Good Times

There is nothing better than sharing a book with my grandson Alex.

Grandpa and Cole at the Iowa State Fair.

Grandma and Alex and Sammy

Matthew came home for a surprise visit. The only one who was kept in the dark and was surprised was dad.

Coles B-Day trip to Omaha Zoo

Labor Day Steve, Donna, Jennifer, Nathan, Heather, and their boys met Jessica, Ryan, and their boys at the Omaha zoo for a birthday celebration for our little two year old Cole.

Cole's cake at the zoo picnic park.

It just so happened that cowboy Cole got to see a shoot out at the zoo with real cowboys. Maybe most special of all they came to say "Happy Birthday Partner".

On the trip across Iowa there is a spot where you see windmills as far as you can see-hundreds of them

These two boys are Thomas the Train fans and the train at the zoo was as close as we could get.

Lots of walking a carrying the kids.

By the end of the day everybody was getting tired.

Labor Day Weekend Excitement

Steve, Donna, and Jennifer spent the weekend at Freedom Bible Camp having a fun time with our church friends and attending "camp meetings".

When we came home we had Cole with us and while Steve was washing the Jeep a hornet landed on Cole's shoulder and stung him. Steve put a plastic bad over the bird feeder they had a nest in and sprayed poison in the bag to kill the nest. The picture below shows the bag and feeder.


Steve was trying to brake a nut loose from a bolt but it wouldn't cooperate so he wanted to put the torch to it to help brake it loose. He found the lighter to light the torch but after several attempts at pulling the trigger the stupid thing wouldn't light so he put it to his ear to listen for the hiss of gas to check if it was empty. BUT he made the mistake of pulling the trigger at the same time and caught his hair on fire just above his ear!!! I'm sure his old beat up hat saved his hair from all burning off. Jennifer was watching the whole thing and Dad and Jenn had a good laugh.

Waking Up To A Balloon

This morning at 7:15 I heard the familiar "swoosh" of the igniting of the balloon burner and it sounded close so I hopped out of bed and grabbed the camera. I love the photo below with the meandering gravel road (they call them "rock roads" in Iowa), the tall evergreen trees, and the line of electric poles.

Well it wasn't as close as I thought so I ran back in and put on a pair of pants over my pajamas, hopped in the car, drove just one mile and jumped out of the car to get these photos.

I like farms and I like balloons (the big ones and only from the ground) so this photo is extra nice for me.

Well, good morning to everybody, I'm going to get my coffee!!!