The Morales Family

Saturday, June 10, 2017

Camp Morales

It's tradition! And once summer hit, we were ready to go.

And camping always includes discovering lots of creepy bugs,

delicious chocolate milk (I nearly cried when I saw it was from Fair Oaks Dairy Farm, which we frequented while we lived in Indiana and really is the best),

games, lots of playing with the fire, delicious outdoorsy food, including our weird camping specialty- chocolate melted on potato chips (don't knock it till you've tried it!),

and don't let Jason's face fool you- he lives for camping over a fire!

We did the majority of our hiking the second day, so after our initial hike through the woods

we had lots of tent time, singing around the campfire, snuggling and holding hands in the dark as we wandered over to the bathroom,

but not a whole lot of sleeping. Too many Boy Scouts, early birds, and raccoons nearby to get any good sleep... also, sleeping on the ground shouldn't really be a thing, even with air mattresses.

The next day we packed up our camp and headed over to check out the Devil's Backbone.

It was really hot and so buggy! The one cave in the park was a welcome respite from both.

And the craggy path did look more like something from Utah than from Iowa.

With 50 foot drops all around us, the hike was a pretty unique one.

There is nothing quite like wandering through nature together and wondering what bobcat or bear might come bounding over the hill. Or, in my case, wondering just how close I am to poison ivy at any given time.

We waded through a crystal clear, moving creek, caught a cute little frog, then called it good.

There wasn't quite as much to explore as we had hoped, and try as we might to always give Iowa the benefit of the doubt, there are some things that just don't measure up to some of the adventures we've had. Like the size of this cute little balanced rock-

But we're always glad to have taken the trips that we take, and this one did have a super fun ending. As we were winding up the day and trying to decide how to finish it off, we agreed on (well, Daddy got outvoted) boats on the lake!

Now that looks like summer!

Jason manned the canoe with the little kids while I took the big kids on the kayak- first Leah, then Adam.

The kids all thought we would surely capsize the boats and land everyone in the stinky, mossy water, but we all did just fine and started dreaming about our time on Grandpa's canoe up in the Rocky Mountains later this summer.

After that we hopped back in the car and headed the 2.5 hours back home, stopping by our usual northern BBQ place on the way- it's loud, it's cheap, and it's good, and no one blinked an eye at how dirty or smelly we might have been. Good ol' Iowa.

This trip reminded me a lot of the spring break trip to Kansas City we took a few years ago. It was fun, it was new, but it wasn't exceptional. I don't always know what the difference is between one trip and the next (Backbone compared to last year's Maquoketa Caves paled in comparison), but I do always want to remember that we took the time to be together as a family. And that was the best part of all.

Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Our First Family 5K

We had two goals- cross the finish line together and don't lose anyone.

And we succeeded!

We spent about a month preparing for the race- some of us by running and some of us by sitting.

There wasn't really any way to prepare the kids for the massive walls of bubbles we were going to tear through.

But they were ready for it!

Well, some of them. Oh goodness, we also had a parent fail big time. The stroller acted like a giant snow shovel, scooping up all of the bubbles and basically eating Noah and Emma alive. Poor Noah was quite traumatized by it.

We had to pull over for a solid five minutes to wipe him off and calm him down and coax him back into the stroller so we could actually get going on the race.

The big kids didn't mind one bit, but the competitive part of my brain (which is really, really small) was a bit frantic about getting a move on!

We were right near the end of the pack, but that ended up being a blessing because we weren't constantly getting in the way of more serious runners (those that were actually running through the bubbles, rather than playing in them, that is).

We got smart and took our time prepping for each chute-

stopping to take skyline pictures-

and plenty of other pictures along the way-

swimming around in bubble piles-

dancing in bubble streets-

and giggling about bubble pants.

We figured out how to get the stroller through the bubbles-

and Emma and Noah were much happier in the color bubble shoots.

Even now, more than a month later, Noah tells everyone that he liked the color bubbles but he did not like the white ones.

Poor Noah. He gets lumped into "the kids" category a lot, and we sometimes forget that he's still quite a little guy. This race was not his cup of tea- didn't like the bubbles, didn't like the music, didn't like the crowds or the noise at all. Typical Noah.

He may be the youngest, but he's not about to be forgotten.

Eventually we made it to the finish line!

Again, notice Noah with his complete disdain for the whole thing.

Leah tricked us all by sprinting to the finish line- and she is fast!- and it was uphill!

But we had to check out the foam cannons- the party after the race!

It was like a human car wash, and it was a whole lot of fun too

(for most of us- Noah and I kind of stood off to the side).

And now we can say that we've completed our first- and definitely not our last- family 5k!

Monday, June 5, 2017

So Long, School!

We made it through another 180 days of school!

(first day of school, back in August)

This year was a great one- Leah got to experience all kinds of fun fourth grade like Greek mythology and Annie Oakley and fractions and science fairs, a major haircut and lots of lessons learned about being and having a good friend. She has been testing like a pro as well, and has been invited to attend the extended learning program with Mrs. Mace next year. It's one thing to be a well-behaved, cute, or quirky kid in class, but testing at an advanced level means this girl is one genuine smart cookie! We're excited to see what fifth grade holds for Leah (in addition to a Chrome book, safety patrol, band and top-dog status at the elementary school).

Adam grew up a whole lot in first grade this year. He loved his teacher Mrs. Rains, and all of her enthusiasm and excitement for learning. Adam was always the first one to pop out of bed in the morning and the last one to drag himself out the door, but he always came home with a smile on his face. He made great friends in his class this year, and also learned some important lessons about choosing homework before friends. Those are big lessons to learn when you're 7!

I always love seeing these little snippets of his mind.

He's grown up a whole lot this year, too! He started school without his two front teeth and ended without his fangs. Adam's art was selected by the art teacher to be displayed at the Des Moines Art Festival this summer, so we'll be looking forward to attending that ceremony in a few weeks.

Oh Emma. I'm so, so glad Emma stayed home with me for one more year. One more year to relax and snuggle and eat lunch and nap together- we had a great year together.

And she had a whole lot of fun at preschool too. We're all crossing our fingers to see if she'll be in the same kindergarten class as any of her besties.

Emma had an end of the year preschool program a few weeks ago, and did a great job of sing/yelling along with her classmates.

She had a pretty small part in her nursery rhyme, so she and Noah recreated several of them that afternoon.

And just like that she'll be gone with the big kids this fall. This was our last afternoon alone together, just before the big kids got home for the summer.

And my sweet little buddy. He starts two-day preschool in the fall, but for this year we loved being home together all the time. Noah knows a whole lot more about grocery store donuts and lunches out with friends than any of my other kids ever did, but I suppose that's the reward of being the baby.