Saturday August 15- We got up early today, we are taking a road trip to Keokuk, Iowa. We dropped off the dogs at our sons house to watch while we were gone all day. Off we went. Our reason for making the trip was to attend the annual fireman's picnic. We left early to make a few stops before the picnic. First we stopped by Jeff's brothers house to visit. Then we went with them to get some lunch. We drove around our hometown to look for any changes. It was a bit depressing. A lot of places are looking very rundown. We stopped by the fire station to visit with those on shift. Then we went to the Elks to visit and eat. My niece was working the bar. She called my sister to come down so I got to visit with her. We ate and got caught up with everyone. It was a good evening but we made the mistake of staying too late. We had to drive home in the dark and neither of us can see that good at night. To make it worse the bugs were horrible. I mean really bad. Jeff couldn't hardly see through the windshield. The good news is we made it back safe with a really dirty truck.
Sunday August 16- A big day at Pleasant Creek State Park today. It's the Pigman Triathalon. It's a half tri. They start off with a 1.2 mile swim in the lake. I went down around 7 a.m. so I could watch them swim. They start with the elite athletes. The race started at 7:30. They had about 500 athletes.
The elite athletes made the swim look easy. This is a pretty big deal, this race. This year they actually closed the roads in the park from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. After the swim they jumped on there bikes for 56 mile bike ride. This part of the race went out of the park. I was amazed how fast they did this part of the race. The day started off nicer than I thought it would be. But by the bike portion the temperature was rising.
When the racers get there bikes, they just drop and go. The bikes they are using have quite a range from the best of the best to just ordinary bikes like you and I ride. The participants have quite a range as well. Young, old, big, small I think its about determination.
I had made my way back to our camp site. The running portion of the race was next and the route for the run was in the park. It went through the second and third campgrounds. Not our loop but we could watch them run on the road in front of our site.
Now the temperature was really hot. It was in the 90's and humid. They finished up the race with a 13 mile run. I was tired just watching them. I didn't see one person quit. I did see some of them go from running to walking but not stopping. Very impressed with all of them.
Monday August 17- We went in to town to get Ashton. This is his last week of summer vacation. We wanted one more sleepover before school started. We decided to go out for breakfast. When Ashton was little we would go out for breakfast quite often. As we were driving to Perkins Ashton says...... It's Monday right? I said yeah, he informs us that Mondays at Perkins is free slice of pie day. Who knows that? Well I guess he read it on the window. We weren't sure he knew what he was talking about until we pulled in to the parking lot. Yep its true. But we were there to early the special didn't start until 11 a.m.
Even without the pie we got plenty full. We headed to Iowa City to Petland. This pet store has puppies. You can hold them and who doesn't like that? When we arrived there was so many puppies to pick from. We picked a couple cuties to love on.
Not only did we play with puppies Ashton really liked the ferrets too. He was holding them and getting scratched by them. We pulled ourselves away from all the critters and went for lunch. We found a really nice grocery store that was right across from the pet store. Found Jeff's special chips there on sale so we stocked up on them. Then we made our way back home. When we got here we noticed the winds were nonexistent. The first thought in all of our heads was we can finally shoot off the rocket. We got the launch pad out and the rocket and set it all up. After supper we grabbed all the stuff and walked down to the beach parking lot for a lift off.
There was excitement in the air. We used to blast off rockets when Ashton was 2 or 3 but I don't think he remembers it very well. We arrived at the beach and finished setting it up. Then the countdown....3, 2, 1, blastoff. Boy did it blast off, way up and really quick. You could see the surprise on Ashton's face. I don't think he thought it would go quite that far or fast.
After the lift off the rocket's parachute opened and we watched as it started to fall. I noticed the wind had caught it. I ran to try and follow it. It was heading over a bunch of trees. I took my eyes off the thing for just a minute and I lost it. I went up and did some looking but no luck. We talked to the park ranger cause he drove by while doing his rounds. We told him about our successful lift off and also told him about how we lost the rocket. We walked back home and all 3 of us were pretty disappointed. We still have another rocket back home to put together so our spirits were lifted. When we got home we got cleaned up and watched some T.V. We were all ready to go to bed when we hear a knock at the door. Jeff and I couldn't figure out who would be knocking at the door. When I opened the door there was our park ranger Carl holding the missing rocket. Boy were we excited to have it back. Ashton was especially happy to have it back. That made the ending of the day great just like the rest of it was.
