Spring...

Some little photographer in the house must have used my camera, because I found these:

Apple picking!

Every year Mark's colleague Luther and his wife Jenny (who are both seriously awesome people by the way) generously invite people out to pick apples on their land. Well, yesterday was a gorgeous 80 degree fall day to pick apples and tromp about....

M4 looking for minnows.

Big M and little M choosing the best apples!

My attempt at nature photography.

M3 on the bridge over the pond. Notice the stylish footwear.

M and M having fun falling out of the hammock.

There is a sweet little cabin they built on the land (no plumbing, woot!), and a thought occurred to me while we were there. So I asked Jenny if we could possibly rent it for a night? And she said no, we couldn't rent it, but they would love for us to come stay in it! Of course, the kids are over the moon at the idea! Jenny said we should stay a week (ha ha), and M3 immediately seized on that idea and said I would have to drive them to school, though. Yeah, I think we'll start with a weekend night.

Redonkulous!

Our favorite new word around here is "redonkulous," courtesy of the movie Bolt (which I think was one of the higher quality kids' movies, despite the presence of Miley Cyrus...at least we didn't have to see her!). Usage: There are so many toys on your bedroom floor that I can't walk without tripping! It's redonkulous!!

We went to the Devonian Fossil Gorge (near Iowa City) on Memorial Day for a family outing. We saw some water snakes eating a fish (ewwww!) and caught some of the hundred of tadpoles that were wiggling around in the puddles. At least, M3 did. M4 was not keen on that idea. Afterwards we had some outrageously overpriced Indian food. Oh well, the kids chose the lamb, which I thought was pretty adventurous of them!

News of the Weird

How's this for strange? The kids' gymnastics teacher was walking her dog along a rural Iowa road, turned around and realized she was being stalked by this:A serval!! In Iowa!! When she sends us the pictures she took, I will post them. (She freaked out, called her husband to pick her up, and they happened to have a camera in the car.) She got some amazing pictures!

Clearly, it was someone's pet, but it's just so interesting to contemplate...how long has it been loose? Has it been wandering all over Iowa? From a quick web search, it seems they are popular exotic pets. Which makes me sad. One site said they will not knowingly sell serval kittens to families with children. Uh huh.

Random photos...

Does anyone need rhubarb? The leaves work as sunbonnets as well...The azaleas behind our deck (I think they're azaleas):I'm not sure if M3 or M4 took this, but it's kinda cool. So there ya go:

Fresh snow + sun + nature hike = Saturday!!

Queen Anne's LaceM3 being sassy
The lonely path
I have a picture of these two in summer at the same place (CERA) holding hands, but much younger...
Andy Goldsworthy's cairn

Where did he get those pants?

A somewhat macabre picture of a red-tailed hawk feasting on a bunny (see the ear??) on the lawn of a church downtown. I've never seen one this close! It wasn't perturbed in the least by people trying to sneak up and snap pics.