Christmas in Red Wool Coats

I have always loved for my girls to wear red dress coats at Christmas time.

Breakfast with Santa at Mary Greeley Medical Center in 2006

In the beginning I bought their coats at Gymboree and Children's Place.

Later I had to search for them at consignment shops and garage sales.

Right outside our house in 2008

And of course Erin has to wear the one that Katie has outgrown.

Katie in 2009
 

With their American girl dolls in 2010

No red coats in 2011!

I just think they look so beautiful in the dress coats.



2013


I know that my time is running out when they will wear things that I like, so I am grateful to have at least one more year:

2014

Merry Christmas from Erin and Katie!

The Nutcracker

Clara trying to keep the Nutcracker away from Fritz as their party guests leave.

It is a Christmas traditions in many cities to host a production of the Nutcracker Ballet.  Ames has one- by the Robert Thomas Dancenter.  It will be held at CY Stephens Auditorium on December 13th and 14th.

The Nutcracker preparing to battle the mice.

And we have a dancer in the show!

There she is! 

Erin is an angel this year.

If you look closely, you can see her feet are in first position,.

Even the backs of the costumes are beautiful.

I wish I could show you how cool it is when they dance in these dresses.  They take these smooth, sliding steps and it looks like they are floating.

Oh wait!  I have a video:

Erin is the second angel on the right.

It is going to be a beautiful show.  You should come.

July, aka County Fair Time

If you live in America, your county probably has a county fair.  And if you are in Iowa (except for Clay County), it is probably in July.

We are in Boone County, and our fair this summer is July 17th through the 20th.

There will be a carnival, and a demolition derby, and cows and pigs and horses and all those great things.  You can check out the fair's webpage and schedule of events here.  

Katie is in her second year of 4-H.  Her club is the Luther Livewires.  (Luther is that really small town that you drive through on Hwy 17..... bet you didn't know that they had an awesome 4-H club.)

She had a great time at the fair in 2013.  This photo is in the Luther Livewires' booth after she helped decorate it.  She entered 10 projects plus two outfits in Fashion Day.  Her best results were for photography; she received 3 purple ribbons.

This year she has even bigger plans.  She is going to show the dog, the cat, and do an educational presentation.  Plus THREE outfits in Fashion Day, and 13 static exhibits (that means the projects that will be on display in the booth during the fair).  

Katie has been working hard on her projects, but there is still A LOT of work left to do.  A lot.  Mostly the write-ups about the projects.  4-H projects are not simply about presenting a finished project, the kids have to set a goal and then show what they learned.  It is a very good learning process, but it can be a lot of writing for the littler kids. 

If you have the chance, come to the Boone County Fair!  Or go to the one near you.  They usually have good food (like lamb kabobs).

 And fun activities for the kids- like the Ag Olympics.  That is Katie riding in a wheelbarrow that our neighbor Zoe is pushing.

You might even see a celebrity!

For all the fair families out there, good luck getting all your projects done!

I see that the Dallas County Fair is starting July 9th- I feel for those moms 4-Her's who have just a few days of crazy, late-night, running around town, hard work left.

SW Florida, June 2014

When I was growing up, my favorite family vacations were to Ft. Myers, Florida.  I have been trying to convince Jeff to go there but he wasn't interested.  Finally, after 14 years we went!  And everybody, even Jeff, loved it.

We drove.  It's a long drive.    So we stopped in Chattanooga, TN.  Have you seen the advertisements for Ruby Falls?  We fell for them and toured the caves.

Spoiler alert:  

If you ever want to pay money to tour the cave and see the amazing wonder of an underground waterfall, avert your eyes from the next photo.

Yep, that's it!  But they darken the cave and light it up different colors and play dramatic music too. 

We made it to Ft. Myers Beach, FL late Saturday night after spending the day at Disney World.  The next six days were spent exploring all the beaches along Ft. Myers and Sanibel Island.

These photos are how we spent the week.

This is in Ding Darling Wildlife Preserve on Sanibel.  These are crabs.  There are hundreds and hundreds of them.

Minus one.

The first alligator we saw!  This is also in Ding Darling, and this one is just a baby.

Lover's Key State Park, very early in the morning.

Downtown Ft. Myers along the Caloosahatchee River.

My hair, and my girls' hair turns to frizz in that Florida humidity!

One day we went south to Big Cypress National Preserve and Everglades National Park (Just the very NW corner of it).  Before we went into the park we went on a commercial air boat tour of the mangrove swamps.  They had a little zoo, and Erin insisted that she wanted to "hold and hug an alligator" like was advertised on the sign.

Katie was brave too.

This guy is in Big Cypress National Preserve.  There are alligators everywhere, all along the roads.

A ginormous grasshopper.

Meanwhile, back at Bonita Beach......

Our very last night in Florida.  This was on Estero Island (Ft. Myers Beach) at low, low tide.  There were little tidal pools with all kinds of creatures.

You are not allowed to keep any live creatures from the gulf, so don't worry- we put them all back!  It is just fascinating to look at them.  Nothing like this in Iowa, that's for sure.

It was an amazing week; the most relaxing vacation we have had in years! And we all had so much fun looking for sea shells that everyone wants to go back!  I can't wait for the next time.