Thinking of Summer 2018 Already

While I certainly don't mind cool (or cold) weather,  I LOVE autumn, by the way, I love the first snowfall (or any light, fluffy snow), and the beauty surrounding the holidays. . . I have to admit I've been planning our Summer 2018 activities already.

By the way, here's my view as I look out my bedroom window (currently 30°F with a 25°F wind chill):

See, my daughter attends Culver Summer Schools and Camps - more specifically, she attends Culver Woodcraft Camp. She has attended for the past few summers, and LOVES it. She has a couple more summers before graduating and becoming an alumna of Culver Academies.

The application for the following summer usually happens mid-autumn (usually around October) of the current year.

So technically, we've been planning for summer since October. Even though there's no doubt in our minds that she will be accepted (and already has been at this point), we still have to fill out the application (the sooner the better), so the camp's administrative staff can process it and hold a spot for her in her unit. I say "the sooner the better" because as fall turns into winter and then spring, there ends up being a significant waiting list for kids trying to get a spot in camp (they only have so many cabins and beds).

The "Culver Academies" also function as a high school during the school year (of which I'm an alumna), so they are busy year-round. And it's on a beautiful campus, so I find myself daydreaming about being back. The campus is mostly pedestrian, with various parking areas around the edge of the campus, so it's nice being able to walk around (which helps me get my steps in every day, and also it's just good to get out and walk).

A few pics of the beautiful campus:

 The view from the front porch of my daughter's cabin. 

View of Cardinal Creek. 

 Interior view of the Culver Memorial Chapel, from the balcony. 

Exterior view of the Culver Memorial Chapel, from the northeast corner. 

Lake Maxinkuckee and the Culver Ledbetter

So. . . in looking for a few pics to share I got carried away browsing through all the photos on my phone, remembering good times from this past summer. 

My prompt for sitting down and writing this post, though, was an actual detail my husband and I are working on in planning for next summer. We are looking for a dog-friendly rental for us to stay in while we spend some of our time out in Indiana, in Summer 2018. A little earlier this morning, I had gotten an exciting text from our realtor friend who has a fantastic house available for us. We stayed at it before - for the last week of camp in 2016, and we all liked it. Plus, it was in a convenient location in town.  

Unfortunately, it was not available for us at all in 2017. Rentals go FAST in this town in the summer (it's close enough to both Chicago and Indianapolis, and on a beautiful lake, so people go there to spend their summers in a beautiful lake town), so you have to plan well in advance to secure a reasonably priced place. Also, people like getting rentals for the school year (approximately Sept - end of May), if they have children attending the boarding school. 

We are getting a head start, and lining up a rental NOW (or rather, soon after the holidays), so we have a place to spend with our daughter and Therapy Dog Jock. 

The realtor's text got me all excited about heading back next summer! I think I'm as excited as my daughter. She gets fun in the sun with her friends, and I get to go back and walk a beautiful campus, and seeing my daughter have a blast, and catching up with my own friends who are back with their children and/or nieces and nephews, and some who are there in an administrative capacity at the Academies. Plus, there are some good restaurants in the area. 

Anyway, now I have to try to be patient for the summer! 

Anyone have plans of their own for next summer?

The Start of Summer Fun (2015)

Here are three of my favorite pics from the beginning of our summer in Culver, IN (for Culver Summer Schools and Camps).

They were taken about a week before camp started, when I was in some orientation/in-processing, and had a bit of time to take Liv on a walk to stretch her legs.
 

On my first day of orientation, Liv had been so cooperative, either drawing on her sketch pad, reading, or quietly using her iPad, while I sat in the first of many day-long briefings. At one point, we had a 10-15 minute break, so I let her run down the sidewalk and back to burn a bit of energy. This was on campus near the building where we were having our orientation meetings that day.

One evening, we had some time to go into the town of Culver for a treat (the local coffee shop, the Culver Coffee Company, had ice cream). After getting our treats, she'd wanted to take a walk by Lake Max.

 

This was late one afternoon, when we were to meet the rest of my senior counselor teammates for dinner at one of the buildings near the lake. Since the campus is mostly pedestrian - we were to park our cars at the other end of campus- Liv and I walked. She had run ahead a bit, to look at something that had caught her attention.

While some staff members had golf carts (and a golf cart would've been convenient for those times I had to cross the campus quickly), I liked the health benefits of having to walk as much as I did during those seven weeks Liv and I were on campus.

Barn Charm - Another Living History Farm Barn

Wow! It's been a while since I last posted, hasn't it? I guess the summer has really gotten away from me. I've been trying to keep Livie busy, and in doing so, I've been completely unmotivated to write or do anything creative (aside from using my Instagram app on my iPhone). I've hardly even felt like reading, and that is SO unlike me.

