June 25, 2005 – Des Moines Art Fair

highhopesgardens June 25, 2005

This morning Kraig and I secured and cut the 3/4 plywood to re-do the utility trailer. This afternoon we went to the Des Moines Art Festival.

It was a hot day, and the theme was “Hot for Art.” It’s ranked the 4th best outdoor art show in the nation, attended by nearly 250,000 people. I’ve never known 250,000 people in Des Moines to do anything together but sleep! It’s a nice event.

art fair
The girls at one of the entrances.

art fair
Live music is all over the place, with at least four stages going all the time. Here are roots-rockers Brother Trucker.

art fair
Martin found “Cy” and got a bit of a lift. He handn’t been handled by Cy since he had his baby Cy snowsuit on.

art fair The Iowa State University Museum had old clothes for kids to try on and play. (Sorry you can’t see Emma’s full length evening gown).

June 24, 2005 – “Sweet 16”

highhopesgardens June 24, 2005

Today is our 16th wedding anniversary. When we were first married (BC – Before Children)we would actually go out of town for a day or two to a Bed and Breakfast. Then it reverted to going out to dinner in town. That stage was followed by card exchange. Now that the kids are getting older, we are back on the upswing, but not yet quite at the travelling out of town stage.

Nonetheless, today was a sweet anniversary as the girls found an old tablecloth left over from our reception, got some candles out, put our wedding picture on the table, put on some classical music, a vase of fresh flowers, and sequestered themselves in another room and served us dinner! They even played the first song at our wedding dance, the Iowa Waltz, to make sure we could still dance.

16th anniversary

June 23, 2005 – Girl’s Road Trip

highhopesgardens June 23, 2005

Grandma and all of her female grandchildren hopped in the car and headed east to Maquoketa Caves and Dubuque.
dubuque
Since some of the grandkids had not been in Illinois, they drove over the river to Illinois and Wisconsin, to make it a three state road trip.
dubuque
The entrance to the cave feels good as the cool air rushes out on a hot, humid day.
dubuque
The trip was not all educational and wholesome. Flarp was a big attraction on the way home. (For the uninitiated, Flarp is the modern-day whoopie cushion, except a skilled practitioner can perfect a much wider range of sounds and cadences than can be coaxed from an ordinary whoopie cushion.)
dubuque
Flarp causes severe laughter and lots of playacting!
dubuque

June 22, 2005 – “SilverBall”

Bric-a-Brac

highhopesgardens June 22, 2005

Martin has offered a name for the new car – “SilverBall.” It isn’t out of committee yet, but I like it for a number of reasons. Mainly, it adheres to the age-old naming convention of taking a previous name and making something new. When the girls were Martin’s age, they named a car “Golden Car.” Yes, it was gold and was a car. The next car they branched out and named a green Taurus wagon “Pickle.” The old Geo Prizm was named “Snowball” because of its size and shape. So Martin’s name of “SilverBall” honors the original concept of “Golden Car” while keeping the continuity with the previous car “Snowball” in naming the new car SilverBall.”

The girls are out with Grandma in Dubuque and Maquoqueta Caves (or at least that’s what we are led to believe).

Today was a hot one – The starter died on the truck, so I got that in to the shop for replacement and the new car to get a once-over – all it needed was a new belt and alignment. Also made a trip to the dump, picked some cherries, cleaned out and sold the old car (sad to see it go) and more.

June 21, 2005 – Summer Solstice

highhopesgardens June 21, 2005

Today marks the longest day of the year – we now begin our slow fall into winter! We had a potluck and bonfire where people could share a seasonal song, poem, or observation.
campfire
Appropriately, it was a hot day and the kids found a way to amuse themselves with water.

A bucket full of water balloons awaits the fun!

Anticipation!
The crew soaking wet and happy shows summer!