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.

Dance Recital 2014

Erin's dance recital this year was

"A Blast From The Past"

celebrating her studio's 10th recital.

Her first song was tap, which they performed to "Red Hot"

Here is Erin with her friend Olivia before they went on stage.  Both of these girls normally wear glasses- they look so different without them!

Their ballet song this year was "God Bless the Outcasts" which is from the movie The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

We just loved the twirly dresses!

Her acro (acrobatic dancing) performance was to the song "Hard-Knock Life", from Annie.

Acro is always very entertaining!

And then my favorite- "Jump in the Line"- her jazz number.

The music goes along so well with those outfits.  You can listen to the song here.

The girls did such a good job.  Erin has learned a lot since her first dance recital with the park and rec program!

Ha!  Yes, one time Katie tried dance too.

Their finale was a compilation of all the previous finale songs.  All the older dancers are in parts of it.  They move off and on so fast it was really hard to get a picture!

All too soon it was over.  I can't wait until next year!!

Thanks so much to Performance Dance Centre of Ames.