Summer Fun!

It feels like we waited forever for summer to finally arrive in Iowa!  Now that summer is officially here we are having a lot of fun enjoying the mild weather and longer days!  We attended the Jones County Fair on July 18th to see Lee Brice & Luke Bryan perform.  TrueNorth sent the entire staff again this year in celebration of our mid-year meeting, so we invited our good friends, the Holub's, to come along with us!  

Lee Brice

Enjoying a fun night out!

Girlfriends! 

The fair never disappoints!  We always hear good music, have fantastic people watching, and there is cold beer!  Now, there always seems to be some type of crazy shenanigan that happens that solidifies the fair will always be something we talk about for years to come...but that is what memories are made of, right?!

Luke Bryan burning up the stage!

"Baby, Do I?!"

Smooch!

That same weekend Lila and I went up North to attend my cousin Alison's bridal shower.  My Grandma requested that the shower be held in her hometown of Lamont, and more specifically, at the coffee\shop that she volunteers at, Common Grounds.

On the road!

Posers!

Ali's shower was lovely and it is always nice to be surrounded by our closest family and friends...and it is a treat to have it just be the girls, it doesn't happen that often!  After the shower Grandma and I took Lila to the Dairy Sweet.  I was born in Lamont and lived there the first four years of my life, not to mention my Grandparents have always lived there, so I have some of my fondest childhood memories at the Dairy Sweet with a crunch cone in hand!

Sharing a tradition!

The first weekend in August found us making the trip up to Guttenberg to spend the weekend with the Hahn's on the river!  To kick off the fun we met on Friday afternoon for lunch at the Riverview Cafe!

Happy to be together!

Riding in style!

We made our way to the cabin to unload the cars and get settled in.  It wasn't long before the girls were begging Mike for a boat ride.  We got the big boat out and went for a cruise up to McGregor and back.  The girls thought it was awesome to be able to go down below in the boat and goof around!

View for the weekend!

Enjoying a "cold one!"

On Saturday my Dad came up to hang out with us.  We ended up getting both boats out and took them to the backwater where it is nice and calm.  The river had spots in the water where it was really low, so we tied up and anchored next to some other boats and enjoyed hanging out in the middle of the river where the adults could touch!

River girl!

Getting in!

Chilling on the tube!

Practicing her swim techniques!

1...2...3...

JUMP!

Sun-kissed!

After a fun afternoon on the water we drove the big boat up to McGregor, Grandpa wanted to take the girls to Paper Moon and to get an ice cream cone - there wasn't any argument from the little girls!

Grandpa's girl!

On the way back the girls asked if they could drive the "ship!"  My heart bursts to see pictures like this because it doesn't feel like it was that long ago that I was driving the "ship" with my Grandpa Smith.  I love that Lila gets to carry on that tradition with my Dad!

Driving the ship!

Hypnotized by the water!

Happy!

Best Buddies!

Nothing quite says summer like time spent on the river!  I am so happy that the girls will have memories of spending time with their Mommy's & Daddy's up at the river.  As I stated above, being in Guttenberg & on the Mississippi River is very special to me, I don't know life without it.  I am happy to extend that to our daughter and our friends!

Other things that have kept us busy this summer...

Riding lessons

Feeding Baby Moo @ lessons!

Frozen Dance Camp at Dancer's Edge

Pool time at Grandpa & Laura's!

The new house has an absolutely beautiful backyard that we fell in love with when we were looking at homes last year.  We moved in, in December, so we were anxious to be able to get outside and enjoy the awesome patio and yard.  We have so enjoyed spending time out there!  Lila even uses it as a stage from time to time!

Enjoying the view!

Dinner on the patio

Summer smiles!

Dance, dance, dance!

Pretty girl!

The road that brought us to the house on Vernon Drive has been a long one, but it truly felt a little more like home when we finally brought Lila's swing set over from the other house!  Ever since the swing set has been here it has been used a ton!  Lot's of laughs and fun from a little girl who was missing her swings and slide!

A little girl is very happy!

We met some good friends at the Kernels game on Friday, August 15th.  It was a pretty special night at the Kernels...Daddy & Daughter night!  We made reservations for the guys and the little girls to attend a princess party at the park!  They walked a red carpet, they were greeted with a flower, met all sorts of princesses, and had cupcakes and punch!  The girls loved meeting the princesses and we all enjoyed hanging out on a nice summer night to watch some baseball!

Pocahontas

Mulan

Cinderella

and Snow White!

Go Kernels!

Lila & Jozie!

It is hard to believe that we are getting close to back to school time.  With it being so wet in June it feels like our summer just started!  We are trying to make the most of the time that we have before fall is upon us and our schedules get busy with two students in the house!

Stars & Stripes!

Our Fourth of July celebration started Saturday, June 29th.  Lila was asked by Hilltop Ranch, where she is taking riding lessons, to ride Bud in the Cedar Rapids Freedom Festival Parade!  Can you imagine her excitement?!  The weather outlook wasn't great for Saturday morning, but the parade was going to go rain or shine! 

