Jonah's First Bike Race

Jonah has always been a great bike rider. I attribute to the Boot Scoot, but then I'm biased. He has been riding a two-wheeler since he was 3, learned in about 30 minutes, and never used training wheels. I'd say that's pretty good, so, yes, I will attribute it to the Boot Scoot.

We went over to the Park City section of the Tour of Utah. They have a free race for kids that goes on a very small section of the actual course. Jonah loved it. And loved getting a medal.

Three Boys

Leaving Iowa

Before leaving Iowa we went out one evening to take pictures of the corn fields.

Flowers for me--one of the joys of having 3 sons.

We walked over to the University of Iowa cross-country field while the sun was setting and just ran around.
You don't have to worry about hitting sprinkler heads in Iowa because the grass just grows on its own, acres and acres of grass just growing. We will miss that!

We filled our moving truck to the brim, and even had to leave a bookshelf, bench, and our dining table behind. We even filled the Jeep that was on the trailer behind the moving truck and packed bikes and trampoline poles around the car on the trailer. We obviously should've gotten a bigger truck.
Wyatt fell asleep while eating a sugar daddy during the unloading of the moving van. Sugar coma?

This is what we moved to. This is not a view from our home, but from a nearby hill. Whenever Max and I went running or we all went out for a bike ride in the late summer and fall, we couldn't get over the beauty of this place. We are happy to be here, but definitely miss some things about and people in Iowa.

Baby Monster

This little guy's nickname is Baby Monster--and for some reason this picture embodies that nickname for me.

He doesn't do it so much any more, but he used to always hand you things with two hands--usually one hand held underneath the one that was holding something. He loved to help unload the utensils from the dishwasher and every item was given with two hands. So sweet, I just don't want to forget it.

4 Years Old

I love this little guy and back in July he turned 4!

Since his birthday is in the summer, many of our Iowa friends had either already moved away or were visiting family. The first 3 or 4 friends he said he wanted to invite to his party were already gone. Luckily, he had a long list of friends to invite so we had plenty of kids at the party.

We had the party at City Park. If you are in Iowa City, this is the best way to throw a birthday party EVER! Buy three punch passes for $18 and you've got 30 rides to share among the kiddos.

Of course, every party needs a pinata.
Wyatt told me he wanted a Pickles cake--Pickles the Fire Cat that is. I figured most little kids wouldn't have read this book because it isn't an extremely popular book (it was a classic at my house growing up) so part of the party was reading about Pickles the Fire Cat.

Funny side note--just recently Max introduced the boys to Star Wars. One morning Wyatt came into our bedroom, pretending to be a cat. He said, "I'm Darth Vader's cat. Meow!!" Max asked, "Are you Darth Pickles?" and now Darth Pickles is a regular at our house.

One of Wyatt's best presents was waiting at home after the party--thanks Grandparents!

Solon Beef Days and Johnson County Fair

In an attempt to soak up all of Iowa while we still could, we made sure to get back to Solon Beef Days. Solon is a small town near Iowa City. We love that fair because they have lots of fun free stuff for kids. First, big wheel racing.

Jonah made sure to wear his hat backwards for extra speed. He made it through two heats, but Wyatt was a big winner in his age group coming in second place. He got a big fancy ribbon.
After the wheel barrow races the fire fighters set up the barrel-spray game. I'm sure it has a better name than that, but I can't remember it right now. Two kids get a minute to try and spray the barrel toward the opponents' side. When the buzzer rings, whoever has made it to the other side of the center marker wins.
Wyatt did not enjoy it. He didn't like getting sprayed in the face, even with the goggles. Jonah wanted to go shirtless and seemed to like it a bit more.

Then a week or so later, we went on down to the Johnson county fair. This is where the certified tractor pulls take place. If you win this pull, you get to go on to the state pull at the Iowa State Fair (biggest state fair in the world!!!). The boys did good, but their parents aren't true tractor pull enthusiasts so they didn't have the training other kids had--and I'm saying that in complete seriousness.

They did still win a ribbon and a soda, which was prize enough. Here's Jonah with one of his best little friends, Bennett.
After the kids' tractor pull you can go watch the big boys' tractor pull--extremely loud and exhaust-y. We didn't know you needed to bring ear plugs (and maybe a gas mask, too) so we weren't there for long.

Trek Fest--this time with parade!

Luckily we were still in Iowa for the annual Trek Fest. This year, we got there early enough to see the parade--definitely worth it. Plenty of people watching to do as you will be able to see from the photos.

If you didn't know, Riverside, Iowa is the future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk. Yes, I said future. Even though they wore awesome 70s hairstyles and miniskirts in the tv series. Captain Kirk has yet to be born. Here are some great photos of parade attendees and participants, floats and other random stuff that make this a must see if you happen to be in Iowa in June.

If you can't read the banner on this next one it says, Washington County Pork Queen and Pork Princess.

This is a photo of the "crazy grandpas" as J and W liked to call them. The Shriners in Iowa do a lot of good--build a lot of rec centers, parks, etc.--and they also do awesome stunts on these fat three wheelers in small town parades. They pop wheelies, ride on the front and one back wheel, and go super fast. Max wants to be a Shriner now when he is a crazy grandpa, or sooner.
Another Shriner vehicle--the front and back wheels turn separately so the car can be crooked, but drive straight down the road.
Not really sure about this--I will admit, I was a little nervous that this bull was really THAT trained and wouldn't freak out and gore one of us.

Trek fest isn't all about Star Trek, it's also Riverside's town fair so there are rickety carnival rides complete with toothless carnies.

This is one of the floats that sits in a parking lot after the parade so you can pretend to fly the Enterprise.

Tractor pulls--one thing we will really miss about Iowa! Last year, Wyatt was very nervous and didn't dare to ride the tractor in front of everyone, but this year--I don't know if it was the tiger face paint or what, but he jumped right on and pulled pretty far.
Jonah did well, too. He made a full pull on the first run and had to come back for a second round.
We will miss you Riverside Trek Fest.