Sugar and Spice

And everything nice, that's what little girls are made of, right?  I sure hope so, because we have another little one headed our way in November!  Everything has been going well so far and Natalie is very excited to be a big sister.  Rick and I are trying to prepare for what two littles will look like, but I'd like to think we're better equipped the second time around.  Time will tell!

Natalie is doing well--her vocabulary and conversational skills are really developing and her memory is amazing right now.  The other day she recalled something from February that shocked me and she has gone into detail about our recent vacation (post on that trip soon).  She keeps growing like a weed and continues to be more and more independent.  She can spell her name, count to 13 (but then gets lost and ends up at "eleventeen"), throw a football, and ride her trike like the wind.  She is so much fun and so sweet.  And I know she is going to be a great big sister.

Nothing Compares to the Iowa State Fair!

 The Iowa State Fair is still going, but I think our family is done with our visits for the year.  We went last Saturday as a family of three and had a lot of fun taking in the sights!

 Natalie loved the fair food, and she managed to eat most of this Fair Square herself!

 She talked Grandpa into going down the Giant Slide with her!

 Natalie and I went on Monday with my sister's family.  Natalie's cousin is the same age and they are best friends--it's so cute to watch them together!

 We attended Fairfield and Rosetta's birthday party.

 And went through the Little Hands on the Farm exhibit.

 The girls also got their faces painted.  Natalie didn't want flowers or butterflies--she wanted a dinosaur!  She was so happy with it!

 We then went for some free crafts at Art Attack.  The girls loved painting!

 They also colored and loved the marshmallow shooters.  Art Attack was a big hit!

 Saturday was pretty busy but Monday was not, and Natalie loved both days.  It was a great time at the Fair!

Summertime

Sorry it's been a while, but since we got back from our Mackinac vacation, we have been busy.  Summer is when the corn grows which means long days for Rick and I including travel and weekend work, so I have little energy at the end of the day to update.  So here's a brief review of the past 6 weeks or so...

After we got back from vacation, our good friend Kristen got married.  It was a beautiful day and a beautiful venue and a beautiful bride.  We took Natalie (Kristen is not only our family friend but her babysitter as well) and it was adorable to see how excited Natalie was to see Kristen in her dress.  She thought she was a princess.  It was so cute.

The third week of June was the Worth County Fair.  I took Natalie up to spend the weekend and we had a nice time.  The fair is very 4-H focused and pretty small, so it's a great place for small kids to explore.  Natalie loved going on the rides with Grandpa and looking at all the animals.  But the highlight of the fair was the girls showing their first calf.

 I knew that my dad was hoping that he could get the girls to show a bucket bottle calf this year, but they're only 2 and Natalie had been pretty afraid of the cattle.  Until the morning of the show when she saw Grandma washing the calf (Cinderella) and taking her for a walk.  Suddenly Natalie was a little cattlewoman, wanting to brush her and walk her and talk to her.  It was hard to pull her away from the calf--she kept trying to sneak off to be with Cinderella.

When it came time to show the calf, we talked the girls into doing it together (strength in numbers) and to keep them safe from getting in front of or behind the calf, we had Kendall hold on to Grandpa and Natalie hold on to Kendall.  They were so adorable.  Luckily my cousin's son who is great with the girls was also in the ring and talked to them while they were waiting for the judge and kept them entertained.  Kendall was a bit shy when interviewed by the judge, but Natalie was loving the attention.  They did so well and were so cute (I know I'm biased).  It was a very successful morning!

The following week, Rick's parents came to visit.  We went to the National Junior High Rodeo Finals down at the state fairgrounds which was pretty neat.  It was fun for everyone.  We spent a lot of time reading and playing at home with Nanny and Papaw.  They stopped back through the following weekend and we all took Natalie to her first movie in a theater and saw Inside Out.  Very cute, and Natalie did awesome in the theater.

The weekend of the fourth was very busy.  Rick's parents were here Friday and left Saturday morning.  Saturday afternoon we went over to some friends' for supper and to play--they have a young baby and Natalie loved her.  She even asked if she could hold her and did so happily for a few minutes.  The kids played hide-and-seek for a long time and it was nice to catch up with those friends and their growing family.  After leaving their house, we headed home to meet up with my sister and her family and the 6 of us went to watch fireworks.  We weren't sure how that would go since the fireworks didn't start until 10 (2 hours past bedtime!) but it went relatively well.  Natalie got grumpy just before the finale and wanted to lay on the blanket by herself and watch and Kendall wanted to do the same and our kid was too grumpy to share...  It didn't end particularly well, but she loved the fireworks nonetheless.

The following weekend my sister and niece came back to visit and we had fun playing at the library, in the kiddie pool in the backyard, and at the park.  My parents were in town for the same reason as my sister and spent the night as well; Sunday morning the whole family had fun playing around the house and watching the girls take turns on the scooter and tricycle.  That was the same day we got a new bed... Our weekends had been very busy!