Tuesday August 18-First thing Ashton wanted to do launch the rocket. We heard thunder so we checked the radar...no launching today we have weather coming our way. So we got out the other rocket and started to put it together. This one is a 2 stage rocket, we'll probably never find it after its launched.
They almost finished putting the rocket together but had to wait for some glue to dry so we will have to finish it later. The weather did arrive and boy did it rain. We even got some hail. We had to take Ashton back home but we told him we would get his hermit crabs a bigger place to live. We stopped at the pet store in town and got a 5.5 gallon aquarium with a lid. On our way to Ashton's we stopped by some friends who just put a new floor in there 5th wheel. It looks really nice. We cant wait to see the rest of there upgrades. So back to Ashton's to move Frank and Tank into there new home. We think everyone was happy.
We had a great time with Ashton playing. We always have fun when he is around.
Wednesday August 19-The weather has really changed...its really quite chilly. It got down to in the 50"s last night. Along with the temperatures the winds have picked up and its cloudy. We met the kids, Katie, Seth, Ashton and Hailey at the trampoline park. It's a new one called Sky
Zone. They took a day from work to spend with the kids before school. The plans were to go to a waterpark but the temperatures changed that. We watched the kids jump for awhile which is kinda comical. They love that place.
The place was really busy today I guess everyone had the same idea. Katie lost her Garmin Vivofit. It fell off into the sponges and she couldn't find it. She notified someone so hopefully she will get it back. Ashton was working on a new trick. He was trying to do a double but as you can see he did a 11/2 instead. He was stuck in the sponges head first so mom helped him out. Only that boy could manage that. It was pretty funny. After we went for lunch at Hu Hot. Its a Mongolian grill restaurant. Hailey got a picture of everyone.
When we left there we took Hailey with us. Since her brother stayed with us she wanted her turn. So we brought her home. We had a surprise for her at the camper. We got her a weaving loom that you can make potholders with. I used to make them when I was little. She wasn't sure of the gift when we first brought it out but after I explained about it and we actually started she loved it.
She could put the bands on the loom but I had to help with the weaving part. Together we finished the first potholder. Both of us were excited. We started another but didn't get it done. There's always tomorrow.
Thursday August 20- It was still a bit cooler than normal but the sun is out so that helps. After pancakes for breakfast we headed back to the pet store with the puppies, Her brother told her so she wanted to go too. That was an easy problem to fix. Back to Petland we go. Hailey was really excited about the puppies and the bunnies.
After the pet store we stopped at the mall in Coralville. We had lunch and looked around a bit. Hailey found something she couldn't pass up so..........
She picked out the zebra to ride and away we went. Then we headed back to the campground another satisfied kid. That makes us both very happy. We ended the day with painting of her fingers and toes. We also finished up another potholder. On this one she is doing the weaving. She really catches on quick.
Friday August 21-It was another beauty of a day. Made breakfast for Sissy and her and I went for a walk. I started the laundry and I had a helper to sort. I'm not used to having a helper I raised boys. Then we started another potholder. We watched all the campers pull in for the weekend. After lunch Katie and Ashton came out to the beach. We went down and the sun was shining and the beach wasn't very crowded. It was a nice day. Katie took Hailey home and it was back to a quiet camper.
Saturday August 22- I got up early to get the cleaning done before the campers wake up. Since we had kids most of the week I haven't been able to do my usual walk. I definitely wanted to get that in. I sat out to walk and I heard a loud speaker coming from the beach. Well I found our fairly quickly that there is a 5K, 10K run going on. It wasn't to long before I was passed by the runners. I wasn't sure where I should have walked but I stayed my usual course. It was a real nice day today. After I returned from my walk I started getting ready, we have a wedding to attend. The couple that are getting married is our younger sons friends. He and Justin play in a band together. The weather cooperated because the wedding took place outside. It was short and sweet. Everything went off without a hitch.
The reception was real nice too. The food was good and so were the cupcakes. The whole thing turned out real nice.
Sunday August 23-I got woke up today around 4 a.m. its seems Soffee has a tummy ache. You can hear it rumbling. She wasn't going to lay back down so I just got up with her. Not a good way to start the day. The weather outside was pretty but the wind was wild. It wouldn't die down either. That made my walk really tough. I just walked around the campground loops hoping that would block some of it. Since I woke up so early I was tired most of the day. I did some cleaning out of things. We will have to do that again before we hit the road again. Usually we watch everyone leave but this week we had more pull in. I guess the weather is suppose to be really good next week...we'll see. Another fun filled couple of weeks. Can't wait to see what will happen the next 2 weeks......
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