Jeez... I forgot July 4th!

I've been mildly busy lately and therefore my usual scattered memory has just been completely lost.  At least that's what I'm blaming spacing off the July 4th post on (this time...).

I posted about the fossil park, but then completely overlooked the rest of the weekend we had in Crystal Lake at Grandma & Grandpa Bushman's house. 

The boys nearly popped while waiting to go up there and then were mad, of course, when it was time to come home.  I reckon that's a good thing! :-)

So what does a couple of days in Crystal Lake over the 4th mean for the boys?

Happy boy #1.

Happy boy #2.

A 4th of July parade with tractors...

An indian...

A fire truck with all & sundry passengers...  who do you suppose is riding in this bad boy??

A small Chinese boy who appears to be ecstatic with his ride!

And larger American boy with a rather graceful exit from Engine 795.

The parade was over and the boys got a small rest before we headed down to the park for the tractor pull.

They did it by age groups so Calebber McCheese was up first.  Look at the determination on that face!  Can't see it very good in that small pic?

Here you go!

Hippy boy Rob, was finally up. He went about as far as Caleb did and neither one of them earned one of the highly coveted trophies they were handing out. Neither one of them were very happy that they did not win one of the trophies either!

After licking the wounds of defeat from the tractor pull, Momma, Robby and Caleb were huddled together in the shade and looking cute.

As is the Schmitz Mobile Chaos custom, we had our picture taken by a corn field on the 4th of July.  Why?  Why not, I say.  It's all based on the old saying about corn, "knee high by the 4th of July".  Sure the outside row of corn is in the pic, but usually it's about as tall as myself, which is to say, about 6 ft (you foreign readers will have to convert that yourselves to meters...  I'm tired.).  Is it scientific?  Nope, not at all.  Is it fun to look at the photos from year to year?  Absolutely.

Caleb holding his Granpa's hand, walking with Grandma as we head on down to the lake for fireworks.  Awesome fireworks too.  I thought G'pa had talked too much about how good they were, but then they kept going, and going.  The "water dancers" were some of the coolest fireworks that I've ever witnessed.  Write this down but keep it a secret, Crystal Lake Iowa has better fireworks than Prairie Meadows, the casino in Altoona Iowa (who has a pretty dang good show of their own!).

And so was our 4th of July.

Birthdays, John Deere's and Denise Austin

As some of you may know, this past week saw me, Dear ol' Dad, turn 43 years of age. 

My own birthday doesn't mean much to me anymore and they haven't for some time, yet they have the unbridled audacity to just keep coming! 

The part of my birthday that means the most to me is when I, my wife, her sister Molly, and her cousin Kerby all go out for dinner on our birthdays as we have for a good number of years now.

That's always a good time...  well, there was Crave.  It's a long story.

So this year, it would seem, birthdays are VERY exciting for a small Chinese boy!  He was ecstatic at his birthday, Robby's birthday, Grandma Marlene's birthday and most recently, my own.

He started about a week in advance asking when my birthday was.  He would hold up a random number of fingers and ask, "Daddy?  Your birthday, 8 more days?".  

It was crazy cute!

So we began the Caleb induced countdown to my birthday, and would have to submit to his relentless inquiries several times a day.  

My birthday fell on a Wednesday this year, and as I usually do, I went to work just like I normally would on any other "regular" day.

But, before I could leave for work this fine day, the boys and Momma sang me happy birthday (5:30 in the morning!) and they had made me coffee and an egg n' cheese sammy that was delightful!

So I go to work and do what I do, come home to have a small Chinese boy charge me like a man possessed and hands me my present.

Robby came over from the couch and gave me his present first, which was a great big hug n' kiss!  Awesome!!  I still carry the card he made me in kindergarten that says I can present it at any time for free hugs n' kisses, but they're better when you get'em for free!

Here's side A of my Robby credit card.  You can steal whatever you like from me as far as credit cards/money go, but know that there will be woe and gnashing of teeth if somebody steals this!

The back side, or side B for you fans of vinyl.

So then, Caleb gives me his gift and he is excited and happy and laughing and dancing and whatever else.

So what was it?

It was two dvd's that we already own.  A John Deere movie about various equipment that they manufacture.

And what do you suppose was the second dvd he gave me?

KISS in concert?  Nope...

Something with guitars?  Nope...

1999 St. Louis Rams run to the Superbowl?  Nope...

It was this...

Yep, that's right a Denise Austin video to "Fat-Blast" my belly!  :-)  He patted my tummy and said, quite clearly, "Exercise, Daddy!".

 
What I just don't understand is that my stomach looks almost identical to that anyway, except maybe more manly and uh...  "beerly".

Gotta love kids and their honesty.

I think...

Fossil & Prairie Park Reserve & Nature Center

What to do with a four day holiday weekend?  

Why not head to the Fossil Park in Floyd County IA. in an effort to hunt some of the elusive little buggers?  We've had some great times there in the past so why not try it in the present.