Or maybe it's just that I've gotten to used to having a break from academic reading and writing (or any reading and writing) after an unexpected semester off from grad school. Ah, well. I'll get back into it.

I do, however, have quite a few barn photos saved up, having taken a number of barn photos throughout the spring and summer - whether traveling within Iowa, or in Illinois - for the sole purpose of sharing them with "Barn Charm," even though I've not felt like getting on the computer to post anything lately.

Anyway, here are a couple photos I took with my Instagram app. These were from Memorial Day weekend when we were in Urbandale, IA. This was our second family trip to Living History Farms, and again, it was over Memorial Day weekend; seems like this may become a new family tradition - going to Living History Farms on Memorial Day.

It had been a rainy, obviously overcast, and somewhat chilly day when we visited. But I got a couple cool barn shots, anyway. (You can see my other barn photos from this same trip if you click here and here.)

This wonderful, huge red barn was in the 1900s section of Living History Farms. I just LOVE red barns, and this one is certainly a handsome one, don't you think?

Livie loved going in this barn only to find that there was a horse eating hay in his stall.

By the way, I love that Livie is in her bright yellow rain gear (rain jacket, rain pants, rain boots) and her bright yellow is such a great contrast against the red paint on the barn.

"Barn Charm" is hosted by Bluff Area Daily. Please click on the button below to view the rest of this week's great "Barn Charm" entries:

The Summer Shot 2012

Finally, after months of waiting for the opportunity to take this photo . . . here's "The Summer Shot, 2012"!!

"The Summer Shot," outside the University of Iowa's Main Library, the North Entrance, at approximately 2:00 PM, Friday, July, 13, 2012.

We'd gotten thunderstorms through the night on Thursday (actually, early this morning), and it had been raining fairly steadily when Livie and I had left the Cedar Rapids area this morning.

But by the time we'd gotten to the Iowa City area, we'd left the rain (for the most part) to Linn County. Clouds were moving through the area, though, for most of our day on and about the University of Iowa's campus.

Anyway, check out "The Winter Shot, 2012," and "The Spring Shot, 2012," for a comparison. And if you're up for it, check out the whole series from last year: "The Four Seasons Series, 2011."

The "The Fall Shot, 2012" (and therefore, "The Four Seasons Series, 2012" - all the 2012 seasonal shots in one post) coming sometime this autumn!

Busy Days

I've been busy lately, chauffeuring Livie around to various activities (mainly swimming), and trying to get some studying accomplished (hard to do with Livie out of school for the summer).

However, we have been able to do a few fun things during my "summertime extended study break," (aside from swimming/swim lessons, studying, and reading for the library's summer reading program).

The other night, for example, Livie and I were able to go to an outdoor concert in the local park. We had a picnic dinner and listened to a classic rock cover band.

On the way back to the car (which was parked a few blocks away), I snapped a photo of a local church, using the Instagram app on my iPhone:

Of course, it seems like in the summertime, the weekend is the best time for me to get study time, because Andrew's home and able to do fun things with Livie (like gardening stuff). So that's when I get an hour or two to get out of the house and get some hard core reading/studying accomplished - at the local bookstore/cafe, of course (which also entails getting myself a little treat, like an iced caramel macchiatto). This photo was also taken with my iPhone and the Instagram app:

The First 10th.

Andrew and I have two anniversaries. Today is our "First" 10th anniversary. Our "first" anniversary of the calendar year is the anniversary of our Justice of the Peace ceremony, which took place in Fayetteville, NC on June 21, 2002. (Click here to read about the actual day, which I'd blogged about last year on our "First" Ninth.)

The condensed version is as follows.

We were both active duty in the Air Force. As of January 2002, we were planning on getting married in December 2002.

But I was stationed in Tucson, AZ. He was stationed in Fayetteville, NC. I was expecting orders for a new assignment by the end of Summer 2002. He wasn't going to get orders for another couple years (maybe 3). Well, in order for us to be stationed at the same place at the same time, we couldn't be simply engaged, we had to be married.

Hence, the Justice of the Peace ceremony, which took place June 21, 2002, just in time for them to cut orders for BOTH of us at the same Air Force base, at the same time.

The Justice of the Peace ceremony was small, informal, and included a few of the guys from Andrew's office. Meanwhile, plans for the church wedding in December in Chicago were continuing to keep me, my mom, and the wedding planner busy.

(Our "Second" 10th anniversary - celebrating the church wedding - is December 14th, 2012, in case you're wondering. But I'm sure I'll blog about it when the time comes.)

