Sand in the City

Gary had a GREAT idea!  Not that he does not have many but he has a few time throughout the summer given me ideas for places to go for our blog but this was definitely one to show off.  The City of Iowa City Summer of the Arts kicked off their Sand in the City between Dubuque Street and Iowa Avenue last night.  Thirteen teams competed for the 1st price ribbon in sand sculpting....REAL SAND SCULPTING!

Humpty Dumpty (and Emily)

I will admit that I am not a downtown Iowa City (college students) lover but in the summer it does change atmosphere and an occasional trip is well worth it.  The Alice in Wonderland was the winner with Charlotte's Web coming in 2nd Place.  It will run all day today and most of the day Sunday with live music, fair food, a kiddy area and of course the sculptures.  If you have the time (even a little) stop and view these wonderful sand masterpieces.  If you have more than alittle bit of time - stop at Basta and enjoy the rustic fire roasted pizza...YUM!

Eric Carle's Very Hungry Caterpillar

Hawkeye Express!

Three Little Pigs

IA Dance Marathon Team and the Giving Tree (love this book)

The Rainbow Fish

2nd Place Charlotte's Web

And the winner is Alice in Wonderland

Swinging Bridge

Our adventure this evening took us to Columbus Junction's Swinging Bridge.  When I was Emily's age my mother would pack up the four of us and take us to the swim pool in Columbus Junction with an occasional stop at the Swinging Bridge.  While at the 4H Fair I saw a flyer for Columbus Junction and the bridge was on the front.  It brought back many memories of the four of us running across the bridge fearing for our life as we would swing and jump and carry on so I decided that Emily must experience this fear. :)  We were lucky enough to have Gary join us as well as Brandon Feldman and Carson Sojka.  It was exactly how I remembered and Gary played the perfect fear master as he jumped, swayed and chased the kids across the bridge.

After we successfully had given ourselves a small case of motion sickness we decided to take our adventure to the Dairy Sweet Mart for fried food and ice cream.  A perfect ending to a perfect adventure.



The kids decided that they needed to climb down into the ravine to get a different view of the bridge



The Fear Master

My favorite picture of the evening

Life is a Beach......

Emily and I took advantage of having Ella all to ourselves today packed the car and headed to Sugar Bottom Day Use beach.  For the last five years we have put up a nice pool in our backyard and enjoyed spending every summer day in our swimsuit.  This year it was decided that we would not put up the pool and I will be honest the girls in this house dearly miss the pool!  Plus, I have gone from being in the water daily, even if it was to just get the bugs out of the pool, to this being my first time to the beach/pool this year.

Now having a 16 year old and a 12 year old you really do get to experience two seperate world at the beach.  Emily as you can see from the pictures couldn't get wet enough.  She ran, jumped, dove, splashed, dug in the sand, build sand castles (I use that word loosely), and floated in the water all afternoon.  Ella entered the water cautiously  (so not to get the hair wet), pulled Emily around long enough to make her mother happy, then sunned on the blanket while desperately trying to find just the right angle so that she could still read the text messages from what I like to call the "uninvited guests".

But whether I was sitting on the beach with Ella or in the water with Emily it was another wonderful day with my girls....and that I wouldn't trade for the world.

Mormon Handcart Park

It took several drives around the same parking lot, one stop to ask the parking lot security directions (he had no clue but was kind enough to suggest that if we are looking for something to do that we stop at the mall since he knows "girls like to shop"...this made Emily and I both laugh) and a lucky turn left to finally find the Mormon Handcart Park.  History is that Iowa City was the farthest train point west at the time and this park was established in memorial of the many mormons that made the trek from Iowa to Utah using handcarts.  It is a beautiful nature trail walk with markers to designate burial sites and campsites tucked behind the Hawkeye Rec Fields and according to Trip Advisory a must see in Iowa City.  Emily and I would agree. 
 

Johnson County Fair

Emily and I went to the Johnson County Fair today to watch Karli and Kaylin Burr show their goats.  It seems like only in Iowa would you hear kids talking about their goats, cows, chickens, pigs and rabbits like most everyone else would talk about their cats and dogs.  The Johnson County Fair might be the only fair left in our area that has stayed true to the tradition of a 4H/FFA Fair.  The only admission fee is the cost of the shoes you wear (because if you are not watching your every step you might be throwing them away when you get home!), the largest grandstand event you will find is the Queen Contest and  the biggest question is what the Regina stand is serving today.

We love to walk through the barns - although we cannot tell a champion pig from your every day pig and the same with the cows - but we do enjoy looking to see the names of the kids that are familiar to us -then oohing and awwing over how nice that rabbit or chicken looks. 

We did stop to take a picture next to the memorial stone that sits next to the flag pole that was placed at the fairgrounds in honor of Gary's mom and dad, Janet and Stanley Feldman.  Stanley was very active with the 4H Board and the Johnson County Sheep Board.  It is always a nice way for us to start and end our day at the fair.

Last year for Emily's birthday she and her Grandmother Brenda went shopping for a comforter for her bed.  We FINALLY got motivated to move her room from the main level to the basement with her sister Ella so that she would have a room that matched the present from Grandma.  It was a great three days with the girls painting, shopping and decorating the room.  Hope you enjoy it as much as Emily does.  Take special note of the flower pictures....these are Emily's very own photographs!  By the way....I think Emily might have a shot at the That's So Random show on TV.  That girl cracks me up!!!

Harry Potter at the Grandview Drive-In Theater

We did it!  If you know me well you know that I LOVE the Harry Potter movie series.  My family will acknowledge that I live for Harry Potter weekends on the Family Channel and if there are too many weeks between these marathons that there is no need to worry because between my sister Christine and myself we own the first 6 so I can get a fix whenever I feel the need.  It might be a surprise for you to find out that I have never been "one of those people" that just had to see the 12:01 showing of the newest film.  No longer!  Ella, my niece Brynne, and my sister Christine packed the car full of chairs, blankets, pillows (just in case), water, camera, and sticky popcorn (thanks to my sister's husband Todd) and headed south to the Grandview Drive-in Theater to catch the 12:01 AM showing of Harry Potter (thanks goes out to my good friend Shelia Burr for the heads up on the Drive-in Theater showing).  

Ella and I have been to the drive-in once before but this was a first for my sister and my niece Brynne.  The outdoor atmosphere was a wonderful addition to this adventure.  To wrap up the evening...the movie was great, we are still a bit confused about the HP/Severus connect, we agreed that we felt a bit sad that it was finally over, and....I can say I am "one of those people"!

Things we know now that we have experienced a 12:01 AM showing at a drive-in:

1. Who has to move if you have claimed your territory and a pickup decides to park in the slot in front of your already established camp?  Answer - You do.
2. Things that we do not like to hear when attending the drive-in.  Answer - Car alarms.
3. FYI, not all cars can get station 96.4 and mine is one of them.
4. FYI, it doesn't matter that your car cannot get station 96.4 because all of the other car radios provide a nice surround sound system.
5. Even if you fall asleep you still get to say "you did it!"  (I did not sleep but I cannot say the same for the rest of my party)