Summer Activities 2021

We have done a lot of random things this summer. Here are some pictures of what we did do in no particular order.  

Sam had been asking for a few months if we could dig up fossils.  So I took Sam and Ben to Fossil & Prairie Center in Rockford, Iowa, close to 2 hours away.  Unfortunately I didn't know we'd have to walk over a mile to the dig sites and we left our water in the car. Sam did not like the heat but we did collect some cool fossils!

I took Jeremy on an overnight trip to Carroll, Iowa so he could take the ACT at 8 am on June 12 in Carroll High School.  It's over an hour and a half drive so we stayed overnight.  On the way home we hit some antique stores and saw a community car show/fair. Jeremy also took the SAT this summer on  Aug 28 in Fort Dodge.  We ended up just waking up early to drive to that one.

We had our annual block party on  Aug 7 where everyone brings potluck, the fire truck, ambulance and police car come, and this year Kona ice came.

Sam and Ben did the Ankeny Parks and Rec/ Library challenge to visit all the parks in Ankeny to get a free water bottle.  It was hot, and some of the parks were tiny, but we found some great new ones!  We did the whole thing in 3 days.

We had some great produce in our backyard garden!

Jeremy, Sarah, and Ben went to their church camps.  Jeremy and Sarah to Youth Conference, Jeremy and Ben to Young Men's Camp, and Sarah to Girls Camp. Jeremy gave a devotional at Youth Conference in Montour, Iowa.  

I took Ben and Sam to the Science Center on June 11 with my friend Wendy Finlayson and her nieces and nephews. 

One day I took Sam and Sarah on a full day adventure.  First we went blueberry picking far away and then we stopped in Story City to ride the Antique Carousel. Then we stopped in Ames to see the World's Largest Concrete Gnome which happens to be in Reiman Gardens.  We had never been there before and really enjoyed their butterfly enclosure as well as the beautiful plants.

Everyone got the COVID vaccine.  Sarah and Ben got their 2 doses at HyVee and got $10 gift cards which Ben used on soda and candy and Sarah used on cool socks.

Richard and I went on fun dates, included a return trip to the Carousel.

Sam went on several two mile walks with me and we hung out in the hammock once.

Sarah took and passed Driver's Ed!  One day she and Mckenna Dixon wore the same outfits :)

Sam got really good at doing his pogo stick that he earned money for and bought off a guy on Craig's List.  He also helped us do a few puzzles.  Sam is an early riser and most mornings you could find him snuggled on the couch reading his latest series. This summer he read the Eragon Series, Percy Jackson Series, Wings of Fire Series, The Amulet Series, and many others.  He is an awesome reader!

When the movie Sarah, Ben, Sam, and I went to see with the Shill's at B&B Theaters on July 14 was cancelled we ended up going bowling.  It was my best score ever!

Jeremy might have finally grown taller than John?!

We went to the pool a lot once Sam got his cast off!  Cascade Falls and Prairie Ridge :)  Sometimes we met the Morales' there.   

On August 10 I took Ben and Sam to Blank Park Zoo where we splurged! The boys fed the parakeets, rode the camel, got snacks, and rode the carousel!  We had a great time!

I took all my boys to eat at El Molcajete Mexican Restaurant and they cleared their plates!  It was the first time I had ever taken them to eat out for lunch at a sit down restaurant and I loved spending time with them.

Sarah, Ben, Sam and I got free tickets through the library to go to the Des Moines Botanical Gardens on Aug. 13.  It was so much fun!  Afterwards we stopped along the riverfront to see this pavilion and for Sarah and Ben to go across the bridge and back.  

John did Spring Term at BYU and worked all summer for Dr. Kempton.  You could always find him working lying down with a computer on his lap.  We couldn't understand how he could lay on the floor with his head on the wall and not get horrible neck pain!

Sam started soccer.  He is on team Grizzlies!

School started on August 23, and we were sad to see summer go. John left on August 26 and flew to Utah on Delta and took Front Runner down to Provo where he got a ride to campus from a fellow student at the bus station. The bottom picture was taken frantically as Sam's bus drove away and no one was quite ready for school yet.  Sam is in 3rd grade, Ben in 7th, Sarah in 10th, and Jeremy is a Senior.  I am wearing clothes to go work in the Ankeny School District as a substitute cook and eventually as an associate sub.  We will really miss summer, we had a blast!