Welcome to Our Adventure
Our Family’s Journey to Experience Life
NYC 2023 (our longest post yet…)
As I suspected I would happen, I wasn’t entirely truthful in my last post. I wasn’t back to talk about our travels. I rarely posted anything about our lives. I knew days and weeks and activities would sweep us into a frenzy of crazed schedules, bag drops in the living room, only to pick up […]
All the Music and More…
The last week of February connected with the first week of March which was a week of all the music (and additional activities…) Monday night we were able to attend an Honor Choir concert in Pella. Several Iowa schools chose students outstanding in their choirs to perform together on this evening. They practiced separately for […]
A sleepover and a night out
The last weekend in February was a pretty exciting one. It started with Ben’s last basketball game of the season. It was a little bittersweet. This season of basketball has been a bit grueling with practice every single night and Ben felt like he was missing out on some of the activities he really enjoyed […]
Mid-February Break
Thursday, February 16th we had a snow day. I’m not sure the schools didn’t build in too many and figured they better use them now or they’d miss their chance. There wasn’t all that much snow to speak of. It was cold and windy but it’s been worse. We took the day to relax after […]
Thriving in the Middle
Sometimes adventures look like 8 states in a day or climbing a waterfall. Sometimes they look like a weekend of every school activity all at once. This last weekend, our adventure was a whirlwind of the latter and a series of lasts. I am so often confused in a school district that so thoughtfully makes […]
Fog in the Woods
Monday morning brought us hoarfrost and I stayed in. Tuesday the weather brought in a heavy fog. Foggy weather is some of my favorite weather. Everything is quieter and softer on the edges. It is like the world has become a white canvas and each thing painted on it is starker, more saturated with color […]
I may be a hobbit…
January in Iowa is a bit dismal. We learn to push on with exercise, take our Vitamin D, and find the sun when we can get it. This year I was even gifted a “Happy Light” for Christmas to get simulated rays when the sun disappears for days at a time. Our family has been […]
Glitz and Glam
Our oldest son, Ben who has quickly become everything that is “teenager” is taking advantage of his eighth-grade year to try out all of the things. This is encouraged by the school and community prior to entering high school. We think it’s a pretty good idea as well. In practice, however, it is pretty hectic […]
Project Life 365
In my earlier go-rounds of college, throughout my art classes, I took photography courses. These were in film photography and while at times I loathed the long hours processing chemicals in the dark room, I did really enjoy shooting and developing. I gained knowledge and understanding to manually shoot and not rely on any auto […]
Happy New Year!
Over winter break Ben was signed up for a couple of classes through Polk County Conservation. One of them was canceled due to a lack of interest. I was pretty disappointed, it was a survival course about the proper way to build fires and survive in the wild. Perhaps I should suggest the class for […]
It’s Christmas!
On Christmas Eve each year, we do a few of the same things. We eat pasta soup, drive around town to look at the Christmas lights, have Christmas ice cream, and the boys open one present – just like we did when I was a kid. The boys almost always choose to open their presents […]
Winter Break and a Snowstorm
On the third weekend of December, my schedule gave to me, a snowstorm and winter break. We actually started the weekend by having Jeff’s parents down. We went to Dome after Dark at the Botanical Center which has become one of my favorite things to do there. One of the boys characterized it as “super […]
Christmas Time Together
A few years ago we discovered the Holiday Promenade in the East Village of Des Moines. On that first night, the shops opened late with sales. There were carolers on the corner serving hot cocoa. And the ice skating rink had its opening night with Christmas tree lighting and an appearance from the big guy […]
All of the Christmas Things
Our kids GREW UP over the last few years. Covid did a number on the world, throwing us all into a tailspin. We all missed a lot of things, some of them monumental moments. We had to find ways to grieve the loss of life events and expectations we thought were just going to be […]
Thanksgiving
Sammy was sick a lot as a baby. He had an incessant cough and was constantly fighting a runny nose. He had asthma. Countless times I had to clear mucus from his throat because he was having trouble getting a breath. I got scared a lot. He had RSV a couple of times. He had […]
There’s no knowing where you might be swept off to…
As soon as Jeff and I started feeling better, November started its upswing of busyness. The schools seem to try to squeeze in a little of everything right at the end of the semester just when social lives are packed with extra holiday activity. It starts to feel like Bilbo Baggins says, “It’s a dangerous […]
November is for birthdays
When I was little I felt it was a big deal for kids to have “birthday buddies”. I think there were a lot of kids my age who had birthday parties together, or who were really excited about sharing a birthday month. I was good friends with twins so it may have been a ploy […]
The time we got covid
The morning of October 31st we woke to messages from Jeff’s employees. Several weren’t coming to work. Covid had hit the office. Jeff and I had been fighting some allergy symptoms and soreness from a new workout but felt pretty good. We thought it would be best to test. We were both positive. In March […]
All Hallow’s Eve – Samhain
