Painting

This is the current state.

This was an antique find that I got for $22. It was black and I repainted it with two shades of gray.

Pacino doesn't know what to think about the dresser.

I decided to put it diagonal in the corner, instead of flat against the wall. It makes that corner VERY gray, which means I need some new decor!

It was a messy, involved process.

Before picture.

Pacino wasn't sure about this either...

But he does love the ladder!

Baseball & Kayaks

We ventured out to a Kernels noon game on Wednesday. It was a perfect day for baseball!

And every day is a perfect day for a pretzel.

We got this picture up on the big screen! Taking a selfie is a little hard with 3 toddlers!

And afterwards, an ice cream cone. It was a little melty. 

I even caught a tshirt at the game. Having cute kids waving made the difference!

Thursday we set out kayaking down the Maquoketa River! It was a perfect day for that, too. 

Truly perfect weather.

And since I'm on a junk food eating binge this week, dinner at BBQ This!

Pacino was "stalking" a bug that made its way under the lamp shade. He could watch bugs all day.

Summer Fun!

Pacino and I had a little photo shoot. One out of every 35 pictures turns out :)

I gave away "book worms" yesterday to kids who came in and checked out books during the library's open hours. 

Selfie stick picture from Saturday night! 

Wandering downtown.

We celebrated Delaney & Jennifer's birthdays by going to the "beach"! It was about 15 square feet of sand, but we spent most of the time in the water anyway!

We had to take a little detour to get there...turns out when the water gets high it completely washes out the gravel road!

Birthday celebrations also include good food. I ate more french fries on Saturday than I think I have in the past 6 months!

Feeling Dutch in Pella on Friday. 

Turns out, my Granny can touch her toes pretty easily. And I can't even come close without about 20 minutes of warming up.

Spent some time with this beast.

Begging for peas. 

We biked from the Sag Wagon down to Ely and back a few Saturdays ago. Was a perfect day for a bike ride! 

Vacation 2015!

A few pictures from the train. I think this is probably when we were going through West Virginia?

Some rockets at the Smithsonian Air/Space Museum in DC.

That's the Washington Monument back there.

I enjoyed a few of these Cinnabon treats throughout the trip.

Saying goodbye at the train station in Philly.

This is a replica of Lady Liberty's face.

Enjoying Rita's on our last night! Custard and water ice is the best.

We went canoeing at Parvin State Park in New Jersey.

My new favorite game--Settlers of Catan. 

I was able to stream the World Cup women's game on my iPad! Hooray for technology.

We had a pretty great view of fireworks from the rooftop of the Department of Ag building. It overlooks the Washington Monument, with views of the WWII Memorial & the Lincoln Memorial, plus you could see the Capitol Building looking the other way.

This is the panoramic view from the rooftop.

The National Cathedral was one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen. Quite possibly number 1 on that list. It was huge.

Me & Lady Liberty! This is on the ferry ride over there.

Gotta love the Atlantic City boardwalk. We stayed over two nights, thankfully, since it rained the whole first day. The boardwalk was a little slippery!

A really good sandwich on the boardwalk.

Since it was raining, we went to the aquarium in Atlantic City before hitting the beach/boardwalk. It was super busy and pretty small, but I got a good picture of this sting ray. Plus the sea turtle was really cool.

They wouldn't let me wear my liberty hat...but I think it's pretty cool!

Rita's is just the best.

Lots of fun pictures from the Statue of Liberty. I'm so glad I got to see her up close!

This is the big hall at Ellis Island where people waited when they first got here.

Ellis Island with NYC skyline behind...

This was the first time I've ever ordered food on the train and it was pretty good! They get some a la carte items from a cafe/bakery now.

We had a 2 hour layover in Pittsburgh at 5am so we walked a ways and found a great little coffeeshop and got some good coffee & this 6 cheese bagel--the best bagel I've ever eaten.

Finally on the train!

On Monday I drove to Mt. Pleasant, only to find out that my train was canceled and I hadn't been notified. So, I ended up driving to Naperville, which took 6 hours instead of 3.5 since I had driven all the way to Mt. Pleasant first. Plus there was Illinois road construction and toll roads. If I never drive through Illinois again I will die happily.