Anyway, knowing Andrew was busy and probably hadn't planned anything to commemorate our first decade, I decided not to do anything big. I figured we'd keep this one small, like the original ceremony was 10 years ago.

Here's what I did. Yesterday, Livie and I went to the open art studio at The Dreaming Bear, here in town. Partly it was something fun to do inside (in AC!!!) on a hot summer day. But partly, I wanted to do something other than getting a boring ol' anniversary card. Because it IS the 10th anniversary, after all!! Right?

So Livie worked on her own art project (painting a wooden horse cutout).

And so I picked out a small, white stretched canvas (something like this, but about 4"x6"). Then I painted the base color (sort of turquoise-like) and then the letters and dots, and then it got glittered-up. Just to be cute.

Like I said, it's just something cute that we could hang somewhere in the house. I'm not good at painting letters freehand, so don't expect anything Degas-like, or something like that.

Better than a card, because I made it myself. Plus it was fun to make. However, I won't quit my day job anytime soon. (Or I'll stick to photography as my art medium!)

The UI "4 Seasons Theme" Photos, All at Once

I decided I'd post all of "The 4 Seasons" photos in one post, so here they are:

"The Winter Shot," 13 Jan 2011

"The Spring Shot," 18 May 2011

"The Summer Shot," 6 Sep 2011

"The Fall Shot, Part A," 6 Oct 2011

"The Fall Shot, Part B," 27 Oct 2011

Once it dawned on me to do a 4-seasons theme (the thought of which occurred to me after I'd taken "The Spring Shot"), I tried the best I could to take each photo from as close to the very same spot as possible. 

I also tried to take each photo at approximately the same time of day. The winter one was the only one out of the bunch that was taken mid-day (sometime between 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM). The rest of them were taken mid-morning (sometime around 9:00 AM, give or take about 15 minutes).

Once I got the idea to capture one location on the University of Iowa's campus during different seasons, it was a lot of fun, as well as a test in patience (!!), having to wait to complete this "project."

And you know what? I am thinking I might pick a different location on campus, so I can do another 4-seasons theme all over again!

The Summer Shot

Okay, I realized this morning that I have photos from winter and spring from a particular spot on the University of Iowa campus. I figured that since summer will be officially over as of September 23rd, I'd better go back and get "the summer shot" from this spot, while I still have the chance. 

Since I arrived with about 15 minutes to spare before class started this morning, today was the day. 

Here's the summer shot:

And to see a bunch of spring shots (including the one from this spot), click here (you'll have to scroll down a little bit). The winter one's in there, too, but to read the specific winter post, click here. 

Stay tuned for "the fall shot," when the time comes. Maybe when the leaves are "on fire" . . . or maybe when they've all fallen; maybe a photo of each. We'll see.

Time to Get Up!

Recently, Livie has become interested in getting up with the help of an alarm clock. I'm not exactly sure why, but I guess it's the whole novelty of it; she's just really excited and interested in having an alarm clock beeping her awake every morning.

Wait 'til she has to wake up early every morning . . . right?! (I'm a naturally early riser, but even I didn't like getting up at 4:30 AM all that much when I worked full-time.)

She's always been a pretty early riser, though, regularly getting up on her own sometime between 6:30 AM - 7:00 AM. Yet, there's something about getting up with an alarm clock that's so fascinating to her, though . . . maybe it's because Daddy has to use one every week day morning. And, of course, I need to use one, too, when school's in session.

Anyway, Monday evening, she really, really wanted to use an alarm clock to help her get up the next morning. She was going to have french toast sticks at Pre-K in the morning and wanted to be up and at 'em (they're doing a daily "summer camp" program thing for the next few weeks, so it's not actually Pre-K now that it's summer).

And who wants to miss french toast sticks, right?! So Andrew got his travel alarm clock out and asked her what time he should set it for - she said, "Ask Mama. She'll tell you a good time."

Okay . . . "Well, 6:50 AM seems like it would be good." Let me tell you, Livie was so excited that Daddy had set his travel alarm clock to help her wake up the next morning!!

Well, the next morning, just as I was waking up (around 6:30 AM), I heard some rustling around from out in the hallway. As I yawned and stretched, trying to get rid of my grogginess, Liv came into my room, and over to my side of the bed. She was carrying the travel clock in her hands, cradling it in her palms as though she were carrying an egg.

"It didn't do anything, yet. Isn't it supposed to beep?"

"Yes, sweetie. But it's not time, yet. You woke up before the alarm went off."

"Now what?"

"Go back to bed, get comfy, and just wait for it to beep. It'll go off in about 20 minutes."

So she headed back to her room, but instead of getting back into bed, she got cozy on her oversized bean bag chair and waited for the clock to beep. And when it did, she was so excited!

