Serious Fun

Blake had a few friends over for a night game of wiffleball and a homerun derby. The yard was lighted from various angles (thanks to Tim Burden!) Pop, brownies, and homeruns (mostly by Blake), fun all around.

Off to the Races

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We went to see Jay's brother Tom race his late model car last night. There were lots of races with spin-outs and crashes, but no injuries. Tom's car is the white 44s. He won pole position in his qualifying heat which means he got to start in first for the final race. He was doing great until there was a caution flag because someone else got hit. He finished sixth but it was really exciting. We learned what all the different flag colors mean. Tom should have heard us all yelling and screaming. We each picked a car in each race to win. It's a good thing we don't bet $$$ cause we didn't guess very well. We got to go see the car after he was done and take pictures. Our nephew Tony and his wife Shauna and their kids and sister's kids were there so that was fun too. You can see Tom's wife Nancy in front of Jay in the stands picture. Also note the earplugs on Jacob, it's really loud! We really know we're from Iowa after this summer...we've had lots of fun just staying close to home and doing some things we don't usually get to do.

Day Trip

We went to a rodeo in Wapello and on the way we stopped at the lock and dam in Muscatine. Just happened to get there in time to see a tug come through to push some barges south. The rodeo was fun too. Jake rode the bull. They had all the events; calf roping, steer wrestling, barrel racing, bareback and saddle bronc riding, bull riding and mutton busting which too bad Jacob was too old to do. That's where you just hang on to the sheep for as long as you can. It was a great opportunity to wear the hats. They even had fireworks afterwards...

State Champs

Jacob's 12 and under baberuth team won state again this year. They did it the same way they did last year. The finals are 2 out of 3 games. Lost the first one, come back and win 2 in a row. Congratulations!

State Baseball

Our Cal Ripken State Babe Ruth 12 and under Baseball tournament started today in Mt. Pleasant. Some of these guys Jacob played with last year when we went to Colorado and some are new. Jacob's one of the youngest this year. He's in the front on the team picture and third from the left of the lunch bunch. We have a pitcher with a nice shiner too from a bounce off the mound. We won the first game 12-1 in 3 1/2 innings. I hope they do as well tomorrow, they sure have fun playing together.

Crawdad fishing

Jacob and his friend Abe went down the creek behind Hy-Vee to fish for crawdads. They tried using chicken on a string with a hook, but weren't having much luck. Then a couple of Abe's other friends showed up with nets and rubber boots (I guess we aren't original, these guys do this all the time, they reminded me of a couple of old men they way they talked). The nets worked better and we caught a few. Next time we go fishing at MacBride we'll come here the day before to catch bait. Oh yeah, we did go buy a net to use(the old guys said a seine works great too!)

Struve Reunion

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The 5th of July we went to Monticello to a reunion for the Struve side of our family. There are five boys and one girl on Jay's dad's side. Many of them and their children and their grandchildren were there. We had a fun time reconnecting. We don't see many of them very often. We ate, played kick ball and other lawn games. One girl got caught in the baby swing because she was too big so she had to have the swing cut off to get out! We hope they do this next summer.

Fourth of July

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Our annual fourth of July activities go on rain or shine. This year it was rain, but we had fun anyway. It started off with a fire in the firepit the night before. Breakfast at Morrison Park was very good and then we watched the parade after. Lots of soggy candy, but some was dry enough to eat! A nap at home in the afternoon and then back to the park for wiffleball, smores, sparklers and fireworks. A very nice time. We hope you enjoyed the day wherever you were and that you carry on the tradition if you ever were with us...