then headed to Reiman Gardens, on the ISU campus. When we got there, it was sunny and beautiful, but also very cold and windy, actual winter coat weather. The gardens are really nice, with a butterfly building that has dozens of different kinds of butterflies, from all over the world, fluttering around. Asher was impressed:
The gardens had a special exhibit of "Dinosaurs and Other Common Garden Pests." There were life-sized dinosaurs scattered throughout the gardens. Asher pretended to be very scared:
...but he really just thought they were cool:
He got to play inside a whale made out of sticks:
...jump on a giant musical instrument:
...and pump water up from a well:
And right before we left, he found the perfect little hill, and had a true milestone of childhood. His first time rolling down a hill:
At first, he kept trying to sit up as he rolled, but after a dozen or so tries, he was a pro. After one attempt of my own to show him how it's done (sorry, no pictures), I am convinced that preschool kids are immune to nausea.
On Sunday, after church, we headed to the Valley Junction Art Market. Valley Junction is a very cool little old-timey downtown area in West Des Moines, with several blocks of real mom-and pop stores in two-story, hundred year old brick buildings. It is the original little railroad town around which the suburb grew up. The art was very cool, and we had some decent tacos, too. We even did some more successful gift shopping, and finished seeing everything right as the rain started up again.
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