Dinner in the park

For at least the last 20 years, our city park has housed a darling carnival for young children. It sports 5 rides.

Our most favorite is the Iowa Express.

This summer Gracie is finally old enough to go on all the rides.  She is ecstatic and talks about riding the train and airplanes all day long.  Since Jace is an old prow, -this will be his third summer - he holds her hand as the train makes it way along the track.  It travels in a large circular pattern that overlooks the Iowa river. It is a gorgeous little ride.  We love it.

The whales-or fish are probably their least favorite.  They are jerky and bumpy. 

But they just hold on for dear life and never miss a turn.

Jace really likes this little Ferris Wheel because he can see across the park when it reaches the top.

 Here is my little Darlin'  looking ABSOLUTELY darling on the carousel.

And here is my handsome boy with his legs all grown long enough to reach the stirrups on the horse this year. He doesn't need Ryan to stand by him anymore.

This is their second favorite ride.  Five airplanes spin in a circle for a few minutes, then come to a stop.  With all of Miss Rue's shrieking, you would think it was the best invention on planet earth.  

This past weekend we went 2 times, Saturday night and then again Monday for Memorial Day.

Saturday, we ended the evening by sharing a Jimmy John's sandwich.

This all makes for a lovely evening in the park. 

Open for business

The Robinrue Salon is officially open for business. 

We offer complete pedicures and manicures using the finest salon technique in applying all nail finishes.

We also offer a wide range of nail colors that were selected and purchased by our color specialists, Jill and Will Swigert.

Once the nail color is perfectly applied, it is thoroughly dried by our technicians with this high tech nail dryer.

and as you can see

you will be very happy with the results.

And if  a manicure or pedicure is not your thing, we are also offering chic hairdos and styling by Miss Rue.

This customer, Ryan, was very happy

with his new look.

We now expect you all to pack your bags and come stay for a weekend at our  exclusive salon.
Please call for priority booking.  Availability is limited, and preference is given to close friends and relatives.

Thank you and have a great day.

What's going on

In case you have been wondering what is going on in our neck of the woods, here is a little update.

Ryan has 8 more days left on his Neurosurgery rotation.  It started May 1st.  He goes to work every morning at 3:50AM!  He gets up at 3:20AM.  Isn't that crazy?  All the neurosurgery residents have this schedule for 7 years. How do they do it?  I haven't minded this rotation.  He gets home every evening by 6:00PM.  He does work Sundays, but he has been done by noon.  But when you start at 4AM that is still an 8 hour workday.  He has been suffering with a really bad cold these last several days, and I have been dying for him because he is so exhausted.   He just needs some decent sleep.  He got a new church calling 2 weeks ago.  He is now in the Elder's Quorum presidency.  He will be missed terribly in the nursery by me and his daughter.

Jace has 8 more days of preschool left. We are both glad that it will be done soon. Last week he kept telling me and Ryan  that he is done with preschool and he wants to do home school now.  When he learned that I would be his home school teacher next year, not  Daddy, he got a horrified look on his face.  It was quite funny.  I told Ryan that I would be a little horrified too if I were him. When there is a job to get done, I mean business and Daddy makes everything fun and turns work into a game.  Which teacher would you pick?  

Grace: has been on several outings on her new bike.  We have been across the Iowa river bridge to see the dam and we even went to the farmers market on Saturday.  When we hear the crowd cheering from our front porch over at West High School during the baseball games she goes crazy until we walk her over to see them play.  She is such a little athlete.  It is so funny.  Where did that come from?  She knows how to hit the ball with the bat and loves to kick Jace's soccer ball in the back yard.  

Me : I am wanting to get every closet and drawer cleaned and organized in my house and all the spots scrubbed out of my carpet.  I have decided to clean one each day until I get through them.  I don't want to wait until it is time to put our house on the market in 18 months to take on that project.  So I am trying to keep on top of our clutter.  I also started exercising again, and I quickly remembered why I never exercise.  I really just hate it. How do people learn to love it or just love it naturally? I have a violin student that comes on Saturday morning. This student is really fun and low stress. I want one more just like her.  I also will be posting more pictures of our Utah trip soon.  I have been working on getting them uploaded onto Blogger it just takes FOREVER!

And this is The End

Rue is Two -Part II

 Here is Miss Gracie Rue, age 2.  She is our absolute joy!

For her birthday celebration, we did what any respectable parents would do: adorn her in birthday bling and invite over some VIPs. Our VIPs were: Ammon, Lucy, Julie and Phil Erickson.  

After our VIPs arrived and they had been fed a proper dinner of Papa Murphys Take'n Bake pizza, Ryan brought out her cake.

The candles were a hit. She blew them out more than once.

Then she sampled the frosting

which met her expectations!

Jace and Ammon both took turns blowing the candles too, but I only have a picture of Jace taking a turn.

The first present she opened were these pink, sparkly, sunglasses.

She put them on and started waving to her audience -she already has the beauty queen wave!

We put her crown on again, and she just waved her little heart out. It was darling! In my opinion.

This is Ammon looking so cool!!

And meet truck driver Jace. He has needed sunglasses to drive his trucks- so I had been told- so I am glad he was finally able to get a pair for Gracie's birthday!

After the sunglasses wore off, we directed Grace's attention to 2 other gifts on the table.

Just what could be in this big pink box?

Her first trike!

She sat right down on the box to take it for a  ride.

Then she opened the blue package from the Erickson's.

And wah-la!  It contained this DARLING ballet skirt that Julie had made for her and

a pink feather boa! 

A dance recital immediately ensued. This skirt is now her favorite piece of clothing.

It was then time to behold Ryan's prowess at putting together the trike,

so we relocated ourselves to the family room downstairs.

 After a little while,

he impressed us all with his multi-tasking abilities-because he made her trike while watching Brian Raegan on Netflix, and while being sleep deprived.

But he will do anything for his little "Daddy's Girl."

Jace provided us with some lovely background music.

Gracie discovered the bike has a bell, which she loves

and she loves Ammon too!

Ryan loved the push/steer bar

and I loved the fact that Jace has designated himself to be Grace's official bike pusher.

Before it was time for the Ericksons to go home, Gracie performed her last dance of the evening

then she hugged her favorite person-Julie Erickson goodbye for the evening.

It was such a wonderful day. Jace and I had such a fun time with her all morning just relishing in the fact that it was her special day, and we wanted to make her feel special. Then her Dad and the Ericksons came home/over that evening to make her day complete. I know she felt loved and cherished.

Grace becoming 2 years old was wonderful. Thank you to everyone who sent her birthday wishes and love.