We Shall Call This The Summer of Weddings

We have 5 weddings this summer.  And if you add the one we went to last December and the one next April, that is 7 for the year and a half.  It feels like the days shortly after college again.  What is crazy, three of those weddings are from Justin's childhood neighbor and close family friend.  Three of their four children are getting married within a year of each other.  Three more are Justin's cousins and the one for me is a basketball player I coached.  It is fun to go to weddings and see the joy of the bride and groom.  It is fun to dance and see old friends and family.  And, the one we went to this weekend had Orange Leaf for dessert!  Of course, Aria likes to dress up and dance.  And it is fun when your meal is croutons, cheese, ranch, and potatoes.  And this year, with our 10th anniversary in just over a month, all these weddings make me think back to my own and how lucky I am to be married to my awesome husband!

Race for the Cure

Every year the Quad Cities hosts a Komen Race for the Cure, a fundraiser to fight against breast cancer.  This year their race was quite significant to our family because my mom was the Honorary Survivor Chairperson.  Almost exactly 18 years ago, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer.  She has a pretty cool story, actually.  She went to a Circle meeting at her church and there was a lady there talking about how to do breast self exams.  She had a dummy there where the women could actually feel what a lump was like.  My mom discovered the lump on her own body because of that experience at her church.  She initially had the lump removed and then a mastectomy.  She also endured six months of chemotherapy.  It wasn't fun for any of us.  But here we are 18 years later and she is cancer free and quite healthy.

This Honorary Survivor Chairperson role allowed my mom to share her story and encourage others to take the necessary precautions to catch breast cancer early.  She got to speak on the radio and tv.  There were articles in the newspaper and other speaking opportunities.  My mom is such an outgoing, energetic, and happy person that she was perfect for the position.  The organization she works for got behind her and formed a team for the race and raised the most money as a group for the cause.

The day of the race was an early morning for us, but it was well worth it to hear my mom share her story and to see all the people who have been touched by breast cancer.  I was blown away by the survivors who participated in the race, as well as the people who wore shirts with pictures and "In Memory" messages.  It made me wonder why I was so lucky that my mom lived and those people's relative or friend did not.  But I have seen countless times how my mom has been able to use her experience with cancer to inspire or encourage others.  And I've seen how her outlook on life is totally different now.

Sometimes it is really hard to understand why God allows horrible things to happen, but my mom is living proof that good can come of them.  When times are tough, God wants us to rely completely on Him and then use what we learn to bring Him glory.  And my mom has done just that.

My mom got to go up in the lift with the starter of the race

Aria liked all the dogs

Aria needed a lift for part of the way

Water stations along the route

Grandma and Papa don't know how to say no

People along the route decorated their homes or yards and came out to support the runners/walkers

Dogs need water, too

Elmo Live

One of Aria's Christmas presents from Justin's parents was tickets to Elmo Live at the end of April.  We had great seats and enjoyed watching one of her favorite characters dance around the stage.  The best part was room right in front of us for Aria to jump and dance around with the music!  She also enjoyed some cotton candy.  I'm not sure how anyone can eat that stuff, but she liked it!  :)

3 Costumes, $0

This year Aria had a hard time choosing a costume for our three Halloween costume opportunities.  I decided that the costume Aria wore wasn't really about me, so I just let her pick three different things from her dress up box and called it good.  We spent exactly $0.  We did about 5 minutes of planning the outfits.  She was happy.  I was happy.  And of course she was cute, in 3 different ways.

Exhibit A
Fall Fest at church
Cat

Look familiar?  Why yes, Aria was a cat last year, too.  She loved it that much.  :)

Exhibit B
Daddy's work trick or treat
Butterfly

Exhibit C
Halloween trick or treat
Princess

Yes, it was a tad cold so we added a few layers and ditched the crown for a sparkly winter hat.

Fun at Daddy's Work

The company Justin works for has had fun fall events each year.  This year they had a Fall Family Fun night at a rented lodge building at a park.  There was food, games, face painting, balloons, s'mores, and crafts.  The night started off with a lovely reminder that our child inherited her parents' competitive gene.  They had a sack race.  Aria was probably the second youngest kid in the race.  The other kids were mostly in the 6-10 range, so it really wasn't even close.  And neither was the race.  That didn't sit well with Aria.  She got over it pretty quick and tried the egg on a spoon race. 

 

She decided she didn't want to do the three-legged race.  Although, I don't blame her.  I wouldn't want my leg tied to a stranger, either.  Instead she opted for face painting.

 

 

Surprisingly, most of it stayed on until the next day.  Finally, she got a lovely balloon hat.

 

 

Everything was all hunky dory until the red balloon popped.  She hasn't been much into balloons since.  I don't mean to make the evening sound like a downer.  We did have a great time and I think it is wonderful that Justin's company holds family events and supports their employees spending time with their families.

 

The other event in October is a trick or treat.  It is as simple as a bunch of small people in costumes strolling around the building and picking up candy from the employees.  They also have a few games, crafts and food.  More fun times at Daddy's work!

