Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Independence and all that Jazz....

Sorry about the delay on this one...our internet has been intermittent and it was a miracle I was able to even upload these photos to flickr. Thankfully a tech was out today. He couldn't figure out what was causing our problems so he just replaced everything (new line to the box, new splitters, new modem). The internet seems to be working much better. I hope it stays that way. We had a pretty quiet 4th at home. Rob hasn't been able to take extended vacation yet this summer because of some back up issues at work--so we stayed home for the 4th and had a nice relaxing weekend. On Independence Day we went to see the new Transformers movie (which was better than the 2nd but not as good as the 1st) and went to see the Fireworks display in Urbandale (as Johnston doesn't have one). They moved the display this year to a different park--which was very handy because they posted a detailed map of where people were allowed and where parking was and exactly where the fireworks were going to be shot off from....which made things really easy. We left a bit early to avoid the parking hassle. Rob read a book and we took a break to play a couple of rounds of Fluxx. The fireworks show went a full half hour and was packed with large fireworks which lit up the sky directly over our heads. We were so close that our car was littered with cardboard debris. We'll definitely go back next year if we're in town.

Monday, July 4, 2011

Tree Clean Up


Over the long weekend the weather finally got a bit cooler and we had time to finish cleaning up the part of our tree that fell. Rob tried out our new electric chainsaw. It worked like a charm. It made quick work of the thickest part of the tree. The small branches were the time consuming mess. Now we get to start working on the part of the tree that's still standing. Pictures as we go will be posted here.