Next Outing…

Hello!

For Jack’s next adventure, we did not have to head very far…just to the backyard! It was a rare summer night: cool and NOT raining, so Jason and Jack decided top to put up the tent and camp under the stars (with the supervision of Charlie.)

It’s a good thing that they practiced putting on the rain cover. Jack woke up in the night thinking, “Is that rain on my face?”

At dusk everyone headed out to set up for the evening/night.
Can you spot Jack loving up Charlie?

A friend lent us her cots which worked extremely well for the night!
Nice and comfy!! (Thanks J!)

Jason brought out the TV so they could watch a movie under the stars. It worked out nicely…Charlie even enjoyed the movie before heading to bed.

Charlie and I headed to bed (inside) shortly after the movie started. I thought for sure I would hear the boys come inside during the night, but no one showed up inside until 8:30 the next morning!

Jack loved it and said he slept soooo well! He also learned that you don’t need to go somewhere to have an adventure!

Next week…Jack and I searched high and low during this outing!

An Outing!

Hello!

This summer Jack and I have decided to do an “outing” to a local/Iowa destination that we have not been to before or have not been to for a long time. Can you guess where we went last week?

Does this help?

Well, this will give it away!

If you still haven’t guessed, Jack and I headed to the Botanical Gardens in DesMoines! Jack was in charge of picking the place, the tour (using the map) and taking some pictures!

When we first started our tour, we were taken by the SIZE of the plants and leaves. They were crazy HUGE!!

While walking around, Jack and I felt like miniature people walking through a jungle. It was amazing!! Even this shovel was larger than us!

We headed to the outside gardens to check out these trees. Jack took this picture…love the view he decided to take of it!

This is the same tree!

What? We were actually looking at the Bonsai trees! Jack loved how the trees looked like full grown trees, just miniature versions. There was one that was over a 100 years old!

We continued our outside walk, finding a wonderful waterfall. It was so nice and cool underneath it and very loud!! We sat there for some time.

There was an area for home ideas and we decided that this little nook would be awesome to have in our yard.

After the Botanical Center, we walked down to the Robert Ray Asian Gardens. Jack was amazed by the building and statues around this fun little area.

Jack found his “sign”, the rooster, at the zodiac walk.

I am always amazed to find a rock that is heart shaped. Start looking…they are everywhere! Yes, I know this one was probably “made” this way.

Since we were downtown, a trip to the t-shirt shop Raygun and Mars Cafe for Thelma’s ice cream, was on the menu!

Our first fun outing for the summer was a success! We don’t put a “time-limit” on our trips..some have been an hour, some have been all night (hmmmm…) Stop back next week to see what Jack planned as his next adventure!

PS…Sam is always invited, but this is the summer of football, working and of course, friends!! 🙂

Just Finished…

Hello!

I just finished the book by Ruth Ware,
The Death of Mrs. Westaway.

The novel opens on, well, a dark and stormy night as a lone young woman scurries her way homeward along a deserted seaside promenade. Harriet “Hal” Westaway is 21 years old. She never knew her father’s identity, and ever since the hit-and-run death of her mother three years ago, Hal has been eking out a living reading tarot cards in a seedy resort town on the English Channel.

When she arrives home, she has two letters: One is a threat from a loan shark she naively borrowed money from months ago. The other is from a solicitor’s firm in Cornwall, informing Hal of the death of her maternal grandmother and summoning Hal to a reading of the will. The tantalizing phrase “substantial size of the estate” catches Hal’s eye. The only problem is, Hal knows that her mother’s mother died decades ago; the lawyer must have her confused with another Harriet Westaway.

Hal is a person of integrity, but she’s also desperate. Hal decides to board a train for Cornwall and pass herself off as the missing Westaway granddaughter. If she’s exposed as a fraud, she’ll be packed off to prison, so Hal steels herself to pull off the ultimate con game.

This book is a thriller and mystery, but not in the typical sense. It’s a story with many different layers and will keep you guessing who is really who and who is a good person and who is a player and who is being played. There’s not an intense scene where you wonder how a character will “get out” of a situation, but an unfolding story about a family with secrets. A really good story that will keep your attention.

I give this one 4 out of 5 stars.

USATF Weekend…

Hello!

This weekend was spent at the USATF Championships at Drake Stadium. Lots of fun and some really good races!

One of the best parts were our seats…front row (always good to know a person who is connected to an event.) We also taped it on TV, so when we got home, we would look for ourselves (so humble!)

Friday night, Sam, Jack and Jason got some good TV time! After the men’s 100, Noah Lyles who won, ran past my boys!

Skipping to Sunday, Jack and Jason headed down to the track and once again, I spotted them on TV later that evening!

Now….back to Saturday! Jason, Jack and I all headed to the blue oval! Shelby Houlihan (who ran for Sioux City) won the 1500 and Lewis Johnson interviewed her RIGHT IN FRONT OF US!!  Look at that camera…straight at us! Sam and I knew we were about to get some serious screen time!

Once we got home, I quickly found our TV time…


Where am I in the above picture? I was sitting between Jason and Sam! You can barely see my t-shirt in the second picture!

I suddenly knew how Mike Wazowski felt in Monsters Inc. (click on picture to watch the short video)

That’s ok…I did get a picture with her when we were in Oregon!

But once again…I can’t make these things up!

Just Finished Mini Album…

Welcome Back!

Several people have asked about how do I keep track of the book that I read and thought I’d share that with you today.

As you know, I write mini-reviews on the blog about books I have read  so I take advantage of that by copying the reviews and placing them in a 4×4 mini album.

I have a “form” set up in word so I copy and paste a picture of the book in one box and the review in another box.

I include the title, how I found this book to read and the date I finished at the top of the page. I do not include the author due to it being on the picture.

I then have a mini description of what the book is about (how quickly I forget!), my thoughts about the book and my star rating.

The book nerd in me loves to look back at the books I’ve read for the year.  At the end of June, I will have read 15 books, so I’m on track to read 30 books this year. Yay, me! 🙂

 

Just Finished…

Hello!

I just finished reading the book,
The Woman in the Window
by A.J.

Anna Fox lives alone—a recluse in her New York City home, unable to venture outside. She spends her day drinking wine (maybe too much), watching old movies, recalling happier times . . . and spying on her neighbors.

Then the Russells move into the house across the way: a father, a mother, their teenage son. The perfect family. But when Anna, gazing out her window one night, sees something she shouldn’t, her world begins to crumble—What is real? What is imagined? Who is in danger? Who is in control? In this diabolically gripping thriller, no one—and nothing—is what it seems.

I was hesitant to read this book because I thought it was going to be a lot like the movie “Rear Window.” The only thing similar is the main character watches at her neighbors out her window due to her not being able to go outside because of a terrible, horrible event that occurred in her past. One night she witnesses something happening in a neighbor’s house that changes what she thinks is real, made up or just imagined.  Just when I thought I had it figured out…I didn’t. Great twists and love how it all comes together in the end.

I couldn’t put this book down and read it in three days.

I would give this book 4.5 out of 5 stars

Ingenious?!

Hello!

While going through Jack’s school items, I came across this page in his Science journal and asked Jack about it.

Me: Were you to draw a picture here?
Jack: Ugh! Yes!! We had to draw a picture at the beginning of every unit. I was tired of drawing pictures, so I just put “insert image here”
Me: Hmmmm. Was the ok?
Jack: She never said anything.

Looks like a good idea, but we obviously need to work on how to spell the word “insert.”

Between you and me, if I had a student do this, I would give them an automatic “A” for being creative.  🙂