I’ve been a little behind on posting. Our family was sick. We are better now, I hope. Sammy has a cough again. It seems Sammy has had a cough off and on since he was born, however, so we will see where we end up. But when I say we were sick, I mean covid. […]
Fall Break
I think our school district is experimenting. Not weirdly, just trying out some new things. They’ve not been the most progressive so any little thing seems like kind of a big deal. We live in a historically conservative town. This year one of the changes has been messing with the school calendar. So, we had […]
October Traditions
“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers” – Anne Shirley (Lucy Maud Montgomery) Every October right about the time the leaves change but the air is still warm, the kids and I meet my cousin Alecia and her kids for an afternoon at the pumpkin patch. We have done this […]
Patios and Pergolas
As our boys get older and our family grows we are constantly looking for more space. The days of them playing in small spaces is long gone. They’re big and loud and they have their own amazing personalities. They need more space to become the young men they are becoming and we need more space […]
xkcd – a book talk
“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll Randall Monroe sends us down rabbit holes proving impossible things, or maybe just the questions we thought too ridiculous to ask. He used to be a robotics engineer at NASA, which he has some pretty funny […]
“Supposed to”
We were “supposed to” go to Sioux City to see our new niece. The beautiful little Winnie was in Iowa for the weekend and we were going to get to meet her for the first time. At first, the plan was she and her parents were “supposed to” come to our house, but plans change […]
The World Food and Music Festival
We have a lot of projects going on in our house – as usual. During covid, we took a step way back, stayed home, spent time as a family, did our jobs, and reassessed. Since we have eased back into doing things, but not full force. We still find ourselves pretty busy with all of […]
Wright Brothers – the other ones
Day 16: Sammy slept in, in the morning. He really knows how to enjoy a hotel. He loves big beds, big breakfasts, and all the little things that come with them. We had a great breakfast at the hotel. There were lots of big fluffy eggs. On our way out of the hotel, we saw […]
Blackwater Falls State Park
Day 15: In the morning we all showered and hung our things out to dry as best we could. We wrapped some things up in the topper knowing they would just have to make it home wet and left behind a table cloth. We drove to the trailhead for Blackwater Falls and made the hike out. […]
Eight States in One Day
Day 14: We started the day with another big breakfast and a stop for Dunkin Donuts coffee. I had no idea how big Dunkin was out east, but I love their coffee so I was happy to be in constant supply. We headed out early for our longest day on the road. We were making […]
Mystic Seaport and Rhode Island
Day 13: We had a big hotel breakfast in Westport and headed to Mystic CT. Yes, Mystic, like in Mystic Pizza (no, we didn’t eat there – we were planning on a pizza night for dinner). We looked at a lot of places to go in Connecticut and originally had a campsite at Hammonasset Beach […]
Grab the keys, git in the cah!
Day 12: We awoke indoors with big beds and floors with carpet which felt a little strange, sharing a bathroom, and not starting a fire first thing. We found a restaurant that served breakfast in popovers at a streetside cafe a short walk from our hotel. It was a beautiful morning and we could have […]
Driving the Coast
Day 11: We slept a little later this morning, but not long after sunrise. We met some people at the shower house who had been to the place we were headed a little later in our trip in West Virginia and were thrilled to talk to us about it. They had been in the winter […]
Bridges, Beach day, Beehive and Bacon
Day 10: I woke up a little after 4:00 and couldn’t go back to sleep. We heard there were pay showers across the street from our campsite (just off property from the National Park) so I thought it would be nice to get a shower in and watch the sun rise. We tend to get […]
Acadia At Last
Day 9: We rose early in Bar Harbor, cleaned up, had some breakfast and packed camp to get into Acadia. Jeff and I talked on the way about how the night we met we were sitting in Momo’s, a piano bar in Sioux City, discussing places we would like to go someday while leafing through […]
Strange visits that will require returns brought to a magnificent close
Day 8: Our last morning in Vermont we cleaned up, packed, and played catch in the clearing right outside our campsite – it was mowed and trees cleared perfectly, like it was there just for a game of catch. We had Ben research a place to eat and he found us the cutest little bagel […]
Relaxing in the Green Mountains
Day 7: This might have been one of my favorite days on the whole trip and one of the days I have the least details to give. We awoke to the smell of trees and grass in Little River State Park. Everything there is a bright shade of green. The only place we had in […]
NY to Vermont
Deer Run Campground was an interesting place. Upstate New York in general is pretty interesting. There are these areas we drove through that are clearly the places to go, beautiful and well kept. The people are a little more well spoken and sophisticated, edging on snobbish. And then, there is the wild, rural back country […]
Cooperstown and the National Baseball Hall of Fame
Sometimes there are things in this world you think are unattainable. Things you think you’ll never have the chance to do and then all of the sudden…Boom…there it is. The first time it ever happened was when I was a fresh college graduate and I saw the Coliseum for the first time. After that there […]
Hiking 19 Waterfalls (how are we not calling this trip Chasing Waterfalls?)
