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Bath and bubble fun

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 08:35:26 -0500

Will called me into the bathroom last night to show me something and I found him with a head full of bubbles, looking like a wig from Revolutionary War days. So, like any dad would, I went and grabbed the camera for a few snaps.

Here they are.

Will, the big kindergarten man (with photos)

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 08:27:33 -0500

It was back-to-school week last week in Burlington, and for Will, that meant the start of kindergarten.

We had open house on Wednesday, then headed off to school Thursday morning.

After getting out of school, Lisa took Will and his friend and classmate Sammi to FunCity for an afternoon of bowling, go-karts and swimming.

Our ‘Staycation.’ kind of. (With Photos)

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:53:33 -0500

Summer vacation came for us at the end of July. Craig took two weeks off, and he and Will accompanied to Lisa to suburban Chicago the end of the first week, where she had a pharmacy conference. On Friday night, we enjoyed a nice evening with Craig’s cousin Jason, his wife, Erin and their son, Frank. On that Saturday, Will and Craig went to Pirates Cove Theme Park in Elk Grove Village where there are plenty of things for an almost-kindergartner to do, such as climb and slide, bounce and paddle.

We had planned to go camping but a couple of other things came up. So after a week at home, and registering Will for kindergarten, we went to Davenport to spend the day with Grandpa and Grandmother Neies. We started out shopping at North Park Mall, then headed over to John Deere Commons in Moline, Ill., to climb on the tractors. Then it was back over to Davenport for a tour around the Putnam Museum and an IMAX movie — Mom and Dad’s first.

It was a good few days. Here are some pictures.

South, and North, on the Avenue of the Saints (With Photos)

Tue, 5 Aug 2008 19:14:15 -0500

In June, as Iowa was being inundated by flood water along the Mississippi, Iowa and Cedar Rivers, we started a 1900-mile trek to both ends of the Avenue of the Saints, by way of Dubuque and flood-ravaged Cedar Rapids.

Bryan and Trent, sons of friends, came to our house for Steamboat Days this year, only to have it flooded out after Wednesday. The following weekend, we went to Dubuque via Cedar Rapids to drop off bottled water, disposable plates, cups and dinnerware at Bryan’s house, where his mom, dad, sister, grandma and uncle were living with only intermittent access to water for cooking, showering and flushing because of the flood that affected so many in Cedar Rapids. At least they were safe and dry.

In Dubuque, we visited the Fenelon Place Elevator, which Trent had never been up before and Will only as a baby. They were able to look out on the city, as well as see Wisconsin and Illinois.

Back in Burlington, before heading down to St. Louis, we made our own fun. The boys played video games and had lightsaber fights. We also had a water fight out in the yard.

On Tuesday, June 18, as we left for St. Louis, our plans were thrown for a loop when we discovered the Great River Bridge had been closed due to a levee breach on the Illinois side that covered the road and swamped the villages of Gulfport and Lake Stevenson. It was only a brief delay, and soon we were in St. Louis, where we saw the Cardinals get beat by the Royals, and went to the City Museum, which is a wonderland of tunnels, slides and climbers the boys had a ball exploring.

From St. Louis, it was back to Iowa. After dropping Trent and Bryan at their respective homes, it was off to Dubuque again to reunite Logan with his dad, brother Christian and former step-brother, Jesse, for a trip up to Minneapolis/St. Paul, where we saw a Twins game (my Twinkies pummeled the Diamondbacks) and then went to the Science Museum of Minnesota for a special exhibit about the intersection of Star Wars movie sci-fi tech with real-life technology.

It was a long week, with a lot of driving, but it was fun.

Click here for more photos.

A few photos

Mon, 4 Aug 2008 20:08:55 -0500

Here are a handful of miscellaneous photos from late May and early June.

Catching up (With Photos)

Sun, 1 Jun 2008 14:26:29 -0500

It’s been a good long time since I posted anything, so this will be kind of a catch-all, with links to plenty of photos.

We started out March by celebrating Will’s fifth birthday in three different places. The first was in Dubuque with the Neises family, the second in Burlington with the Purdum family and the third at FunCity with some of Will’s preschool friends. Photos here.

Continuing the theme of a busy March, we saw “Walking With Dinosaurs,” a live action and animatronic show based on the Discovery Channel’s computer-generated dinosaur program of the same name, at the iWireless Center in Moline, Ill. The next day, it was to Chicago, where Lisa went to “Wicked” again, this time with Kathy, Brittany and Bryan. Meanwhile, Will and I ventured off to the Chicago Children’s Museum. Photos here and here.

Things slowed down in April, but picked back up again in May. The month included a weekend trip to Dubuque, a visit to the Quad Cities for Craig’s birthday (photos of both here), the start of T-ball season (photos here), the arrival of two new furry members of the family (photos here), and finally, Will’s graduation from preschool (photos here).

Here’s hoping all who read this have a wonderful June, and a great summer.