Brave kitty

This silly kitty seems to think he can catch a goose. He doesn't seem to be deterred by the fact that they are twice his size....

Short visit from a Great Aunt & Uncle

My Aunt Lori & Uncle Don, and cousin Abby, stopped by the other day to see our house as they drove from their home in Missouri to the Twin Cities. It was a short visit, but really nice to see them and for the kids to get to know them a bit. The kids barely stopped moving to snap this photo, but we managed.

Later in the day, we found a very friendly butterfly.

Who says Saturday lunch at home can't be fancy?

Kids say the darnedest things....

In our road trip down to Mahaska County to help out with the wolly mammoth dig the other day, we were playing a "Countries of the World" trivia game with the boys. Mike and I wanted them to guess "Italy," so we said, "It's where the Leaning Tower of Pisa is, where pizza and spaghetti come from, where Mario & Luigi are from."  And Jack yelled "BROOKLYN!"

Touché, 7-yr-old, touché.

Tapping into the archaeology in us all

My family tagged along with me yet again on another one of my volunteer outings today. We drove down to Mahaska county to help Mahaska County Conservation and University of Iowa archaeologists with a dig site for wolly mammoth bones on a private farmer's land. The boys mostly enjoyed the muddy stream, but Mike and I got our hands dirty helping dig up some mammoth bones.

Mike and I were assigned to this area, which we were told showed a revealed rib fragment. After a couple hours of painstaking water brushing, and chiseling away small iotas of dirt and rocks, the archaeologist inspected it closer and decided it was instead a tree branch. DOH!

Toward the end of our time digging, real honest-to-goodness bones were being dug out of this area here. Not sure what they were yet, but people were finding them all over in this hole. So it was not an uneventful day in the least. 

Homemade gnocci

and a butter-sage sauce yet to come = Dinner Deliciousness.

Berry Pickin

We spent the morning at The Berry Patch today. The raspberries didn't pan out to the extent we wanted them to, but the blueberries were a hit. Two moms and seven boys makes for a fun outing any day of the week. It was a beautiful day with beautiful company! I am going to miss this lady when she moves in the coming months so her husband can be closer to his new job in Ames :(  I've grown really accustomed to having her and her boys nearby.

Lemonade

It seems to be a right of passage for kids to run a lemonade stand on a hot summer day. The boys enjoyed doing just that today, and I was incredibly amazed with how long they stuck with it.

Two hours later....

Last man standing, FIVE hours and $35 later

Partner for the Prairie

As part of my Master Conservationist class, I need to complete 32 volunteer hours related to conservation. I took the whole family over to the Neil Smith National Wildlife Refuge and Prairie Learning Center today. We spent three hours collecting Spiderwort seeds. Benji was definitely into this the most. Afterward, we toured the learning center and museum, had a lovely picnic, and saw their herd of bison as we drove through the native prairie area. It was a really enjoyable day!

Benji....

Benji the daring....

Benji the self-taught climber....

Benji the strong-willed....

Benji the curious, the inventor, the engineer, the persistent one......   When he disappears, we find him cutting a cicada in half with a hack saw. Or using my good locally-purchased heavy cream to "make his own version of ice cream," or using Mike's nails of all sizes to draw on our cars, or tie up his Teenage Ninja Turtles with every size bungee cord known to man. This is the one to watch. He always  surprises, and yet we are not that surprised at all. He can be infuriatingly frustrating and awe-inspiring at the same time. This one is a challenge and a gift, that's for sure. 

Ledges & Iowa Arboretum with Great Aunt Gen

We've had some beautiful days this summer, and the boys and are making the most of them. We drove up to Boone this week and picked up Mike's Great Aunt Genevieve, and took her on a picnic to Ledges State Park. Unfortunately the lower levels of the park were closed due to flooding, but we still got to do some hiking and see some great sights.

The boys gave me a slight heart attack when they went ahead of Gen and I on the hiking trails, and I found them at the base of this giant ravine. They had climbed down the whole thing without a concern. Had I been with them, I surely would have told them they weren't allowed to. But once I saw that they had been able to do it, I was happy I wasn't there to stop them. It was a fun exploration for them, and a time when they got to test their own capabilities. 

Benji found more dead cicadas than he knew what to do with. Coming up out of their tunnels every 17 years, these cicadas are especially beautiful, with purple bodies and orangish lined wings. 

We started getting eaten alive by bugs, and decided to move onto the Iowa Arboretum. We searched out all the benches until we found the one that memorializes Mike's grandmother Joan, whose maiden name Gavin bears as a middle name. 

Aunt Gen and the boys on Grandma Joan McCall Haub's memorial bench

Adventureland

Before school let out for the summer, Jack's teacher asked him to write a Summer Bucket List. At the very top was "Go to Adventureland," so we knew we had to deliver on that wishlist item. We went on Mike's day off, and it was another gorgeous day. This summer in Iowa has been amazing--not too humid, lower temps, and all around agreeable days for being outdoors. I can't get enough of it! We had a great time, and were there nine hours. Time flies when you're riding the teacups :)

Balloon Ride

Teacups!