Father's Day

Father's Day snuck up on us again this year. Josh was busy all weekend and couldn't make the trip to Guttenberg, stupid sports camps, ha! Amber was planning on coming up but Davenport got hit hard with a storm and had to stay back and work, as I type this she is still working and in the last 4 days has had about 9 hours of sleep. Anyway, I went to the gutt and helped mulch the flowers we planted on Memorial Day, did some painting and then on father's day took a drive around NE Iowa with dad. He was interested in checking out the counties fine gravel roads and dead ends, what an adventure. Basically the dead end roads we long lanes to houses. We also checked out the Effigy Mounds at the Sny Magill Fishing access. We also ended the trip with some ice cream.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

On June 14th I went with a friend and her 3 year old daughter to see the Cedar RApids Kernals. It was the 3 year old first baseball game. she is just learning about sports and thought we were going to see the Hawkeyes.

Surprise!

On June 13th we drove to East Moline, Il to help a friend celebrate their 60th birthday. It was a surprise, she had no idea, it was a success.

Sprint Time Flowers

This first set of flowers are from around the hotel in Chicago.



Pictured below are the peonies that are in the planter on the south side of our house.

Chisel Invitational

Ok so the posts are out of order...who cares...before we went to the Gutt the golf tournament I talked about before took place on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. Then we went to the Gutt on Sunday and Monday, despite what I typed in the previous post.

I just helped with the golf, transfering prizes, checking in people and taking pictures. Josh played in the tournament and was on the losing team. It was a good day for golf until a random storm passed through the area putting them on a rain delay.

After the tournament everyone gathered at the Vine for drinks and appetizers.

Planting Petunias

It was then time to plant flowers at the motel. Every year we have this task ahead of us. Last year we had a problem, where a bunch of flowers died, so we added more dirt and sand to the top planter, hopefully we will not lose any flowers, considering we planted over 200 of them. That is a lot of bending over and crouching down, you never know how old you feel until that is a task.



Josh and I stayed Saturday and Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. On Sunday we thought we should have a little fire and roast some weiners and have smores. We discovered that putting the baked beans on the hot dogs in the buns was super tasty, but became a mess to eat.

Babysitting in Chicago

My friend Kara, has a little girl, Ava who is 3 years old. Kara had a conference to attend through her job at the VA in Chicago. So Ava tagged along as well as Kate and I as the babysitters.

It was a short 3 day excursion. We drove into the city Monday morning, and had the afternoon to explore. Kate and I started out by going to Navy Pier for the afternoon. Ava got a kick out of the funny mirrors and exploring the children's musuem. Ave expiernced her first sorbet, and also enjoyed a carosel ride, but reeally wanted to go on the ferris wheel. It was a cool, sunny, windy day in Chicago.


That evening Kate went to visit her friend Chris, who lived in the city. While Kara, Ava and I made the trek out to the 'burbs to find IKEA. We found it, but when we arrived they were closing in 15 minutes. Ava had behaved for Kate and I all day, but when it came time for mom to be around, she didn't want any of it. Maybe it was the lack of a nap. So after some kicking and screaming we got some supper and came back to the hotel. Kara and Ava went to bed and I headed for the lounge and grabbed some wine and read a book. The lobby was a buzz with lots of people, many in fancy dress.

Ahh the reason to go to the city, Dunkin Donuts coffee!!



On Tuesday we had the whole day to explore. We woke up late, and went towards Millenium Park, the plan was to get to the Field Musuem which was at the other end of town. Well we never made it that far. We made it to the park and that was it. There were sculptures to see and a fountain to play in. Most important there was a resturant and bathrooms in the area as well. So we lathered Ava in sunscreen and played in the fountain for a while. Then we thought that maybe Ava should take a nap so she wouldn't be a crab for her mom that night. So we took a walk along the lake and she fell asleep. Well when it was time for her mom to be done with work, we went to catch a bite to eat....Well Ava still didn't want to behave for her mother...I guess she just knows how to push her buttons.


After supper we relaxed in the room. Kara and Ave went to bed and Kate and I went out for ice cream and Dunkin Donuts coffee.

On Wednesday we had the morning to kill. So we wondered around and made it to a beach near Navy Pier. The weather was a continuation of the day before about 80 and sunny. SO Ava was lathered up in sunscreen.


We then went to Navy Pier for a hot dog.


then it was time to go home, so we made it back to the hotel and grabbed the car and made the trek home. It was a good trip!