Summer Games, 2019

Rob and his buddy Noah got dropped off at SGU camp today.   What is SGU camp?  It's Summer Games University.

A week ago he wasn't too keen on going but seemed to get a little more excited as the week went on and hopefully will have a great time like he did last year.

Robby and Noah in their dorm room...  air conditioned dorm room.

The lad in his sleeping quarters.

1 Peter,  4:10-11   -  10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 11 If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

I love him and miss him. He melts my heart!

See you Friday, Buddy!

4th of July, yet again...

2019 but 3 days late!

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013 at Crystal Lake

2012

2011

2010

2009

Obviously, the corn varies a bit from year to year but what doesn't vary is quite obvious.  And that is Dear ol' Dads bulk...  WOW!  This is silly as I've gotten crazy more "bulky"...

yikes.

Schmitz Family weekend get-a-way!

Our little getaway last weekend. 

The drive:
https://schmitzchaos.blogspot.com/2019/07/2019-mini-vaca-western-iowa-part-i.html

Our first hike:
https://schmitzchaos.blogspot.com/2019/07/2019-mini-vaca-western-iowa-part-2.html

Lewis & Clark state park:
https://schmitzchaos.blogspot.com/2019/07/2019-mini-vaca-western-iowa-part-3.html

Desoto National Wildlife Preserve:
https://schmitzchaos.blogspot.com/2019/07/2019-mini-vaca-western-iowa-part-4.html

2019 Mini-Vaca, Western Iowa, Part 4 - Desoto National Wildlife Preserve

So we woke up on Sunday morning at various times... Dad was awake around 30 times during the night moving very cautiously as to not lock up his neck and shoulders which were bothering him tremendously. Mom got up around 4am and the boys, well, one went to sleep around 10:30 and the other closer to 1am. We were a mess...

I finally got out of bed around 6am and walked up to the bathroom, and then walked around the campground and our by the lake.  I sat by the previous nights fire, which was still smoldering, and enjoyed that for a bit and then went back into the cabin to wait for others to awaken.  Mom was first and went up to do daily maintanence and then when she got back,  Rob and I headed up.

When we got back to the cabin,  Caleb and mom were gone and the reason that Rob and I hoped for was that they were bringing back piles and piles of coffee!  

That turned out to be true.  Meanwhile, Rob and I cleaned up the cabin and got the trash hauled away.  We were pretty much ready to reload the vehicle and be on our way!

Hence, Rob drove from L&C State Park by Onawa, IA, down to our next destination, Desoto National Wildlife Preserve.  We got off the interstate shortly after it went down to two lanes due to reparations around recent flooding.

What a cool building and moreover, a cool place!  They built the building in a manner that it could remain open amidst flooding which behooved us this year!  The water in this pic is back about 35 feet from where it normally resides.

Caleb in the eagles nest.

Rob in the eagles nest!  I was amazed that we got both varmints to pose for picture without much of a fight from either, with a mask on, non-the-less.

This is a good shot that shows how high the water is based on where the vegetation ends.

There's a whole wing of the museum based on the sinking of the Bertrand.  It was a ship loaded with goods headed for...  Oh jeez, just go read about it here and there's links at the end of the pages to get even more history.  It's a cool story and seeing the contents of the ships cargo in the museum was quite interesting.

Caleb.

Rob.

Dad...  and no, I'm not violating the wall.  The bird above my head made me duck to get my hands on the poster...  get'cher minds out of the gutter.

The Missouri river.  She's still high, which had this look-out closed.

The sinking location marker.  Nothing was visible since the water is still many feet higher than normal, but at least the marker wasn't covered.

The boat dock at the Bertrand marker...  a little clean-up to be done once the water recedes.

This was a aviary lookout further down the trail...

Once we finished here,  we drove down I-29 towards Council Bluffs.  We were amazed at the flood waters that still remain from earlier this season.  In some places, the water was still right up to both sides of the interstate!

A fun trip was had by all (maybe except Rob) and we swung by my sister in laws place before heading home.  

The fun weekend has been wrapped up.

2019 Mini-Vaca, Western Iowa, Part 3 - Lewis & Clark State Park

Part III finds us at Lewis & Clark State Park just West of Onawa, IA.   We left Preparation Canyon State Park after driving part of the loop and found ourselves on the Northwest side heading North, so kind of perfect for our next journey.

We headed North on Larpenteur Memorial Rd, until we reached E54.  We hitched onto that until we hit K45 which marched our happy butts straight up into Onawa, IA. where we hung a left onto Hwy 175W to arrive shortly at our next destination.

We were early to arrive after our near-death experience at Prepararation Canyon earlier in the day so we passed our campground and headed to museum on the opposite side of the lake.  

The right side red block is our KOA campground.  The left side red block is where the following pictures were taken.

This is Rob is a cutaway of the "Keelboat"  learning about the secret message code that Thomas Jeffereson had established with L & C.

The boys are testing the PSI of what it takes to pull the boat into shore.

Just some random interesting stuffs...

Canoes made of Buffalo skin. Get'cha some!

This begins the brief section of pics that are of the actual only replicas of the 5 boats that L & C used collected into one spot in the world!  It's kind of cool!

Not sure what this plant was but there were a good number of them out in the parking lot as we were leaving and I thought they were fascinating!

Calebber was the only one left with me at this point around the campfire.  You can tell from the sky thru the trees that it's not completely dark yet, but a few folks got sick of the bugs and the 99% humidity...  they went back into the A/C and relative safety from critters.

A shot from my seat with the sun setting and the water slightly visible.