And boy, was she excited when she got to Pre-K yesterday morning, after having used an alarm clock for the first time!

Of course, last night, she wanted to make sure she was able to use it again this morning. Daddy made sure it was all set to go off at 6:50 AM, again.

This time, though, she slept until it went off. I peeked into her room as she was getting out of bed to turn it off. And I watched her crawl right back into bed after she turned it off.

I asked her, "Are you okay?"

"I'm still kinda sleepy." (And a bit grumpy, I would say, but I think that's because we she went to bed about 30 minutes late; we stayed up to catch (and release) fireflies last night, in our front yard.)

Here's where she ended up as soon as she turned off the alarm clock - nice and cozy.

She's grumpily telling me she was still sleepy. And not pleased to see me with my camera, taking aim directly at her!

End of Summer Part II

Here are some more "End of Summer" photos from our early-September trip to The Macadamia Ranch.

Liv and Abuelita decided to take a walk one afternoon, hoping to get back before the thunderstorm arrived. I decided to follow them to take a few pictures.

They're heading down the big hill:

The road has finally been repaved!

Liv and Abuelita are way down the hill.

Stop! Here's the corner where they turned:

 Here's the corner, looking toward home.

 Liv and Abuelita are posing before turning back; Liv's wearing a special headband Nana gave her.

 

 Liv and Abuelita are heading up the steep hill.

Liv and Abuelita are looking back at me.

 Yes, it's steep. My 4Runner has trouble on this part of the road in the winter.

For now, it's a good workout.

End of Summer

Labor Day Weekend 2010 has come and gone, which means that summer is wrapping up. Thankfully, that also means that my favorite season, autumn, is on its way.

Anyway, we happened to spend the holiday weekend at the Macadamia Ranch this year.

Here are a few photos from our weekend . . .

Here's snapshot of what Iowa's farmlands look like at the end of summer. I took this photo and the next one on our way from Cedar Rapids to the Des Moines area.

This is somewhere on I-80, between Des Moines and I-380, heading west.

Bales and fields . . .

Again, this is somewhere on I-80, heading west. While I always feel like I'm in the middle of nowhere, I enjoy seeing the rolling hills, the greenery, and seeing Iowa's crops during their various stages of growing.

Liv and Abuelita are greeting "Baby Heart." She has just arrived with Liv's "Uncle Joe" and "Tia Pia."

Liv dubbed her young cousin "Baby Heart" about a year ago. 

Oma is taking a break from reading to enjoy watching two of her young great-grandchildren.

Liv, "Baby Heart" (the cousins) and Abuelita have big smiles. That must mean they're having fun, right?

Oma, Abuelita, and Liv

"Baby Heart" is being held by her daddy (my brother Joe), and Oma.

Oma's in what I call one of her "Easter egg blouses."



Liv's playing the piano for Daddy and Baby Heart.

Joe says, "Stay thirsty, my friends." I told Joe to pose and repeat the Dos Equis commercial's quote. That's why he's smiling so big.

Liv's laughing in the background about something totally different.



Nonno's asleep, despite all the commotion at the Macadamia Ranch.

Andrew asked me to take a photo of him while he had both dogs next to him.

The Pembroke Welsh Corgi is Caesar, and the Border Terrier is Jester.

More photos coming later . . .

The Changing of the Seasons

I just want to give Mother Nature a reminder because it seems like she needs one.

As much as I like winter, and dislike summer's heat and humidity, I have to remind you of something, Mother Nature. It is no longer time to dump snow on us here in east central Iowa. Saturday is supposedly the first day of spring. That means no more dumping snow on us. I know you're planning on it. The weather reports are calling for a 100% chance of snow tonight and a 60% chance tomorrow (according to NOAA).

Besides, we're under enough of a threat of flooding without having more melting snow to look forward to (once the temps remain spring-like).

I like snow. You know that, Mother Nature. I look forward to autumn and winter every year; I start looking forward to my favorite chilly seasons right around the middle of summertime. But I am tired of trying to safely drive in winter weather in a vehicle not equipped for snow and ice.

Like I said, Saturday is supposed to be the first day of spring. It is now time for tornado season. There are a bunch of storm chasers out here in the Midwest, and Oklahoma in particular, that are ready to get their doppler radars up and running alongside their video cameras to chase some fantastic, scary storms.

And I am looking forward to seeing their storm chaser videos on The Weather Channel and maybe one day I'll be one of them. You know, there's nothing like chasing a storm to get your adrenaline going! So let's get with the program, Mother Nature. It's time for spring.

"A long spiral tornado approaches Union City, OK."
Photo courtesy of NOAA Photo Library