 

 







The National Balloon Classic

Last weekend we took a trip to the Des Moines area to go to the zoo (see below) and to one of the coolest events I've ever been to, The National Balloon Classic.  It is held every year in Indianola, who'da thunk it!  Aria's love of hot air balloon has been established for quite awhile, way back to her hot air balloon themed third birthday.  We went to the Balloon Glow here in town, but this event was oh so super cool.  First of all, the event goes on for about eight or nine days.  It consists of hot air balloon races and shows in the morning and evening each day, along with other events.  We went on the second day for the "Mass Ascension."  Basically, we went to see them launch 80-85 hot air balloons all at once.  It was kind of like a fair with a ton, and I mean a ton of fair food type vendors, with just about any food you could ask for.  It also had kid activities like inflatables and such.  But mostly people set up their chairs and blankets, listened to the live band and waited for the balloons.  There was some concern about the wind that evening.  Weather conditions have to be just right for hot air balloons to go up and it was a bit windy.  However, thankfully, it eventually calmed down enough for them to launch the balloons.  I can't even describe how cool it was!  There were teams spread out all over a large field.  They started unfolding their balloons and blowing them up and eventually ascending into the sky.  They all went up at random times and our heads were just on a swivel watching them go up.  Aria was so excited and loved seeing each and every one!  I would say those 80-85 balloons were all in the air within 45 minutes of each other.  It was incredible!  Most of them just had a couple people in them, but a few were designed to give rides.  $175 per person could give you that experience.  Still not sure if I could overcome the heights factor to do it.  It would sure be pretty, though.  It was all definitely worth the trip and definitely something we will have to attend again!  Now I will start the picture barrage.  I have 86 pictures, but I won't post them all.

She was so excited about this barrel train ride.  She picked out the caboose long before we got over there and ran right over and climbed in without any help.  I felt like she aged about three years in that five minutes.

I love everything about this picture!  The clouds, Aria staring at the balloon, the angle.  So cool!

She just loved all the balloons!

The is her awesome beach ball like hot air balloon! 

This picture captures what the evening was like.  You can see 17 balloons in this picture.  This is early on in the blowing up of the balloons.  What is even more crazy, there were equally as many in the next frame to the right of this. 

Of course we had to wave to all the balloons!

We would watch them blow up and ascend and then we would turn around and watch them travel through the sky.  It was so cool!

I have several pictures like this, with a few balloons in the sky next to each other. 

These three balloons did not go into the air because it was too windy for their special shapes.  It was the purple people eater, a skunk, and an eagle.  They never really got them turned around to face us, but there were still pretty awesome!

So, the dog wasn't a fan of us being gone all day.  When we got home, this is how she greeted us at the door, with a pair of Justin's boxers around her neck.

She Touched a Snake

During the months of June and July the library has what they call Thursday Specials.  They have a variety of special activities for kids, including the puppet show we went to last month.  Today it was a representative from the Blank Park Zoo with some animals to introduce to the kids.  The focus of the "lesson" was animals that dig in the ground.  Personally, I don't know how a snake qualifies as such and I absolutely don't think it was necessary to have one there, but my opinion was not sought out.  Of course, the very first animal she pulled out was a snake.  Right away Aria looked at me and said, "You don't like snakes."  It was all I could do to not run out of there and throw up.  Here's the deal.  I have a large phobia of snakes.  I know it is irrational, but they just give me the willies.  I can't even go into a reptile house at a zoo because I just can't look at them.  I'm not sure where it came from, other than my mom really doesn't like them either.  So, I just looked at the ground while the zoo lady talked about the snake and held it for everyone to see.  Ack!  I'm getting the chills just writing about it.  Anyway, she finally put it away and pulled out some much better animals to share; a tortoise, a pygmy hedgehog, and a baby alligator.  All the kids in the room enjoyed all the animals and we did learn some facts about each of them.  At the end, the zoo lady announced she would get one animal back out for everyone to have the chance to pet on their way out.  I was rooting real hard in my heart for the adorable pygmy hedgehog, but of course it was the disgusting ball python.  Yes, I do realize many of the children were excited about touching the snake, including my very own child.  That doesn't change my opinion.  Disgusting.  Alas, I put on my big girl mom pants and waited in line with Aria so she could touch the snake.  It was all I could do to get close enough to get this lovely, non-smart cell phone picture.

Look at her being all brave and following the "touch the snake with two fingers on the tail" instructions.  She was thrilled and so was I, once we got the heck away from that thing!

Balloon Glow

One of the Freedom Festival events in town every year is the Balloon Glow.  We marked it on our calendar this year because Aria loves hot air balloons.  We weren't quite sure what to expect, but heard some positive comments from others who had been before.  The only way I can think to describe it is a ginormous picnic with some hot air balloons in the middle.  There was live music, kids' inflatables and activities, and food vendors, but we didn't take part in much of that because the lines were about 3 miles long.  We simply plopped our blanket and chairs down with friends and enjoyed a nice evening.  There were literally thousands of people on this big lawn at a historical site in town.  I figured if that many people were there, it must be a good event.  It helped that the weather was perfect. 

Our evening started with Aria's first ever school bus ride as a shuttle from parking to the event.  She also got a hot air balloon tattoo upon entering the gate.  (I think she has finally got their name down, as she had been calling them statues.)  Then we saw one of my very best college friends, and maid of honor in our wedding, which was really fun!  Once we staked out our spot, way far away from the above mentioned "entertainment," I took a loop around the place.  Being the claustrophobic that I am, I immediately just wanted to get back to our blanket and knew there was no way I was bringing Aria into those crowds.  I stood in the shortest food line and got some popcorn and ice cream.  Back at the blanket we enjoyed talking with our friends and watching the kids play.  Throughout the night a few balloons were blown up and then went back down.  As it got darker, 5 balloons were blown up and were lit up whenever they blew the flame.  Aria was especially thrilled with the balloons.  She went with our friend and her daughter to get an up close view and she still tells people about that.  I must say I was a little disappointed in the balloons.  I was kind of hoping they would go up in the air a bit or be more illuminated.  But I was not disappointed in the night.  It was a great evening spent with friends and Aria definitely enjoyed seeing the balloons.  Sometimes it is good to be reminded to find joy in simple things.