A few more Iowa Shots

Aside from the wedding (pictures coming soon) we definetely managed to keep busy. We certainly wore ourselves out...

Just a glimpse at all the fun.

Nauvoo Fun

After having some fun in Iowa for a few days, and getting ready for the wedding... we headed to Nauvoo. We got there the day before the wedding to see some of the historic sites and to enjoy the temple. Unfortunately, touring sites was cut a little short by the fact that we were all melting in the 87 degree/95% humidity weather. I can't remember the last time I was so sweaty and since everyone was the same, I guess it wasn't too embarassing. My hair instantly returned to the super curly 5 year old hair style, which was just more awesome than I can really tell you. Just a few shots of pre-wedding fun.

A Bicycle Built for Two

The tandem bike that Grandma and Papa got for their anniversary was a big hit with the kids. All of the couples took at least one little ride, since you have to try it sometime. But the kids got the most pleasure out of riding it. Gavin and Mia weren't quite tall enough to really be helpful at pedaling, even with the seat lowered, so they got to take a couple of leisurely rides. Gavin would have gone more, but he didn't trust anyone, but Dad to keep the bike up for him.

Circus World Museum

On the way from Wisconsin to Iowa we made a stop at the "Circus World Museum." Along with the museums full of old circus stuff, they all preformed shows throughout the afternoon that we were there. Some of them bordered on creepy, but the actual circus which took place as the last part of the day, was pretty cool. It was in a small pavilion, with about 7 rows of bleachers surrounding the ring, so no matter where you sat, you were super close... and it wasn't crowded. While I have always liked the circus enough to go to it, it was a lot more impressive to watch a girl ride on an elephant's trunk when the elephant is towering over you in the second row of a tiny building. We don't have any pictures from the actual preformances, since that would have been against the very stringent copyright restrictions, but here a few shots from the really old props that we did get to see.

The Wisconsin Dells

Our first stop on the trip was a few days at the Chula Vista Resort in the Wisconsin Dells. It was a great place with many pools and an indoor and outdoor water park. We took major advantage of both. They had water slides of all sizes, even Henry was able to go down a few by himself (after we had gotten in trouble for letting him ride on our laps). Gavin was a maniac and went down the medium sized slides over and over. He was tall enough to ride the big one, which would have used a double tube, but he wasn't much interested in it. He did also enjoy "being lazy on the Lazy River." We did a few things in town, but mostly we just enjoyed hanging out and getting wet.

The Moustache Contest !!!

Well, It finally came... the moustache contest that we have all been waiting for... It was hard to keep a straight face or actually look directly at any of the men for a few days, but here are the results-

Caleb

Nathan

Brennan

Jeff

Rich

Since Ben chose not to participate in this unflattering facial hair competition, we went ahead and did the photo shoot and judging without him, so that shaving could them commence.

Rich was awesome enough to purchase matching camo jackets that added to the affect of so many mustaches in one place. Pretty good-looking group... or something like that.

I don't think an official winner was actually named, since they were all making up different categories to best describe their current mustache... It seems to me that Jeff is really the only one who can get away with wearing this style of facial hair any how.

A few more shots of Caleb as he was determined to be the last one sporting a trashy mustache...

This one is for Tannon- We can lead by example. :-)

Mount Rushmore- aka The MIddle of No Where SD

Well, on our way to the Wisconsin Dells, we decided to drive through Wyoming and South Dakota and make a stop to see the magnificence of Mount Rushmore. So- after 11 hours of driving, we arrived at our destination at 3:15pm... to this super fabulous view.

And it was also about 45 degrees and raining, and I had assumed that we would never actually need shoes and sock or jackets for at least the first 4 days of the trip, so we were able to dig out just enough not to freeze. Very very disappointing to me. And after we went through their museum, which is really only a hallway with some history of the sculpture) we went back to the view in homes that the fog might have cleared a bit to discover that it had only gotten thicker. I left in very grumpy spirits and at the hotel that night Gavin asked when we were going to see the mountain with the president's faces on it... BOOO! The good news is that they give you a pass for the $10 you pay to see nothing, that allows you to get back in for the rest of the calendar year, since so many people are going to drive back to the absolute middle of nowhere several times in a year!

All packed.

Tomorrow morning bright and early we leave for our trip to Iowa (via a stop in the Wisconsin Dells). This morning when I got out of the shower, Gavin called to me, "Mom, you better get your suitcase ready. Henry and I are all packed." Since I had not yet even started laundry, I chose not to reply to this, but to go and check it out.

Henry was mad at me, since I told him he wasn't going to be able to take all of those cars.

I guess my job for the day is done. What more do we need? Henry even took out all of the diapers that I had already put in his suitcase. So Helpful.

Bring on The Mustache Contest

We are headed to Iowa in a few days for endless amounts of Cardon Family fun. One of the many highlights of this trip is the Mustache Contest... I am not sure exactly who this is a highlight for, but it does at least seem to be greatly anticipated. On the rumor that our brother-in-law Rich was also growing his hair out for the occasion, Caleb used that as an excuse to decline/refuse a haircut the last time I roped the boys in to getting theirs. He stopped shaving on Mother's Day, a little later than some of the other men, but in respect for his church responsibilities and for all of us that have to look at him daily, that seems sufficient.

I guess we will know in less than a week, which hairy man is more hairy than all the other.

I think we've got a fightin' chance. Look forward to the photos, I know some of you are dying to see them. :-)

Some Kinda Fight

Gavin has been getting lots of questions about his latest injury.

And if you think that looks bad, you should see the other guy...

... Or the swing set that he tripped and hit with his face. :-)

Sweet DI find

We have some neighbors who are expert Di shoppers (Deseret Industries... Goodwill to those not located in Utah), they have a little 3 year old girl who the boys play with almost every day. She spends her days at home with her dad, and she loves to tell all the neighborhood kids about the things she found with her dad at DI. On the other hand, I never go to DI. When I have things to donate, I pull up at the drive-up, dispose of my wares and move on quickly. Perhaps it comes from my mom trying to make me shop for clothes as a hard to fit kid, hoping to find a fab deal... I just generally don't take the time to get my kids out and go in to DI, not knowing what I will find and certainly not planning to find the things that I need. But, since our neighbors find great things there, Gavin has recently been asking to go and look around. So, I got some great tactical advice from my neighbor about which stores he recommends and what the major DI shopping strategy should be, and I took the boys to make a loop on the look out for a steal-of-a-deal. And what do you know?!? After less than 2 minutes, making our circuit of the store, we can across none other than.... a silver knight helmet... for only $.50!!

Now some of you might be doubting the excitement of such a find, but if you are, it is because you haven't spent much time lately with a knight-in-shining-armor-obsessed-4-year-old boy. I know most of you are thinking that I should have just gone to wal-mart or target or toysrus or many other places that sell toys and gotten him a knight outfit. Trust me when I tell you that in this summer season with no thoughts of Halloween on the horizon, there are no knight outfits to be found "in all of Salt Lake City." We know, we have tried. But as at least one boy has been wearing this helmet most of the time for a solid week, we are pretty grateful for our awesome DI find.

And now of course, we will be trying our luck again soon. (And yes, I did come home and wash the helmet with soap and hot water before allowing anyone to wear it. ;-)