June is Almost Over

June flew by. It seems like yesterday that I was in Pennsylvania, but now I am spending my days in Iowa. The best part about living in the midwest for two months is visiting friends and family. Last weekend, we celebrated with friends in Minneapolis and we are traveling to St. Louis for the Fourth of July. We'll see Tim's brother and his wife and our cute niece Leah. Of course, we'll take in a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game. Life is pretty simple here and I like that.

Michael Jackson

This is the Michael Jackson that I remember the most. I remember laying on the floor of my basement with the double vinyl Thriller album wide open. I would listen to it while I enjoyed the baby tigers and Michael in his crisp white suit. I loved that record.

Just the other day, I was driving around with a four year old and I asked him he wanted to listen to some good music on my ipod. He did and I found "Beat It". When I asked the four year old what he thought, he responded with "I love this song. It's so good." I agreed. It is so good.

The Iowa Life

Being back in Iowa, I am reminded of all that I know is true about Iowa.

First, I have "survived" two summer storms in Iowa. For those readers outside of the midwest or tornado alley, thunderstorms in the midwest are completely different than what I experience in Pennsylvania. When I hear thunder and see lightning in Pennsylvania, I do not even look outside. I know all is well. Just a little wet. However, in Iowa, when there is a thunderstorm and you are in the eye of the storm, the thunder is cracking and the wind is wicked.

On Wednesday night, we woke up at 2Am to see the tree outside our window bowing to the point of almost breaking. It passed after much thunder and much lightning. I was checking the news on television to make sure that I would "survive". As I walked around town the following day, there were lots of tree limbs down and things were messy. It wasn't a tornado, but scary.

Hardy life-long Iowans don't seem to worry the way I do about the summer storms the way that I do. They impress me.

The other thing that I know is true about Iowa, things are cheap. We enjoyed a movie for one dollar a piece. They have a theater where movies play that about a month or two old. We hadn't gotten a chance to see Wolverine and it was playing. We've enjoyed dollar sundaes too. I could go on, but I think you get the idea.

Life is good in Iowa. We are enjoying our time here even if the storms place me near the edge of crazy sometimes.

Granny's Place

I have made my return to Iowa. Well, at least for two months. We have rented a furnished apartment so Tim can complete a research project at Iowa State University. The last time that we rented a furnished apartment, we made the mistake of renting in campus town at ISU. It was loud and the apartment was very industrial. I am sure it was supposed to be hip, but to us, we felt that we were living in a warehouse.

Fast forward to today when I arrived at the apartment. Tim has been living here for two weeks. This apartment could not be more opposite of the former apartment at ISU. First, we are living in Ankeny. It is the suburb of Des Moines where we lived for two years prior to moving to Philly. The funny thing is...the apartment has the stylings of a grandmother's apartment from 1989. I really don't mind. It is for a brief time and it makes our life easy to have a furnished apartment.

Now that I have cleaned the apartment and put our clothes away, the rest of the summer awaits me. Let the midwestern adventures begin.

Midwest Adventure 2009 - Part One

I say this every year...I am so glad that I have a job that has a definite start and definite finish. After a successful kindergarten graduation, I jetted off to the midwest to meet Tim in Minneapolis for his birthday. Tim had been in Iowa for two weeks working on a research project so it was great to see him. Although I had envisioned a warm June day where we could spend the day downtown and walk to a great restaurant from the hotel, it was cold and very rainy. We walked to the restaurant anyway. We ate shepard's pie and beef roast at The Local. It was delicious and the perfect meal for a cold night.

After a cold night in Minneapolis, we drove to Grand Forks to spend some time with the family. Of course, I had to spend as much time with my cute nephew, Caeden. It has been a month and a half since I have seen him and he has changed so much. He is kicking and cooing and all the things that are so special when babies are three months old!

Tomorrow, I will drive to Avon, Minnesota to see my friend Sara and her boys, Sam and Lucas. After that, it is Iowa and the rest of the summer. We are spending two months in Iowa so Tim can continue his research project. I am not quite sure how I will spend my summer. I'll do my best to keep you posted.