End of July

I'm always a little bummed when July is over because it means that summer is nearing its end, but luckily we still have a lot of cool things planned for August. Of course, that means that August will fly by, too, but that's alright.

RAGBRAI went past my office on the 27th. I took these pictures earlier in the day, but by the time I tried to leave late in the afternoon it was almost impossible to get out of my parking lot. There was an unbroken stream of riders going by taking up both northbound lanes as well as the southbound lanes, driving against oncoming traffic. Super unsafe and it basically shut down traffic, but at least it was only one day. 

The trampoline! Rose has been taking some really cool timed pictures on it while striking various gymnastics (and karate) poses.

Out on the boats at Lake McBride. We spent the day boating, playing in the water, hiking, and exploring.

Emily made a new friend:

He kinda overstayed his welcome, though, and she was relieved when he flew away.

The weather was perfect!

Later, we visited the Raptor Center. How long is your wingspan?

The bird blind is always a mesmerizing experience:

And lastly, a golden hour picture on one of my bike rides. This was somewhere north of Robins:

Back at Backbone

It was a weekend of perfect weather for camping at Backbone State Park; upper 70s during the day and low of 60 at night and lots of sun. This was our first camping trip of the summer, but we're going to try to get in one or two more camping trips on decent weekends.

After picking our campsite and setting up the tent, we went down to the lake to play in the water for the day:

The water was super cold, so we weren't planning to swim, but Rose fell in. Her braces make her do that a lot. Cynthia caught the moment she hit the water. Nice timing!

We stepped on some lost toys as we were wading:

Paddle boats!

The playground near our campsite:

Later in the afternoon the Conrads drove out to hang out with us for a while. They brought the girls' 4th of July parade candy which the girls had forgotten at their house and I helped them eat it.

We played Ghost in the Graveyard after dark and then walked around and saw some deer nearby. Then we roasted marshmallows to make s'mores and went to sleep. The next morning we went hiking:

Bill the Snail!

Good for a Rainy Day

Braces!

Rose got her braces today, although she's not as excited as she looks. She's going to be doing 18-24 months, but it'll be worth it. The orthodontist also said that she'll need to have four teeth pulled, so that's fun, too. I predict lots of jello, pudding, and ice cream in her future. She's also using the soreness from her braces as an excuse to get out of doing things she doesn't want to do, so it's not all bad.

Mt Trashmore

The city hired a contractor to develop hiking and biking trails on Mount Trashmore and we checked out the progress this morning... they have a lot of work left to do. Hurry up! We are impatient and summer won't last forever. It was scheduled to be finished in late June/early July, but I'm not sure if it'll be open before August unless they pick up the pace. It's just bike trails, come on!

Solstitium

as morning comes
the sun returns
climbing to its spire
it paints its familiar scrawl
upon indifferent dusty walls
i look upon it gratefully
my hopeful upturned gaze
but
today is different from the rest
i can feel it in my bones
today a ship sails across clouds
then all at once is lost
in a spectral landscape
slowly changing then suddenly gone
it leaves me guessing every dawn
perhaps it begins like this each day
and time has worn dirt onto the glass
creating a haze until one day I expect – at last
to be left here in darkness – save a miracle of sorts
and though it shouldn't matter much at all
it marks the passing of the cycles, you see
as if a signal sent for only me
across the vast sea of there and here
that separates the distances in time
my lone hourglass, this companion of mine
my sunshine

Independence Day 2018

We celebrated Independence Day in Independence, where else?? In the morning we went to the parade and saw all the usual floats and antique cars and tractors, but this Mad Max-style car caught my eye. It broke down a couple blocks into the parade route, hence the few close-ups. I expect to see steel spikes welded onto the front of it next year:

We went back to the Conrads to cool off afterwards (it was hotter than blazes all day) and brace ourselves before going back out. There wasn't as much going on that afternoon as usual, probably due to the heat. The airport wasn't doing plane rides this year due to a change in ownership, so hopefully they resume next year. Emily was blowing some pretty rad bubbles while we were cooling off:

For lunch we grilled burgers and dogs and then went back outside. Even though the heat index was 105, it actually felt comfortable once we started playing in the water:

The Pork Tornadoes played their first show in Indy, they were fun to see. It almost didn't happen due to the random rain showers that kept passing through, but then it cleared up and the temperature dropped nearly 20 degrees! 

Waiting for the fireworks show!

Happy Independence Day 2018!