RAGBRAI Day 1 (2)

Finally I am getting a chance to post about RAGBRAI this year! It has been a few days since we got home but here goes!

Really it is Day 2 of RAGBRAI...we had some very important birthdays to celebrate at home the first day of riding this year. So we packed up the minivan a day late...notice my motorhome is missing this year...and headed bright & early to the 2nd sleepover town Greenfield, Iowa.

A nice long drive...with us, 2 ornery kids, 2 Uncles and a bunch of camping gear. Things got a little hectic...so hectic in fact that poor Sean lost his bearings and managed to run the van completely out of gas in Russell, IA. He turned off the main highway as the car started to sputter....

...right next to these girls who were clearly fascinated by us. They weren't mad like me.

Luckily, the farm these girls lived on was owned by an extremely friendly couple, Dan & Toni, who not only let us use their lawnmower gas stash but let our kids, including Uncle Robby run around on their farm while we drove into town to replace the gas.

We were lucky, their son's BBall team was planning a food sale in a few days when RAGBRAI through town. So they didn't think we were completely crazy. Iowa truly has the nicest people on earth.

So we were a little off schedule by now and the weather was cold and rainy so we weren't super excited to get to Greenfield to set up tents, etc. We spotted a Maid_Rite and decided to give it a try.

Gavin likes to make a mess wherever he goes. And of course you need a huge pile of salt on the table to balance a salt shaker on one of them....right?

Gabby thought the ground beef sandwich was strange looking...but ended up being tasty.

Mmmmmmm.....mmmmmmaid-rite. (Uncle) Steve was very happy to have had the opportunity to try one.

We arrived in Greenfield in the rain and drizzle & set up the tents in a host family's front yard. I miss my motorhome already, putting together 3 beds in a tent...not fun for me or my back. Sigh. The rain finally stopped so we took a walk into town to get a bite to eat...let the BBQ eating begin! Tomorrow, we ride.

Reason # 4,326...

...I can't leave this boy out of my sight.


He will do this without a care in the world...

Yep, that's my Great Grandmother's Mink stole that he pulled out because it is the perfect Jedi robe. He was headed outside to do battle in it.

And this is what happens to it eventually.

That's what I get for trying to do some laundry. At least he got a nice good shower out of the deal.

Afternoon light...

...so much fun to play with. Donna and PW got me thinking about backlighting today, Donna told me a little trick she discovered and I really wanted to see what she was talking about. So I waited for it...waited for it...then drug poor Gab out in the back yard to play. I was amazed at the variations in color. So green on the lawn, to yellow to pink, it was all over the place! Tell me what you think. :)

Birthday Boys

Ahhh, May is the month the men in my life turn a year older...this year one is FORTY and the other is SIX. Do you like how I decorated Sean's car on his birthday? Hehe :)

Gavin got his hat at school on Friday and has been wearing it ever since. He is very happy it is FINALLY his birthday. A year is a very long time to wait when you are five.

They went on a 20 mile bike ride together to Gavin's favorite park on the other side of town and back. This boy can ride!

He's still my baby, and so cute and innocent looking.

Strange Creatures in my Kitchen

I had to sneak in for a shot...didn't want to disturb the bizarre behavior of these 5 (one missing in the photo) brothers in my kitchen. Haha. We had a Mother's Day brunch served to us in the living room. At first, we kept feeling like something was wrong...like we shouldn't just be sitting there doing nothing but talking. But then we got used to it. And decided to enjoy it.

Me and my other Mother. :)

Love these flowers that I got at TJ's a few weeks ago. Stunned really that they are still alive!

Hope all you Mommies out there had a wonderful day...especially MY MOMMY! Love ya mMom!

Punks.

A bunch of punky cousins at the zoo.

Spring, Lovely Spring

Hopefully it is safe to say that it is here and we are all very, very happy.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm

Ice Cream with friends. Talking shop. Donna & I decided to get together to chat about stuff we have learned in photography, we could easily talk for 12 hours straight about photography, a mutual passion. We ended up at the ice cream shop after freezing in the park for a while. Donna got a pretty cool shot of me there. It is amazing how hard it is to transition from behind the camera to in front of it!

Love this girl's stunning locks and silliness.

Loving the great window light in this place.

I think Gab was just as impressed with Donna's lens as I was. :) I was having serious lens envy. I wonder if that is a sin.

After a couple of hours we finally burned them out, we had no more bribes to keep them happy while we chatted....so they wanted to go, wanted to go, wanted to go...then we were finally ready to go and this is what they did. Perfect, content angels. 10 seconds before this Gab & Gav were chasing each other around about to kill each other. Lovely children.

Spiffy

Ahhh the kids clean up so well. Gab has had her 1st Communion, so grown up. I had strange feelings while taking these pictures...the whole white dress, white veil thing...the pearls from Gran...it seems like I wasn't supposed to do this until her wedding...on the other hand it was fun because I imagine that I will get to get his kind of shot twice in her life. Crossing fingers.

Gavin got into the whole dressing up thing. He picked out a suit for Dad to wear that was a size too small, heehee. Then he picked out a tie and one of Dad's belts for himself to wear. How could anyone say no? So the tie was just a bit too big so Papa showed Gav how they used to wear their ties "back in the day," tucked into the shirt between the buttons. So dang cute. I need to try to find a photo pf Papa in a tie like this. That would make a great scrapbook page!

Scrapbook Stuff

It felt so good to purge some of my stash. I didn't have to buy a single new thing to do Gabby's 1st Communion Banner. Don't ya love it? Heehee.