The past three weekends have been slower in the fact that we haven't had any visitors or real plans, but I worked at least a few hours every weekend.  Gotta love pollinating.  Yesterday was my last weekend day (and only an hour), so I'm excited to have weekends back, though I'm running out of "easy" things to do around the house with a toddler.  We went to the Minion movie a few weekends ago (Natalie was pretty good in that movie as well) and this past Friday we checked out the splash pad and pool in Ankeny and will definitely be back soon.

August won't be any slower, but at least work will be slower.  I get my weekends back and I'll be taking some PTO for the Iowa State Fair.  We have a vacation booked later this year as well, so another thing to look forward to.  We're on the downhill slide of summer.

Mackinac Day 3

 Weather on the third day of our Mackinac Island trip was not as good as the day before, but we had anticipated that and had planned for a more low-key day.

 Wednesday is the only day that the Governor's summer home is open to the public, so we took the opportunity to take the free tour.  It was pretty nice inside, but unfortunately we only got to tour two rooms, the sun porch, and walk out on the porch with the beautiful view.

 After our brief tour, we walked a bit down the hill to the Grand to take a few more pictures.  The tulips were in full bloom and very beautiful.

A Grand carriage

Carriages for non-Grand guests

 We spent the rest of the day downtown, shopping, relaxing, people watching, basically living vacation to its fullest.

Another Grand Carriage

 Our final morning we got up early to catch the first ferry out.  We had breakfast at the small counter next door and were asked if we were working there for the summer--not sure if it was because of the time we were there, because it was our second visit, or because we were chatting with our hotel front desk man.  Any way, it made me smile at the friendly islanders.  I also enjoyed watching a horse cart pull up, the waitress walk to the door and ask if the driver wanted the usual, and then 5 minutes later take the breakfast out to the wagon.  I love watching local culture, and Midwest nice was apparent here.

The fort on the bluff

Our hotel (yellow in the background) from the harbor

 We were sad to leave the island and were talking before we left about when we planned on going back.  It was so beautiful, so relaxing, so perfect for a vacation for us.  We didn't take Natalie but found ourselves talking about how much she would have liked it; definitely will bring her back with us when we return.  Until then, Mackinac.  We will miss you.

Last look at the Grand Hotel

Mackinac Day 2

Horses making deliveries from the docks to the stores

 I need to stay on top of this--my vacation is feeling more and more like a distant memory.  Day 2 of our Mackinac Island vacation was a physical one--according to my Fit Bit we walked almost 18 miles!

 After breakfast we headed up the hill for a hike at the state park.  There are over 70 miles of trails and they are very well maintained.  Since bike riding is so popular on the island, most of the hiking trails are paved and all are very well marked.  We picked up a map from downtown and made our way through the woods.  The weather, the air, and the scenery were all phenomenal.

Sugar Loaf Rock

 After getting up the big hill the terrain was mostly flat and we hiked 5 miles by 10 AM.  It was a great morning.  Rick wanted to see Sugar Loaf Rock and we went by the Arch Rock again.  We then walked down the eastern bluff of the island to take in the multi-million dollar homes.  I took a picture of almost every one.  They were so beautiful.

According to the sign, the island doctor lived here

A view of downtown from the east bluff

The garbage collectors

 We finished our morning hike at Fort Mackinac.  The fort itself is relatively small but very well maintained.  While I don't love military history, this was pretty well done and nicely laid out.  I was very impressed with the raising of the garrison flag.

 The Boy Scouts have a special relationship with the island and maintaining its history; a troop is selected each week to live in the barracks and present the colors at the fort as well as provide historical information to the visitors both at the fort and at the other historical sites around town.  You could tell they were very proud to be there.

 Historical interpreters fired off cannons and rifles several times during the day.  Rick was very interested in watching the demonstrations.  They have reduced the loads on the cannons so as not to scare the horses, but they were still very loud!

The Fort

The park below the Fort

 After the Fort we continued our walk down the hill and swung by the Grand Hotel.  If you are not a guest, there is a $10 fee to walk on the grounds.  We paid it and wandered around the lobby and large porch, but didn't venture much in the gardens.  It certainly was an ornate hotel, but also very expensive and seemed to have an older guest clientele.  The ice cream parlor was delicious!

 Working our way further down the hill, we stopped at a livery and rented a horse carriage.  I have always wanted to learn to drive a horse and cart, and there was a place where you could rent one by the hour!  I was amazed that with the little background information I had provided they handed me the reins and said, "Have fun!"  Our horse, Frieda, was a little lazy on the route out, but picked up her pace when she realized she was headed home.  I'd like to think I was a good driver given my horse background and I gathered her quickly after she was startled by a golfer.  We took her on a route around the island that we had not seen yet and then back through the woods, near the airport, and through the village where there were more sensible homes.  We definitely saw things we hadn't seen in our other adventures around the island, but it did get a little long.  But it was fun and I checked that off my bucket list.  Thanks to Rick for trusting me and riding along!

Our hotel- Main Street Inn

After all that walking and sight-seeing, we took a little nap, had a nice meal, and went out for drinks.  Once the last ferry leaves for the day at 6 PM, it felt like we had the island to ourselves and we found ourselves talking to locals in the evenings.  It was so relaxing.  Despite all that we did that second day, I still felt relaxed.  Such a magical place.