12 years!

A few pics from our quick anniversary trip to Elkader, Iowa last weekend, which is reportedly the only city (um, town) named after a Muslim in the U.S. It is name after Abd el-Kader, a young Algerian hero who led his people in a resistance against French colonialism between 1830 and 1847. Go figure!! We ate Algerian food at Schera's, which has its own nice story.

The Motor Mill, which is in the process of being restored. The guy who ran the B&B we stayed at is very involved.

A friend we made at our lodgings.

Then bend in the Turkey River where the mill is located.

Lovely Northeast Iowa. The Mississippi is at the blue line on the horizon in this pic.

Shabby Tabby

Every year a group of college students called the Neverland Players puts on a performance of short plays written by students from M3's school. Her play "Shabby Tabby" (concerning a girl who finds a kitten and asks her mom if she can keep it...hmmmm) was chosen this year. We weren't even notified, though! We found out by accident and rushed to catch the last performance. That silliness aside, all the plays were very cute; the Neverland players did a great job; and M3 got to go up at the end to receive some very loud applause and cheers. I think she was a bit overwhelmed! Afterward, the thespians chatted with her...it was very cute. A very fun experience...thanks, Neverland Players!

State Invention Convention

Yesterday we went to Ames for the state Invention Convention at ISU. It was really well organized and nice, even though they read the names of all 300+ kids and their inventions! Gina and Mitch came to check out M3's invention, and they we all went out to lunch. It was a very fun day! Thanks for coming, Gina and Mitch! Little exhibitor.

Proud inventor.

Walking across the stage and shaking the hand of ISU's Dean of Engineering. ("Small" was the smallest size shirt they handed out!)

M3 with her fellow 3rd grade inventors who were invited to state.

Happy (late) Easter!

Egg production!

M3 and M4 worked very hard at decorating the table, although they used jelly beans from their own baskets and were concerned that our guests might *mistakenly* eat those!
They found all the eggs!

Nana and Boppa treated us to Boppa's famous pizza on Saturday!

Happy Birthday, Dad!!

Today is my dad's birthday, oh he of the first wave of baby boomers. On top of being a most awesome grandpa, my dad has always been there for me in too many ways to count, so here is one example: In a single day, he drove me and my stuff to Madison, WI (10 hours), unloaded said stuff to a second floor apartment (??? hours and surely some skinned knuckles), drove to Chicago (2 hours), flew back home and went to work the next day. What was that?? A 39 hour day??!! Thank you, Dad, for your big heart, your generosity, your good advice, and your scarred hands! Happy birthday and here's to logging many more miles on the bike and rockin' Social Security, all at the same time!

11 years ago today...

...we had a rockin' party!

Pictures from that day are pre-computer age in our house, so here's a picture of us on a mountain. 11 years on the 11th!