Like I said, it seems like we had a busy summer, but it really wasn't that bad. We spent what I would call a fair amount of time at home as a family and that was nice. I'd say I woke up in my own bed (or sofa, or chair, or floor) more this summer than I have for many years. We still managed to do some fun stuff since my last blog post. We had a couple birthday parties here and one in Des Moines. Brian and I did the UAR again. And me and my ladies spent some time outdoors.
As I mentioned, Brian and I did the New Belgium Urban Assault ride in Des Moines again. It's a fun bike race through the streets of Des Moines that ends with a massive party sponsored by New Belgium. How could that ever be a bad thing? Stacey and Jen tagged along for support this year and snapped a couple good photos.
Jen being manhandled by sasquatch. Look at the smile on her face. I guess we can surmise that Jen likes it rough :)
Brian and I doing the bigwheel obstacle course along the way. We can both pull a pretty damn mean bigwheel power slide.
Earlier in the weekend, we had a little birthday bash for Mara and Ellen. Both sets of grandparents were in attendance and it was a good time. They got to spend time with family and scored some pretty good gifts. I was proud of their response to gifts that were clothes as I am told that I did not do so well in that category when I was a young lad.
Mara and Ellen playing nice before opening birthday gifts.
Even Josey got in on the fun.
The weekend after labor day, I had this cabin rented. Now, these cabins are hard to get and I had to rent this thing a good six months in advance. It's at Scott County Park near the Quad Cities. It has most of the comforts of home but has no TV or internet. I didn't know at the time that this would be the weekend of the ISU vs. Iowa game, but even as the day approached, I didn't care. Two days in the woods with my girls on a weekend with beautiful weather, I was stoked to say the least.
Ellen checking out the deck of our cabin. She spent the great majority of the weekend outdoors.
If I had to sum up my goal for the weekend in a photo, this would be it. Stacey relaxing.
Mara had a 6 person table to herself in the evenings to play with her Lion King playset.
I introduced Ellen to the game of Uno. She sorta gets it.
Jammies and slippers on the deck.
Breakfast outside. Awesome.
One of the things I wanted to do is take the girls to the Niabi Zoo in the Quad Cities. With Jen on football score text update duty, we hit the zoo by 10am.
Ellen thought all of these statues were cool.
Have you ever ridden a hippo? Don't answer that.
Mara got to get up close do a "Mommy and Daddy" lion.
The Giraffe display was cool. They would let you feed them lettuce for, get this, $4 for a leaf of lettuce. $4 for a leaf of lettuce? Let's go girls. Sorry but that's bullshit. I'm not tight, I'm broke. There's a big difference, but that aside, there's principles involved here.
Once it was clearly time to leave (Ellen and I got sick of the zoo sooner than Mara and Stacey did) we went to a popular mountain biker's pub and grub spot, the Bent Creek Brewery. They're known for their great beers, good food, and horrible service. They lived up to all three. Good thing the game was on there, otherwise I might have gotten impatient. After we ate, which was in the 3rd quarter, we headed back to the cabin. The girls both conked out in the van. So we got back, cracked a beer, and turned on the radio to listen to the game on the deck while the girls continued to sleep in the van. As if the weekend couldn't get any better, the Cyclones beat the Hawks in triple overtime. Keep in mind, we live right smack in the middle of Hawkeye country, making any ISU victory very, very sweet.
Stacey and I dressed up and ready for a day in Hawkeye country.
All in all, I'd say that will go down as one of the great weekends we've had as a family. It was a lot of fun and the girls got worn out early both nights allowing Stacey and I to spend some time drinking beer by the fire pit. Just like old times. Did I mention Scott County Park has 10 miles of singletrack Mountain Bike trails? They do and they're awesome.
