Bandshell Thursdays

Throughout the summer on Thursday evenings, the Ames Municipal Band performs live concerts at Bandshell Park.  Channel 12 records and airs these concerts, which means Derek is always there at the park for the duration of the show.  For various reasons, the kids and I have not made it in to any of the concerts this summer.  Last night was the last concert of the season, so I rounded the kiddos up and we made the trip into town to play at the park and listen to some live music. 

The older two had a grand time playing on the playground equipment.


They played on the alligator-crocodile-dragon-thing.

They traveled through wormholes.  At least, that's what this cylinder always makes me think of.  Because all wormholes are made of energy and green metal mesh.

 

They rode on the green reptile again.

They helped Daddy set up his equipment and tell his interns what to do.

As is so often the case, I'm left wondering:  Why didn't we do this more often?





This Guy

He's two years old and just like his Daddy.


He has his Daddy's blue eyes.

He's bigger than most of the kids his age.

His voice already seems to be a full octave lower than Adelaide's- and she's no chipmunk.

When he's outside, he loves playing football, golf, and soccer.  When he's inside, he loves watching football, golf, and soccer.

And he gives me this look a lot.

Yup, he's his Father's son.









Home Again, Home Again

One of the first things I checked upon returning home was the state of the garden.  There were a lot of weeds, a few small zucchini, and one monster zucchini.

The baby boo pumpkins are coming along nicely, too, despite (or perhaps because?) growing outside the garden fence.

We also have this giant beanstalk that we're going to try climbing any day now.

Adelaide started growing it in a little container during the last few weeks of preschool, then brought it home so that we could plant it. 

Did I say beanstalk?  I meant sunflower.  It's a giant sunflower. 

We were also greeted by drifts of black-eyed-Susans, hibiscus, and some new lilies.  Adelaide has been roaming the yard, exclaiming and letting me know exactly which flowers had the audacity to bloom in her absence. 

In spite of all these beautiful offerings of summer, I find myself looking forward to the day our mums start blooming, because it will mean fall is close and cooler temperatures are here. 

Ask me if I feel the same way around mid-January.

A Week In Photos

As usual, we crammed a lot into our little vacation down south last week.  Here's a not-so-brief photo recap:

(Please note that the term "we" is always used very loosely.)





We were pushed on the swing when it was approximately one million degrees outside.

We played games on Xbox Kinect and didn't want to stop.  Ever.

We were held and cuddled until we fell asleep.

We were read to over and over and over and over...



We played outside, again the million degree heat.



We sat on each other and laughed.

We ate s'mores.

And then ate s'more s'mores.



We cooled off at the pool.

We played naked under the table.

It was an eventful week.







Don't Be Like Me

Arrive home in Iowa after visiting southern Kansas.  Thank God it's 15 degrees cooler here than it is down there.

Remember that 15 degrees cooler than 105 is still 90 and you don't have air-conditioning in your house. 

Lie on your kitchen floor like a dog trying to find the coolest possible place inside.  Cry.

Don't eat anything all day because you're just too hot.

Go grocery shopping.  Break your promise to yourself to wait until the watermelon is ready in your garden and buy one at the store. 

Eat 1/3 of a gigantic watermelon for supper.  Nothing else- just watermelon. 

Have cereal for breakfast the next morning because that cold, juicy, thirst-quenching watermelon sitting in the fridge doesn't control you.

Eat another 1/3 of a watermelon for lunch.  Nothing else- just watermelon.

Take a bunch of allergy medicine and slather ointment all over your eczema that is flaring up, due to the fact that...

You're allergic to watermelon.  You've known this for years, but eat it anyway any time it gets really hot.

Curse yourself for being so stupid.

Have another slice of watermelon.

Atticus is Famous

The kids and I just spent the past week and a half down in southern Kansas.  Like so much of the country, that area was caught up in a killer heat wave.  Ten minutes from our destination, I looked up at the rearview mirror and took note of the digital temperature readout:  108 degrees.  That's Fahrenheit, people. 

The dj on the local radio station confirmed this moments later when he announced "...and the current temperature is 108 degrees!  But don't worry, folks, the heat index is only 111!" 

Let's just say it was hot. 

Yesterday, as we were driving home, I got to watch the temperature drop from 98 degrees at 10:00 am all the way down to 80 over the course of an hour as we drove north and into a cool front.  It had climbed back up to the upper 80's by the time we got home, but that was still an improvement over temps that make you feel like you're going to keel over if you walk more than ten steps outside of the air conditioning. 

One of the ways we stayed cool during our visit was by visiting the local pool (excuse me, the local aquatic center- since when did public swimming pools become so snooty?  It's happening up here, too).  It just happened to be Free Swim Day sponsored by the town VFW.  There was a big turnout, and a photographer from the newspaper was there taking pictures. 

Guess who made the front page?

True, you can't really see his face, and we're talking about a paper in a town with all of 13,000 residents.  But still!  We blow into town on Saturday, and six days later the kid is front-page news. 

Pretty cool.  (Pun most definitely intended.)

Lucky Number 7

One of the interesting things about marriage is that every year, you learn more about your spouse.  That first year is nothing but learning. 

It was Fall.  Derek's favorite season.  The year was 2004.  The year we got married.  We were living in an apartment in Connecticut, and the Minnesota Vikings were playing that day.  Derek had settled into the living room to watch the game, and I was in the kitchen, preparing some food to sneak back into the bedroom, where I would be camped out during the duration of the game with a snack and a book.  As I was tip-toeing through the side of the living room, careful not to get in between my new husband and the television, Derek waved a frantic hand in my direction, keeping his eyes glued to the tv, and said, "SHHHH!  Too much movement in my peripheral vision!" 

Thus, one of my lessons that first year was that Derek's enthusiasm for the purple and gold is really more of an obsession.

Another time that year, the two of us were preparing to leave that same apartment when he decided he wanted to take along a can of pop.  He went to the fridge, got it out, then turned toward me and did something truly shocking:  he threw it right at me. 

I did my best to move out of harm's way, threw my hands in front of my face, closed my eyes, and squealed, "What are you doing?"

Derek looked baffled and replied, "Throwing you a can of pop.  What are you doing?"

Thus, Derek learned that throwing things to me is always the same as throwing things at me, in that I will have a stereotypically girlish reaction and often hurt myself in the process.

So today, as we celebrate 7 years of marriage, I'm reflecting on what I've learned about Derek this year.  I think what stands out more than anything is that he doesn't exaggerate much.  Throughout our marriage, as he has related different anecdotes and stories, there have often been times that I have absently assumed he was exaggerating a bit about this or that.  Over the past year, however, I myself have witnessed many different places, people, and situations that he has told me about in the past, and realized that he wasn't stretching the truth at all.  That food really is delicious, that person really is a little bit crazy, and Iowa really is a great place to live. 

I'm not sure why it's taken me seven years to figure this out.  I may be a fast learner in some ways, but in others I am still ponderously slow. 

Happy Anniversay, Derek!