Renaissance Festival

What do you do on labor day? Go to the Des Moines Renaissance Festival of course! Jered and I went to the RenFest a long time ago and had a great time. So we decided to take the boys and see what they would think of it. The festival is a lot bigger and more organized than it used to be. The have cool buildings and more vendors of wares and so much food.




The Entrance

Magic

There was a fiddle player at the entrance, she was amazing! The decorations were really cool too.



The gates

Once through the gates there was so much to see. The boys instantly ran for the wooden sword seller.



Checking the Food options

Riley playing

King and Queen

There was a royal court with all the usual pomp, and shows of sword play. They also have jousting matches.


Sword Show

Goat Petting

In the children's area there was a petting zoo were there was a goat and pony and bunnies to pet and hold.

Pony

Max got into the action by trying out the knife throwing booth. He actually got one!

Knife Throwing

The best part of the Renaissance Festival is the people watching. There was some great costumes and people this year.

People Watching

Pirates

Lady in Red

Riley

Stargazing cards

Constellations

Out of our 50 things we are doing this summer, stargazing has to be one of my favorites. It also helps that my parents have a beautiful house outside of town, away from light pollution, so you can really see the stars on clear summer nights. To get ready to find the constellations with the boys I made some stargazing cards to help us locate them.

These cards were super easy to make. I just painted a dark blue background on card stock and then added the stars for each constellation. Hand lettering the name of the constellation of the bottom of the card and you are done. For these cards I just picked only the Summer and Circumpolar constellations since this is the time of year you can see these in Iowa.

Summer constellations

My plan is to take the boys out with a little flash light and a blanket to try and find all of these star groups in the night sky.

Stargazing Cards

Hickory Hill Hike

Riley

Max

The heat wave in the Midwest has broken! Today it was 85 but after more than 7 days of above 100 degree temperatures it felt amazing. The boys and I went for a hike and a picnic lunch in Hickory Hill Park.

#50things Hiking

Hickory Hill is the largest park in Iowa City and one of our favorites. The hike from the parking area to the picnic shelter is a little under a mile so it's a great hike for small legs.

The trees make a great tunnel to walk through and the shade kept us cool.

We had lunch and relaxed a bit before our walk back. It was great to finally be able to go outside and do something. The heat has been horrible this year, but I shouldn't complain because it will being snowing before you know it. It is Iowa after all....

Lunchtime

Photo Bomb

Happy Forth of July!

We are back home in Iowa City just in time to go to the fireworks. We got the best spot ever on top of a parking ramp near the IMU, so close to the action! The glow bracelets were also a big hit with the kids, the sparklers were not quite a good deal yet. Maybe next year. I hope everyone had a happy and safe forth of July.

Max

First shots

Loving it

Smiley

happy forth

Lego at Reiman Gardens

#50things

They are holding a Lego art exhibit at Reiman Gardens in Ames. Max and Riley loved all of the flowers and Lego creatures.

Humming Bird

First one we went to see was a giant humming bird in the front garden. The stands were also made of Legos.

Tropical Room

 In the tropical plant area there was a large ball machine that was running a ball around continually.

Art

Lego Rose

 In the rose garden there was a huge rose from Legos. It was probably about 12 feet tall.

Lilly and Koi

 The pond had Lego Lilly pads complete with a frog and a leaping Koi.

Resting with Grandma

 After all that walking we needed a rest and some cool water. It was 95 degrees after all! We decided to skip to the butterfly house since it was so hot. They have over 800 butterflies and 80 different species.

Being Still for butterflies

Black Butterfyl

 The butterfly house was actually cooler than outside, so it felt great to hang out with them.

White Butterfly

Riley Being Gentle

Riley and Max were both so still and gentle in the butterfly house. They loved all the colors and having them land on their hands and clothes. I would say it might have been the favorite part of the gardens.

Max and Monarch

Getting Close Up

Beautiful

Lego Butterfly

Blowing Bubbles

 

This weekend we made the trip to Ames to visit my parents. Mostly because I'm planning their 45th wedding anniversary party and had some things to take care of. (We made a bunch of crepe paper flowers...tutorial coming soon!) The boys always have fun visiting. We had to go shopping because Max had gotten a Target gift card that was burning a hole in his pocket. I bought Riley a bubble gun so he could get something too. Best 2 bucks I have spent this summer.

Riley Jumping

Close up

Bubbles

Max in bubbles

Bubble gun

 I'm really loving my camera and getting used the manual settings. It's amazing what you can do with shutter speed control!!!