Let's Catch Up....

Well, May is finally over. Since I last blogged....Olivia and her BFF's did NOT make the flag squad. Out of 45 they only picked three 6th graders. They have a great attitude and plan to try again next year. I think they were all relieved that none of them made it. The four of them will be in marching band next year, so that will be fun! School is out for the summer - yay! I am officially unemployed and plan to enjoy the summer and hope something comes my way this fall. What are the odds of finding another job where I have all vacations and summers off? That's what I thought.

Tony crossed over into Webelos a couple weeks ago.

Here is a cute shot of the boys from Pack 143 Den 1.

Tony also had a habitat presentation the last week of school. His group was assigned "Grassland" which is one of his favorites since moving to Nebraska. He really has an affinity for the prairie. Can you guess what he is?

We took our first camping trip of the year to Lake McBride State Park in Eastern Iowa the weekend of May 21. It was about 2 hours past DesMoines, which is about 2 hours from here. We spend Saturday in the Amana Colonies. They are a group of 7 villages that used to be a communal living community. Now it is a historic sight/tourist mecca. It was quaint, historic and worth a visit. The kids loved all the gift shops. One of our first stops was the Millstream Brewing Co.

We all enjoyed homemade rootbeer, cream soda, beef sticks and of course....BEER!

The Amana Woolen Mill was a neat stop. It is the oldest working woolen mill I believe. They have all sorts of blankets, etc. for sale....too itchy for us, but beautifully made.

This antique shop represents most of the buildings in Amana. They are sandstone and each had two apartments. People ate three meals a day in communal kitchens. All these home have trellis' around them that were used to grow grapes and other vegetables.

On the way back to the campsite we took a stop in Iowa City. The kids are posing for Papa Jack in front of Kinnick Stadium. Go Hawkeyes!

Tony was pumped to find this sculpture along the pedestrian mall downtown Iowa City. It's named appropriately, "Dorothy."

The campground we stayed at was located on Lake McBride. There was a really cool dam separating that lake from Coral Lake. The kids discovered that the rocks on either side were loaded with shells and fossil like items. We spent a lot of time smashing rocks and brought a bucket of cool finds home.

These two sure are ROCK HOUNDS!!!!

Sunset over beautiful Coral Lake. Coral Lake was for all the BIG and FAST boats, Lake McBride was for the pontoon boats and canoes...definitely more our pace.

The kids had a blast playing in the rapids along the dam. It was shallow and slippery - a kid paradise for sure.

They got right to work building their own dam. Tony and Livie could have stayed there all day and kept busy. But we wrangled them to the canoe for a paddle across the lake to a really nice beach.

Chris took each kid out alone to teach them how to paddle. They really had fun and did a darn good job. It sure was nice to have our beloved canoe out in the water.

There were all kinds of wonderful, quiet bays where the kids could fish. We could see the fish in the water, but they were too savvy for us.

However, Chris managed to net a turtle to the delight of Olivia!

We had a really nice, big site at the end of the campground. No one on three sides of us - perfect! It did get hot and a little buggy, but we all enjoyed our first DRY weekend in the camper. What a treat it is to not have to pack wet, soggy gear.

On our way home we made a pit stop at the DesMoines Zoo. We have a cool reciprocal agreement with our Omaha Zoo pass that gets us 50% off any other Zoo in the US. We try to stop at as many as we can on our travels. We've been to the MN Zoo, Denver Zoo, Kansas City Zoo, Central Park Zoo in NYC, Sioux Falls Zoo....

This little baby goat captured our hearts for sure. We've added one to our "animal list" for our "farm".

Livie really loved this fat little chicken.

It was a hot day and this misting station was a welcome relief! When you're camping, this technically counts as a shower. Ha ha.

Oh, sweet little giraffe.

Kids take a break and Tony checks the map.

We got home on Monday, school ended on Tuesday and Gramma and Papa T came on Thursday! We wasted no time and headed to the Omaha Zoo to check out the NEW Madagascar Exhibit that just opened May 7th.

It was hot and busy at the zoo, but we still enjoyed the day. Good thing for shade, frozen lemonade and ice cream!

Here is a cute little ringtailed lemur enjoying lunch under the Baobab tree.

Just a nice picture of our little family.

These two kids definitely have a little of their Papa Jocko in them...very funny!

On Saturday we left Daddy and Papa home and took Gramma Sally to the Omaha Botanical Center. We have been dying to get her there and I think she really was glad we did! The first thing we saw were beautiful hibiscus trees. They don't grow those in Northern Minnesota!

Gramma and the kids pose for me in the Victorian Garden. They used architectural items from historic buildings that were torn down in Omaha.

One of our favorite gardens was the "peony garden." We got there just in time, as this week the blooms will all be done. They were gorgeous to say the least.

Tony and Olivia each posed for me by their favorite one.

It was another HOT day, but we managed to walk the entire thing and see it ALL.

This shady oasis was a welcome relief from the hot sun.

Tony flushed out this Tom Turkey and he was NOT happy at all (the turkey, that is). He just took his sweet time and continued along the path.

We found PERFECTION in the rose garden. Absolute perfection.

Auntie Ernie will like this one, it's called "Hot Cocoa." The little hint of brown in there was stunning.

On Sunday we just spent a lazy day around the house. Gramma gave the kids a great art lesson. They did a good job of listening and learning some techniques for painting. I don't have a photo to prove it, but I kicked everyone's BUTT in Croquet by the way.

We sure had a wonderful visit with Gramma and Papa! They should just be arriving home as I am creating this post. We have summer band, swim lessons, both kids birthdays and a trip to Yellowstone this month. YAY SUMMER!!!!!