Day 4: Morning dawned on one of our favorite campsites and we knew it was time to leave. We spent the morning slowly getting ready and hanging out a little more with our Minnesota camping friends. It was hard to go watching the kids all have so much fun together. It’s been good to keep […]
Benny’s Birthday!
Day 3: Benny’s birthday! Started with a pillow fight with his brother outside the tent while mom and dad took turns showering and making breakfast. I read Ben his traditional birthday book while Jeff told all our new camping friends it was Ben’s big day – he got “Happy birthdays!” all throughout the day 🙂 […]
Canadian Niagara
Day 2: We woke early got ready, had a nice breakfast all together with the Pierces and said our goodbyes. We drove to the border and crossed into Canada. The boys laughed a little at their own surprise at how much it looked the same. Sam asked our border agent his name – it was […]
Dipping our toes back in
July 2019. That was the last time I posted to our blog. It’s been a weird couple of years and I’m sure I will talk about that a lot more in posts ahead. I took a long hiatus from social -well, everything. As covid seeped in, I started to move away from all forms of media. […]
Week 19: Hope for the Wild
A couple of years ago, Ben and I discovered our zoo has lecture series. We attended one about the Magellanic Penguins given by the zookeeper for the seals, sea lions, and penguins. Ben is an animal and animal science fanatic with a special affinity for penguins, so we really enjoyed doing this together. Last year, […]
Week 18: A weekend of bowls
It was a weekend of bowls. We received an email from school stating there was going to be a new program offered this year for third through fifth graders to try out Quiz Bowl. The middle-school already has a team, and they wanted to pilot a younger age. So, Ben found some friends who were […]
Week 16: It was a strange week
It was a very strange week. It started with spring semester starting. I added on a class this semester and felt a little nervous about time management. A couple of my courses are a lot more intense, so it’s been an interesting adjustment so far. On Wednesday, some friends invited us to join them at […]
Week 14: Warm Winter Weekend
The first full weekend in 2019 was unseasonably warm and we took advantage. Fifty-six degrees in January is unheard of in Iowa. We can usually count on hot sun and thunderstorms in the summer, and cold temperatures with snow in the winter. Iowa weather is notoriously unpredictable however. After a morning of basketball we planned […]
Week 13: Michigan
Winter break this year for the boys was insanely short. The way the dates fell on the calendar, their first day off was Christmas Eve and their last was New Year’s Day. We had to fit a lot into a very short time and I was definitely sad to send them back. On top of […]
Week 11: Christmas in Dike, IA
For Christmas and Thanksgiving each year we trade off whose family we are with. This year we spent Christmas with Jeff’s family, so my family’s Christmas was early. We usually spend some time with my parents eating boatloads of food, playing games, and watching Christmas movies. This year we made it to Dike early enough […]
The Four Agreements – Be Impeccable With Your Word
The Four Agreements When we entered this world, we learned sounds and symbols, which represented letters and words, which allow us to communicate. This is an agreement we have made as humans. We agree on language, morals, religions, teachings, etc. We agree to a set of rules and laws of civilization. We are awarded and […]
America Doesn’t Suck
My favorite writer is Aaron Sorkin. Not a typical name when people are listing their favorite writers, but he is mine. In case you’re not familiar with him, he is the writer of shows like “The Westwing” and “Sports Night” and movies like “The American President”, “A Few Good Men” and “Moneyball”. He even wrote […]
Why 52 Adventures?
There was this life I lived. It was a life. It could be called living. When I look back now it all seems sort of gray and colorless, like I was colorblind and everything was sort of muted back then, foggy. I was living for all these things outside of myself. What I should do […]
Most Popular Posts
NYC 2023 (our longest post yet…)
December 1, 2023
All the Music and More…
March 9, 2023
A sleepover and a night out
March 7, 2023
Mid-February Break
March 6, 2023
Thriving in the Middle
February 15, 2023
