June and July 2023

My brother and his family came up to visit us in June, so I left the day before to go to Boston. I wasn't avoiding him, I just had better things to do with my time, ha.

The best vehicle I've rented in my 13 years of traveling out there. It was difficult to take it back.

My coworkers in Product Operations.

We went to a music festival in Milwaukee and saw Foo Fighters and a bunch of other bands. They also had a motocross track:

Then the Foo Fighters! This was near the beginning of their first tour after losing Taylor Hawkins. They put on an awesome show.

Then we learned a fun fact about Milwaukee: it is in the top 10 cities in the U.S. for car theft, averaging 31 car thefts per day. The Kia Boyz are a gang who steal almost exclusively Kias and Hyundais in Milwaukee. Unfortunately, we had a Hyundai, but that ended when we returned to our parking spot. Long story short, the cops had recovered the car before we knew it was gone, but it was destroyed. So now we have a different car (not a Kia or a Hyundai). A long night in Milwaukee:

Our car was in the impound lot with about a thousand other cars. Some people must never claim them.

The windows were smashed out, there was minor damage to the exterior, but the dashboard was smashed up, the steering wheel had holes stabbed in it, and they ripped out all of the wiring under the dash and stripped the steering column. The front seats were messed up as well. So insurance decided that the cost to repair it wasn't worth it.

Also, we got solar panels! So no more utility bills and during the summer we produce enough power for 7 houses. Nifty!

December 2020

It was a weird December and a weird Christmas. As Covid numbers went up and we began discovering just how fast the virus spreads, a lot of people made the choice to shelter in place for Christmas and try to ride it out until a vaccine becomes available. That's what we did. As several people we knew caught the virus and experienced firsthand how dangerous it can be (including Cynthia's cousin Danny who was hospitalized and died from the Coronavirus), it became clear that we needed to forgo any holiday get togethers. So we spent a lot of time hanging out as a family this December.

Lily loves spending time with us (not so much):

The snow on our front bushes melted and refroze, creating this trippy display of colors and shapes:

Cynthia and I went on a lot of walks to get out since we couldn't really go anywhere. One morning as we walked around downtown I took some pictures of the hoar frost:

On December 21st we walked up the hill from our house to Mt Mercy to watch the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter, which only occurs once every 20 years. When they align it appears as one really bright star, but in Iowa it is only visible momentarily right at sunset, which makes it a little difficult to spot. We found it with our binoculars, though. There were a cluster of people with us up on the hill watching the event take place. The sky was very cool:

Cynthia caught a good shot of a sundog as we were driving one morning:

These people got together and took their annual picture in front of the "no sledding" sign where they often, you know, go sledding:

Christmas Day!

Lily is going to hide until this whole ridiculous thing is over:

Emily got a new baja hoodie:

And Rose got some stuff:

The aftermath:

Rose decided to do Emily's makeup afterward:

Later that afternoon we did had a zoom call with my family and later with the Conrads. It felt really weird to be so distant, but hopefully by this time next year we can have a normal Christmas again:

I hit a parked car! Dangit, that is the first time I've ever been at fault in an accident. Luckily it was a slow-motion collision and no one was hurt. We were sliding slowly down a hill and couldn't avoid the car parked at the bottom. Ah well, time for a new bumper I guess:

It was definitely an unusual December, but at least we are healthy.

Emily Goes for a Drive

School's Out for Summer

Out for summer
Out till fall
We may not come
Back at all

June 1st was the last day of school! The next day we took a road trip to Omaha to visit the Henry Doorly Zoo and then we went to Jessica's wedding reception in Council Bluffs in the evening.

Happy Meal Guess Who game during the car ride:

Happy Meal Battleship, I guess:

She's hot:

Penguins, looking awkward on land, yet nimble in the water:

Walking through the coral reef glass tunnel, surrounded by sharks, rays, and fish:

More jelly fish than you can shake a stick at:

Manta rays:

The bonnethead shark's snout has the ability to detect movement beneath the ocean floor caused by crabs, which it primarily feeds on:

The butterfly exhibit allows you to walk through a building full of butterflies flying around freely:

Lots of other animals, too. The gorilla down below cracks me up:

When we came home the next day Rose decided to burn her evil math book as we roasted marshmallows:

Cynthia and I have been racking up a lot of miles on our bikes the past couple months:

We set up a new 14' trampoline in the backyard! It's kind of impressive how quickly it wears us all out: