Tulip Festival Parades

It's our first Tulip Festival since moving back to Orange City. The tulips are long gone, but Ryan still liked playing in Windmill park (and throwing things in the canal).

Ryan saw a total of 4 parades this year. We started out with the Thursday night parade where Abbie, Wade, and Saylor joined us. This parade is not as crowded and we easily found a shaded bleacher spot. Ryan was a little antsy waiting, but had no trouble polishing off a foot-long hot dog while we waited! Saylor loved the parade, especially the marching bands. Ryan liked the bands, horsies, tractors, and a certain float that had rabbits moving around a track and a squirrel peeking out of a log. The funniest thing was watching him point and wave enthusiastically to the small tractor and wagon that followed the horses (the poop wagon). In his defense, though, at some other parades we've been to, that WAS the entry.

Friday night, Adam's parents joined us for the parade and then stayed with Ryan while Adam and I went to the Night Show, "My Fair Lady."  It was a good show, but didn't get over until 11:15 and since we'd been sitting on bleachers since 5:45, we were a ready to be done with bleachers.

On Saturday afternoon, we grabbed a spot on a curb to watch an afternoon parade so Ryan could watch the street scrubbing. He did okay, considering it we right during his normal nap time, and he was excited to see Juliana walk in the mode show with her authentic costume from "Zaan" and then stop by to sit with us. He also loved seeing my cousin Carter riding a unicycle. On Saturday, he even got to ride the 5' tall one! We went on a few rides after the parade and my fears that we missed any sort of "nap" window were eased when Ryan fell asleep about 2 blocks after getting into the pickup and took a 2 hour nap even though it was after 4:00! Watching parades (or climbing all over mom like she's a jungle gym and bonzing for fruit snack) must be tiring!


On Saturday night, I had to run to Sioux City to do some necessary shopping and Adam ended up taking Ryan to the night parade. This one featured over 100 antique tractors and Mustang cars (which Ryan loved) and the Alumni Band. He was probably the most excited person there to see so many tractors!

 All in all, he was pretty excited about the parades and already told me on Sunday morning that "maybe after I take a nap, we can go see the parade." I hate to break it to him that the parades are over for another year, but I'm kind of glad we have a day to rest up from all the activity!

Mother's Day

Having a variety of mother's/grandmother's in our lives, we celebrated multiple times this weekend. On Saturday, after a great day of running errands, planting flowers, going to the Alton pit, and working around the house, we met my parents and sister's family for Chinese food. It was great to get together where none of us had to cook!  Uncle Wade taught Ryan how to blow the wrapper off his straw at people, and he made an enormous mess of his rice, but the food was good and the company was great!



On Sunday, I opened my cards and was delighted to get a gift certificate for a massage and manicure! After a delicious breakfast of Cocoa Krispies, we went to church at my hometown church.  Ryan sat through a few songs, but then had fun playing in the nursery. It was fun to run into one of my HS friends there as well. After going to my parent's for a bit, we had lunch at my Aunt and Uncles along with other members of my extended family and Ryan had a great time playing with my cousins.  My cousin, Laura's, son Jackson was the only other great-grandchild there and the two boys loved the swing in the porch!

We finally got Ryan down for a nap in late afternoon but he was still sleeping when Adam's parents arrived. We eventually had to wake him up and it was a bit like a bear being poked awake after hibernating, but after winning about 13 Hot Wheels races in a row against Grandpa, he perked up. We grilled some chicken and had fun playing bean bags, hide-and-go-seek, and holding races.

Thank-you to my mom, mother-in-law, and grandma for being the wonderful women you are!

And thank you to this little dude who made me a mom and whom I love more than I ever knew was possible! 

Fishing

Tonight, we took a walk to a little pond behind the hospital so Ryan could try out his Superman fishing pole. He was pretty interested in the worms, but let Dad bait the hook.

Casting into the pond.

Reeling in the line a little bit.

Watching the bobber.

The bass Ryan caught!

Touching the fish.

 

Daddy trying to get Ryan to kiss the fish.

 

Ryan had a great time. When I asked if he wanted to say prayers tonight, he said, 

"Hey Jesus! Guess what! I caught a fish!"

Go Colin!

On Monday, Ryan's daycare had a sick child, so we had some last-minute backup care in the form of my cousin, Juliana, and my mom. Ryan had a super-fun day! He and Juliana played outside, ran on the track and football field, and Ryan colored a special picture for my cousin Colin. They delivered it to his car so he'd be sure to see it before his big conference meet. It must have worked because the Dutch won the conference! Way to go, Colin!

In the afternoon, Ryan got to go pick out plants at the greenhouse where "there were lots of flowers...and bees,"  and then go to Grandma's house. When I picked him up, he was catching butterflies with Aunt Abbie and Saylor and examining them with a magnifying glass.

Thanks, Mom and Juliana for coming to our rescue and giving Ryan a great day!

New Playset!

It only took about a month to go from purchase to play, but Ryan's playset is finally up!  We bought a pretty basic playset from Menards the day after Easter and Adam spent a few Saturdays and nights preparing the 24'x24' space where it would set-cutting sod, leveling, installing timbers, and laying fabric. Today, was the big "build" and we were VERY grateful for the help from Adam's parents, my brother-in-law, and my dad. We couldn't have done it without you!

 Here's the final product (BACK VIEW), sans sand that will go under the "fort" area.

 (FRONT VIEW)

 Ryan trying out all the features.

Ryan says, "THANK-YOU" to everyone who helped. 

He is looking forward to playing in the backyard all summer!

Pizza Ranch Video

I submitted 2 entries into the "I Heart Pizza Ranch" Video Contest and I would REALLY appreciate your vote! Just click here (or search for Pizza Ranch on facebook and click on the Contest app tab). Then find the video titled "Reward for a Hard Day's Work", then click on it to vote. I really, really, really want an ipad, and part of the judging involves a public vote. Right now I'm in 3rd place and need some more votes! You can vote once every 24 hours until May 14.

Here's my video (but remember to go to the facebook app to vote for it!) Thank you!!

Gustnado!

On Friday we experienced a weird weather phenomenon known as a "gustnado", short for gust-front tornado. Had it been a real tornado, it would have wiped out our entire town including the industrial park, home of many major businesses. Thankfully, it was, in effect, a swirling cloud of dust with only enough power to knock over our lawnchairs and grill, but didn't do any damage. We did have to sit in the lower level at work for a while and lost power a few times, but I just ticked off reason #217 I'm not an educator in that I was not cramped in a bathroom with 45 stinky 5th graders or in a locker room with Junior Highers, like other members of my family :).

A few people from the office were at a Leadercast at the OC theater, and our Director of HR snapped these pictures.

 The one above captures the moment in time when the storm was setting right on top of our house.

This video is a collaboration of a few different ones--there is some slight swearing, but keep in mind, these people honestly thought a 2-mile-wide tornado was heading right toward them, so I'd let it slide.