Leclaire fun (August)

We ran away for a few days to see Barb in Leclaire.  Blake had some late night work projects he had to do, so we thought it was a perfect time.  They loved playing at this old playground near our old backyard.  Such a magical and peaceful place.  Will always be one of my favorite places to live.

Daryl has been doing worse, sadly, with his alzheimers.  He really has a hard time remembering us and Barb has been his main caretaker.  It takes its toll on both of them.  She is a saint!  We had a great visit with them though.  We got to play and run and had pizza.  We went swimming with our old friends.  

We had to go to the docks on the Mississippi.  Such a beautiful place. I was only slightly having a heart attack with all these kids on the dock!

I needed a picture on my favorite river.

William getting his cardio in on this awesome old bike at Barbs.

It was Barb's birthday while we were there.  We stayed a day longer so that we could celebrate with her.  We made her dinner and Hailey made the cake.  Barb is one of the most selfless women I have ever met.  I will always be grateful to her for all of her help during our time in LeClaire.

The kids were being insane so I told them to read books or go to bed.  They got some books out pretty quickly.  I will always be happy I have taught them to be entertained by books!

The kids were scared one night so ended up sleeping with me.  That was cozy.

Barb has this old Elvis phone that the kids love so much.  They play with it every time.  The song "Hound dog" is constantly going off.

We were able to go to the park with our friends Karen, Lily and Bennett.  We also visited our friends, the Kohks who just moved there from Cedar Falls.  And I locked my keys in the car on accident while we were there. Sigh.  After $50 and two minutes, the locksmith got the door unlocked.  I think I need to go into the locksmith business. What a great side job.

One day, Brooke and I had to run some errands and she was just dying to go to Popeyes. We had a great date together.  She is a wealth of information and hilarious things.  She can sure be a handful sometimes but one on one is just what she needs.  Love this girl!

Hailey wanted new overalls as part of her school clothes.  I think I had these same ones about 25 years ago!

We had a few rounds of Monopoly that never got finished.  But were still fun!

Blake got a power washer, which I thought was  complete waste of money.  Until he washed our front steps.  The gray is the original color.  The black is the dirt.  Ewww!!  65 years of dirt there.

Hailey has really started to love arranging flowers.  It's fun to have a flower garden that spontaneously pops up thanks to the previous owners.  Love having fresh flowers in the house a lot of the year.

I was out one night and came home to William in a duct tape diaper.  You never know what is going to happen when you go out!

A neighbor was getting rid of all these plants. We picked up a bunch and have loved having more plants around the house.

We potted them into some pots we had from a friend who got them at auction.  I dug up some of our old spray paint cans and turned terra cotta into colored.  It was very fun.

We wanted to make pretzels one day and they were so delicious!!