New House!

Wowzas, it's been a crazy month--I moved and started school at about the same time! Here's some pictures from the last month, in reverse order....

Apparently I have too many clothes...knocked this right out of the wall today. Drilled a new hole and got it back in working order. 

I have a spider named Charlotte living on my deck. So far, Charlotte caught a dragonfly and a moth. I'm secretly hoping she goes away, but I'm too scared to kill her...

Pacino is trying hard to adjust....

My blue wall, after painting and hanging everything!

He's actually sat in his hammock a few times!

New towel holder since the oven handle isn't wide enough. Got this at a vintage fair in Tipton.

Doesn't the blue look so much better?!

Pacino isn't quite used to the idea of living in a new home, but he's almost forgiven me. 

He still loves water! And now we have more sinks to choose from...

Our last moment at Creekside Drive. Pacino hid behind the dryer and it took awhile to coax him out. 

Then we had a sleepover at Lori's. He mostly hid under the couch, but he did check out the bathroom sink.

He still also appreciates laying in the tub.

July is for Being Outside

Apparently I spent a lot of time outside in July. Here are those pictures plus some other random ones!

Maxine loves her popcorn.

Found this super cute table at a place in Ankeny called Tweedle Dee's. A guy from Bondurant makes them for her--super cool!

The peach tree is almost falling down because there are so many peaches!

Pacino and I are exhausted from packing boxes...

Took a little bike ride through Marion the other day. I love this trail!

The fam at the family reunion.

These pictures are in backwards order...I was trying to take a picture of me eating the strawberry! I had to get help to make it work.

This is a freshwater spring. The water was chilly but very clear. Could see everything! Even the water bubbling up from the spring.

This is the backbone trail at Backbone State Park. Not really as much climbing as it looks, but gotta pay attention! 

The trout stream was very cool. Crystal clear water that you could see the bottom and all the fish!

We did go in to a verrrrry little cave. By in, I mean two steps.

Drove through the trout stream on the way in, similar to Ledges State Park.

Played in a madhatter Volley's tournament. Thinking I was probably top 5 before the last games. Ended up in 16th, which was enough to win back the $10 I paid to play!

Spent an afternoon laying at the beach. I didn't get to the ocean this summer, so this was the best I could do...

I think this bridge is super cool! It's at Palisade's Kepler State Park. 

We spent the morning hiking around.

Celebrating a birthday! Murder-mystery style.

An afternoon in a kayak is always good. Minus the wind...

My condo is SOLD!

I could see almosssttt this whole entire rainbow. 

These are pictures from Palisades, too, but from a different day. 

Poor Pacino got very, very tired of being in here during house showings. 

I also finally got him a cushion for his table/bed...but he prefers the chaise instead. Big surprise!

Boston!

On the ship at the Boston Tea Party Museum.

My samples of tea!

There were 4 kinds of tea to sample. One was a smoky flavor, which was terrible, but the others were all good!

Dump the tea!

This coffee was sooooo good.

And all the pizza was good too!

The Boston Public Library.

These little lions are in the children's area of the library.

This is a huge study room in the old section of the library.

These big lions are in the entryway to the upstairs of the library. The old part of this library is awesome.

This is the Harvard Library. Since we don't have student IDs we couldn't go inside, sadly.

This is the statue of Mr. Harvard, only he's not really Mr. Harvard. We did a guided tour of campus that was really interesting!

That's the freshman dorms or dining hall or something.

These desserts were amazing.

Bunker Hill Monument. 

This little brick path went the whole length of the freedom trail. It's 2.5 miles and takes you through a lot of the historical spots.

Paul Revere's statue and my book about him. I learned a lot about him since I don't know much about that time period.

Somewhere along the freedom trail!

Boston Harbor outside of the USS Constitution ship & museum.

We ate lots of desserts! 

The aquarium had a few big sea turtles.

This is one of the markets--there are 3-4 large indoor/outdoor markets with food vendors, mostly.

The green monster at Fenway.

Fenway Park was maybe my favorite thing. This is the view from our seats...the cheap seats!

These are the hops they use to make the beer.

We did a tour of Sam Adams. 

These flowers in Boston Common park are super cool!

Outside of Cheers...before I lost my sunglasses there, obviously!

This photo of the cast covers an entire wall outside of the gift shop.

My drink from Cheers!

By the flowers!

And this is my eye the day before we went to Boston after being attacked by a bug.