We've gone to the Devonian Fossil Gorge by the Coralville dam which needs to be explored in much great detail by the Mobile Chaos Unit, but we weren't headed that direction this time...

I believe the last time we were at the Fossil Park in Floyd county was the summer of 2011 and about 5 months before we roped in a special little Chinese boy to help fill out our family.

Robby got sick that time as we had picked up some Subway sammy's on the way and his was apparently tainted with something.  The ill effects of which were executed upon the top of one of the hills and then later at G'ma & G'pa's house as we went there when done hunting.

So, with China boy in tow, off we go for fossil hunting version 2013!  What could possibly go wrong?!?

The "boys" feeling all spry and sassy after eating our packed lunches and prior to any real hiking.  It's hot, but not crazy hot like last time...

Rob looks HUGE compared to the last time we were here nearly two years ago. 

Mom obviously has the camera as it's a shot of the "boys" again as we're ascending up one of the hills from the bottom of the ravine.  That's our dog, Rosey (a.k.a. The Beast) to my right in the photo.  I got the impression that she HATED us for this little excursion!!  :-)

The hippie boy, Robby, climbing up one of the many hills although he does not appear to have his nose to the proverbial fossilized grindstone in this pic...

Momma captured Daddy, Caleb and the Beast as we were traversing the lower levels of the quarry searching for the elusive fossils.

A self portrait since the nearest people to take a shot with the camera were a hill and valley away.  Robby is holding a piece of terracotta from somewhere in the past.   He was as impressed with it as he was the fossils and we found some impressive fossils on this trip!

Daddy, Caleb and the Beast yet again... from a distance.

Mr. Cutie Pa-Tutie Robert James Schmitz standing atop one of the hills after a good climb/hunt.

This is probably a shot of Robby once Momma told him that we were going to go hiking once Daddy and Caleb caught back up with them.

A hot little Chinese boy!!  =-)

After the hike to the kilns, Rosey finds a nice cool spot to lay down in the grass in a vain attempt to cool herself off.  She got about 1.5 minutes and seemed disgusted when we started to leave!

Robby and Caleb in front of the kilns.  This is the first time that we've hiked down to see them and quite frankly, they're much larger than I had imagined they would be.  Go figure...

The hike back up from the kilns, of team #1.

Calebber, asking a "pointed" question.   No. Seriously.   He was asking Daddy a pointed question about a fossil that he has in his right hand!!  You can sort of tell from the landscape here that there are MANY fossils to be discovered yet. Which means that we should have at least a dozen or so visits yet to complete our quest(s).  :-)

Some of the local landscape...

A bit more of the local landscape with Momma, Robby, & Caleb hiking in front of dear ol' Dad.

It's hard to tell here, but this is a main waterway for rain water to flow on down into the valley and thus, flush out new fossils as it goes!

Caleb, not to be undersold, posing in front of the same waterway.

This is  Daddy and Caleb posing in front of the ravine that we climbed down. It's hard to determine just how steep and occasionally treacherous it can be (that's probably exaggerating a bit) but it really doesn't do it justice for how difficult it can be.

As we return to the van...  a quick shot between either boy complaining that they're tired, thirsty, heroic and whatever else they might come up with.

Regardless of our finds and habitual troubles finding the place, it's a great time every time we go there and this, being Calebber's first go round, it was absolutely wonderful. 

Can't wait to go again!

All For You, A Zoo Too!

A day at the Zoo! 

Momma and the boys did the zoo and did it up proper.  

What does that mean?  Heck if I know!  I was sitting downtown in Des Moines at the offices of Nationwide doing what I do on a daily basis.  "Proper" zoo coverage I know particularly little about...

 

The boys being hatched!

After hatching, the boys commenced their "attack" from the same egg!

Robby being "dry hopped" around...  That's a beer reference for anybody who cares.

Caleb driving some sort of apparatus.  Scary as THAT is!

The boys on the catepillar shortly before tumbling off and Caleb losing one of his orthodontically placed spacers.  The first, or second, of many!

Cutie 1...

Cutie 2...

Look at the tongue on that thing!  The giraffe, not Robby.

A brave little Chinamen reaches out to feed the giraffe!

Looks like Daddy in the morning...

The boys eyeballing the rhino.

On the train for a good ride.

...time to go home.

Joe Camel

Holy smokes!  How far he has come!

That's Robby and Caleb on a camel at the Des Moines, Blank Park Zoo.  As you may recall from older posts, Caleb was so afraid of our 13 pound sweetie of a dog, Rosey (a.k.a. Beast), that he would immediately crawl to the highest place in the room upon her entrance, which was usually the top of my head.  He has advanced steadily in his trust of animals, including our neighbors chocolate lab, Daisy Mae who bares her teeth while running towards you.  He will now pet her gladly.   Our small Chinese boy is making strides!!

More to come soon on the full zoo visit.

Next stop (hopefully)?  Omaha zoo!