Random, End of August, 2010

A few more from first day of preschool. This one needs a thought bubble. Not sure what the though would be. "Enough pictures already, mom."

Bike ride. I was walking, but could not keep up.

Bring a teddy to school, for compare/contrast.

Saturday at Furman Aquatic Center in Ames. What a cool place!

Passed by the hat isle while shopping. Had to sample a few.

Sunday at Adventureland Amusement Park. We went with LAD's friend and her parents. LAD was not afraid of any ride we went on. The roller coaster was his favorite and the G-Force, it was like a rocket.

Miranda was a little scared to go on one ride and LAD said: "Oh, it's OK Miranda, I'll give you so much attention while we're on it you won't be scared." Where does he come up with this stuff!?

The tilt-o-whirl. (note to self: I'm too old for this shit.)

The log ride. This is my speed.

Yep, just tall enough for this one. Good thing, it was a favorite.

Almost too tired to eat supper.

First day of preschool

He was ready to go. Backpack full of supplies! Sniff!

Scene at the fair (Tuesday 8/17/2010)

2010 Iowa State Fair-Non Stop Fun! It rained ALL day. Beats record setting crowds and 99 degrees any day.

Clifford was a big hit...

But not as exciting as seeing Dan Wardell, of Iowa Public TV, PBS. LAD said "I didn't know he was real!"

Patient quilt viewing waiters...

LAD got a new hat. Of course he had to have a RED one!

Always good conversation with this gal!

Just some collages of our day... Click on them to see them larger.

The quilts are about my favorite. There are some amazing ones there!

We went thru the horse barns. LAD was NOT impressed with the odorific nature. I thought it was quite nice...

Food on a stick. There are nearly 200 food items you can get at the fair on a stick!

All in all, it was a good day at the fair!

"He's Adorable"

Those were LAD's exact words. I'm thinking only him and it's momma have that opinion. I'm surprised his next words weren't "Mom, can we keep him." He just didn't think of it, and mum's the word from here.

More Rain...for perspective

And here's the next day, after last night's deluge... You can see just how deep our ditches are. They are probably 4 feet or so deep at the lowest spot.







































Finally got all the water pumped out about mid-day. There was a ton!


















Nice blue skies today. Maybe they'll stay around for a while...

More rain...

Are you kidding. Our ditches were completely FULL, overflowing the driveway and highway. We've lived here 12 years and 1 month and have never seen this much water here.

And of course it has no where to go but up our drains. We started the pumps early and kept up with it this time, at least. We had standing water, but not as high as it could have been.

Got some lucky lightening light here. That's our driveway, creating the waterfall.

This was about the peak. Totally unreal.

Poor poor pitiful

Got a call from daycare today, LAD has a fever...Tuesday sick day, goes with Monday flooded basement day. So we hung out and watched movies this afternoon. Napped a little too. Now he's asleep for the night, we'll see how long it lasts...
Can't complain. I don't think the child has been ill for at least a couple years.

Rain, rain, go SOUTH, where they want you...

We woke up to a flooded basement Monday morning. A nice way to start the week. We got about 4 inches rain overnight Sunday. Never dawned on me to think about the basement. It's August for cripes sake. It's official, we've had the rainiest year on record so far here in central Iowa. Beats the floods of 2008 and 1993.








































Our garden got toppled in Sunday night's storm. So i picked the ears of corn that were there. They're kinda young, so maybe they'll be tender...














And now, Tuesday night, it's raining again, the ditches out front are filling fast...
Sigh...

Random from first days of August

Corn from the neighbor, we planted some, but it may not be ready until fall! Finally got first tomatoes. Cukes never fail.

Dead butterfly found at the grocery store. "Can we keep it?". Sure, why not. It's still in a jar, in the kitchen...

Last weekend, LAD went on his first official sleep-over with his friend Miranda. He was super excited and they had a blast!

Interesting clouds, very colorful with the last dregs of sunshine.

Entertainment.

Our garden, before the storm the next night. It didn't fare so well...

We got a new grill. This is packaging. Very entertaining.

Yeah, eggplant. Not sure what variety this is, but the bugs like it. We liked it too!

We have at least one pumpkin. Only one I've seen so far. The plants are taking over half the garden. Hope there's at least another one or two out there...

Assembly. Only took a couple hours.