Iowa Pictures

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There were so many - I have to break them into various albums and be selective! Our summer '09 vacation started in Little Amana, Iowa. Nothing exciting by name, but we stayed in a hotel that has an in-door water park (two slides). The kids loved it, more than four hours of fun and they wanted to go back. Here is a large sampling of the pictures from the water park.

The next morning we did a quick, rolling tour of the Amana Colonies. This was the culture part of the vacation! Along the way we found an amazing copper art house, some fantastic chocolate, fudge, and wine, the famed Amana Meat Shoppe, and various other neat little stores. These are some pictures of the copper art and around the streets there.

Separately, amid the Amana Colonies, there is a natural, shallow lake bed that is completely filled shore to shore with lilies. August is a little late in the season, but we still managed some good shots.

The trip rounded out with a stop at Uncle Randy's and the Iowa State Fair - the best fair in the nation! Here are the pictures from there, including, of course, the highlights of the butter cow and the kid who eats ice cream via his sunglasses! While at Randy's we reunited with our pal CJ (the bulldog) and he had two new friends who had so many names, I hesitate to put them here as I'll use the wrong name. Of course, there are dog pictures.

On the way home, we stumbled into a impromptu Stangl Reunion. No pictures, but all the bald heads were there! Great trip, fun end to the summer, now school resumes! :o)

Merry-Go-Round; Then and Now

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There will be a ton more pictures from the Iowa trip to come shortly, but Robin thought it would be fun to share a "then and now" segment with the tearful Jillian frightened by the merry-go-round about five years ago:



compared to her at the fair this week (with no chaperon!):

Some Funnies

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In prepairing for summer's last roadtrip, I found this in Reader's Digest to be a little disconcerning:



One additional funny we received from our friend Helen (most of you will know who she is):




Pictures of the family road trip to follow soon.

Summer Fun

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Everyone had a week with Grammy as always this summer. The one new part is that Grammy now has a digital camera! Here are some of the pictures she took on the respective weeks.

Dog & Pony Show

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I don't think I ever posted the pictures from the other times that we have watched Roy. Here are some from this last winter.

Roy now has a younger brother, Riley. Four dogs kept us busy, but they were great for us this weekend. I took a ton of pictures, here's a good sample.

Jordan Volleyball Pics

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Friday was the last game for Jordan this year. She's done better, but it was a rough year as the team had to move up in division and was among the youngest / least experienced in their current division.

Photo Sharing Site

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I know there is a ton of them... I'm looking to find one that isn't your every day Kodak or Flicker, but is accessable from State Farm's network since that is part of the audience. Trying out Photobucket today, and so far it's been easy to use.

If you haven't been by in a while, check the next entry for all the summer's activities. Since I'm just learning to use it, I'm going to use a link, but will also try some of their extras on this entry.

Here are the pictures from Harper's Party, bounce house and all!

Slide show: