Post-Iowa

We are finally settling back into regular life after the Iowa trip!
Right when we came home, it was Clay's 16th birthday!  He hung out with friends all day and went to the skate park.  He and his friends did stop by the house for a minute to open presents and have some cake.

The very next day, both boys left for California.  Clay is spending 2 weeks there with his Dad, Reed is spending a whole month!!  That is definitely the longest that Reed has been away from home.  He's very excited!  He'll come home just in time for his 13th birthday.

Blossom did a ballet camp the following week which she loved.  She can't wait to start real lessons next month.  In the mean time, she's doing weekly swim lessons at a local gym.
Here she is at the little "recital" for parents on the last day:


We met up with some homeschool co-op friends to do a fun hike to the lake!

And now that things have settled down, I started having kids over to the house again for childcare... messy art projects and all!

Finally getting settled into Summer!

Iowa

We had a fun trip to Iowa.  The kids took 4th place at World Finals!!  So impressive!

 (waiting to go on)

They were all feeling under the weather on the morning of the performance, but pushed through and did great!  Here is their vehicle they designed, using a swing as the propulsion system:

Grandma, her new husband Bob and my brother David all came from Omaha to watch the kids perform.

On our way to Iowa, we stayed a night in Chicago.  We spent most of our time in Millenium Park, admiring all the art installations, playing the in water features and the boys checking out the skate park.

We meandered along the lakefront.

We wandered to Buckingham Fountain and saw Pat Sajack and Vanna White filming for Wheel of Fortune (I was so excited that I actually *knew* who celebrities where - it's rare!)

Blossom made new friends as always:

We even got a great group photo before leaving to find Chicago deep dish pizza (mission was successful!)

Iowa was of course filled with all sorts of cute moments.  Reed loved having the mix of teen activity and family time and of course new travel adventures!  Blossom soaked up all the attention from being the only little one there!

The return trip took us through St. Louis where we explored City Museum, which is basically a super fun big kid/adult playground.  Giant slides and ferris wheel on the roof, even!

Blossom was not a big fan of all the walkways and climbing paths that were made of welded metal - she didn't want to be able to see through them!

But she did dig the castle!  Everything behind her in the photo is part of the museum, so many tunnels and things to explore - and this was just the outdoor part!

While in St. Louis, we walked to the arch, of course!

It's so fun taking a trip with a kid who is so easy-going and finds the beauty even in the empty field next to the hotel!

I'm so proud of the teens for going out in style.  This was their last year doing OM, and they won first place at States plus a Renatra Fusca award for extreme creativity.  Then went on to rock out the World Competition and come in 4th!  A good way to kick off the Summer as well :)