Flamingo on a Stick

Fellow bloggers,  Travel with Kevin and Ruth are having a contest to win $100. To anyone interested here is the link in case you don't know what to do with those blue letters :) http://www.travelwithkevinandruth.com/

Evelyn's first "piggy bank" or in this case lamb bank What a fun day. Originally we planned to have the baby shower for our granddaughter, Evelyn, right at our rig - a fun day in the park right? Wrong. Mother Nature had other ideas. Thursday and Friday were two of the most beautiful days we’ve had this summer but late Friday evening the temps plunged and the rain began. After checking the forecast for the last few days the decision was made to move the shower indoors to my friend Trudy’s house. I am lucky to have such a wonderful friend.  This shower was a couples shower and yes the guys came. We had almost 40 people and it was so good to see so many friends again.  Because the guys were a part of this instead of the usual shower games we did something a little different. I matted 4 photos of Evelyn with some funny expressions, and one sweet one, put post it notes and pens with them and had the guest suggest captions. Mitch’s friends in particular had a l

Nuthatch leaving the feeder with the goods. As usual its been a busy week. Still catching up with friends and just generally running around. John gave me bird feeder for Mother’s Day and we’ve had fun watching all the activity. We’ve had cardinals, tufted titmouse, goldfinches, woodpeckers, nuthatches and the bluejays and redwing blackbirds give it a try. The bigger birds don’t really fit on the feeder buts its funny watching them try. I’m having fun photographing them too, hope you enjoy the photos. nuthatch tufted titmouse Mr Cardinal This weekend we spent some time in and around downtown Cedar Rapids. Since last August a lot has changed which is refreshing. In 2008 this city suffered a 500 year flood. The river in the downtown area was a mile across. That was 5 years ago. We left on our travels in 2010 and each year we have watched the recovery. What was so discouraging is how little had changed the 1st two summers back. There were still many abandon h

We’ve been back in Iowa awhile now and I think it will always feel a little bit like home. It is nice to know where things are, like grocery stores. The other great thing is reconnecting with old friends and family. Randy, a good friend of ours, who actually went with us on one of our first dates, came out one night. That guy sure knows how to make me laugh. He is an avid skier and this year got to check heli-skiing off his bucket list. His stories are amazing. Today I was grocery shopping at Target and ran into another friend that John use to work with: Chris and his wife Michelle.They have a new little girl named Harper who was with them; she is a cutie. John and I use to babysit occasionally for their older 2 kids, Luca and Carolina. We always thought of it as grandparent practice. They were the easiest kids to be with. Hard to believe that Carolina is 6. She wasn’t even walking last time we saw her. We definitely want to get together with them again and see the older tw