We got downtown around 9:00, the folks from Hilltop were busy getting the carriage and other horses ready for the parade.  We sat patiently and watched as they got the horses out of the trailers, saddled all of them up, decorated the carriage with red, white & blue, all while wishing the pesky rain away!

 

Rain, Rain Go Away!

 

 

Bud waiting patiently

 

 

At 9:30 it was time to stage everyone for the parade, so up she went on Bud and her and Mike took off to go wait in line, their number in the parade order was 65, so I wandered off to find a spot to watch as they came through the downtown streets!

 



Lila all saddled up and ready to go!

 

 The rain eventually let up and the parade was in full swing.  We waited patiently for Lila and the Hilltop Ranch horses to make their way to where we were.  As they got closer you could see the excitement pouring out of her while she rode confidently!  While she was a bit shy at first, according to Mike, it didn't take long for her to warm right up to waving at all the spectators! 

 

 

Here comes Hilltop Ranch!



Spotting us in the crowd!

 

Parade Pro!

 

 

Mike said that he heard so many people make comments about how little she was riding that big horse and a lot of people say to their kids, "look, you could do that, too!"  It was really awesome to see her enjoying herself so much.  We are so grateful that Hilltop Ranch thought of her and asked her to be a part of the parade!

On Wednesday, July 3rd we packed up the family roadster, including the dogs, and headed towards Guttenberg for the remainder of the week.  We were pretty excited to get some time away, but I must admit, while packing the car with everything we needed, plus the three of us and the two dogs...I wasn't quite so sure we were going to make it!!!  It seemed like A LOT!  We weren't planning on taking the dogs with us, but due to lack of space at the kennel, they were loaded up and coming with us!  Once we finally got on the road it was smooth sailing!

With the dogs riding in the back everything else had to go in the backseat!



Welcome to G'berg!

 

We finally pulled into town around 4:00 on Wednesday!  Every time we start to get close to Guttenberg and you see the river as you top the hill, I get a twinge of excitement!  This place has been a part of my family for 3 generations and I don't know life without spending my summers there, so it is such a great feeling to know that as a family we are carrying on this tradition for Lila!

 

Thursday was the 4th of July!  We woke up to a beautiful morning and enjoyed sitting under the covered porch, even Tag thought it was a nice way to wake up!

 



Good morning!

 

I was a bit disappointed to learn that the fireworks were shot off the previous weekend, it is always fun to watch the fireworks while sitting on the river, but it would be no such luck this year.  It was okay, we had a full day of boating, trampoline jumping, and spending time with extended family ahead of us!

 

 

A morning jump!

 

 

Little firecracker!

 



Two ol' boys relaxing!

 

 The river is really high and has a pretty strong current due to all of the rain we have had this Spring & Summer, the boat traffic was rather light considering it was the holiday weekend.  We took advantage of the quieter back waters and got some tubing done!

 



Mississippi River Rats!



Tubing with the girls!



Hold on!



Tubing with Daddy!



Borrowing Mommy's sunglasses!

After we came off the water we headed to my Grandma's cabin to have dinner with our extended family who were all up to celebrate the Fourth, too! 




Happy 4th of July!



Swinging!



Goofing around with Grandma!

Once we were done eating and hanging out we headed back to the cabin where we enjoyed a homemade fireworks display.  The airstrip is right at the end of the driveway, many cabins around the airstrip had the same idea, so we were pretty spoiled with all of the firework activity going on!

With all the fun and sun, we had a very tired little girl and two very tired puppies!  Lila was sleeping on a little cot by our bed and Tag was happy to snuggle up right next to her to get some shut-eye!

Tuckered out!

 

 The weekend following the Fourth is generally dubbed, "Riverfest!"  Historically Friday is designated for family, we have family come in from all over the US and even had cousins come home from China to visit and make Riverfest part of their trip!  We spent another day on the water and then made our way back in to welcome family at the cabin that evening.  We had great food, live music, and great company!

 

 



Fun in the sun!



Loving the weather!



Tubing w/ Uncle Jason

Tubing pro's at this point!

Ruby's planting a few plants before the party!



Family night!



Audra & Lila



This bed isn't big enough for the two of us!

On Saturday we woke up and headed into town to Esser's, a clothing shop where you can screen print a custom t-shirt.  The girls were super excited to get their own Mississippi River/Guttenberg t-shirt!  After we made our shirts it was back to the cabin to get ready to welcome family and friends back to the cabin for Riverfest!  Once again, we had beautiful weather, great live music, good company, and Sam's Steamed Caboose Burgers catered the event, it was delicious!



Yum!



Dylan & Lila



Henley & Lila

We packed up the car and headed home on Saturday evening to allow us to have the day on Sunday to recoup from being gone.  We had a tired household on Sunday with a little girl who was exhausted and two dogs that barely got up all day!  We enjoyed spending time with our family and friends and carrying on the tradition of summers on the River!




 



Growing up on the River!