Nest is half full

Sweet college girl moved about an hour away to go to one of our great state schools, University of Northern Iowa.

She is in an apartment now and her bedroom turned out really cute.

She has her own car so she will be able to come home when needed and have a little independence to get herself around campus and town.

I am so proud of her and happy she has this opportunity. 

Now our nest still has one more kid in it.  He is a sophomore at the community college.  It is nice to still have one at home.  

Friends, fiber and fun

Stitches Midwest is a huge annual knitting conference in Schaumburg, IL, held in August.  I went with sweet Iowa City and Coralville gals.  

We enjoyed networking with knitters, classes and shopping.

Meeting up with knitting friends we've met thru other events and knitting internet sites makes it extra fun!

It was really cool to see knitters everywhere!  It was so nice to stay at the hotel where the conference was held.  

The shopping was a blast! Not only did we go to the Marketplace but we hit IKEA, 

Crate and Barell, Homegoods and Whole Foods.  I drooled on the gelato and cupcake display!

It was really a fun trip! 

Family vacation

Our summer family vacation was a trip to the Black Hills and Devil's Tower.

We stopped along the way for a Buffalo burger at Al's Oasis.  It is no joke to be called an Oasis as there are no towns for hundreds of miles in South Dakota.

We rented a place in Spearfish Canyon and really enjoyed it.

There was no cell phone service or wifi so we had to entertain ourselves the old fashion way and it was great!

We had a trout stream in our back yard, the guys fished a little.

We enjoyed sightseeing and hiking to waterfalls.

We took some tours in Deadwood.  Including a trip to the cemetery to see Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane's graves.

Above is in Deadwood on our way to museums.

 

It was a steep hike to the top of the cemetery to get to the grave of a famous sherif.  Beautiful wild flowers on the way.

 

The area really caters to motorcycle riders, a lot of biker bars.  We ate at one that had really good and greasy hamburgers (I am still trying to lose the weight I gained!)

We also ate at a really classy place that had chandeliers and old train cars to eat in.

On one of the days we drove to Wyoming to Devil's Tower.  This is where Close Encounters was filmed.

We hiked all around the tower.   it was cool to see the climbers and the Indian prayer clothes and rocks.

If you look close you can see those crazy climbers!

The Rhinos were a blast, we rented.  There are 40 miles of back country national forest trails that we covered, including a steep climbs followed by a hike go a forest fire watch tower.  

The kids jumped out many time to open cattle gates.

It was a blast!

There were so many pretty wild flowers along the way.

Toward the end of our ride there was a beautiful lake at a state park.

Each morning we ate at Cheyenne Crossing, this was once a stage coach stop.  

We headed down to Custer for our last night in the Black Hills.

The last time we were at Mount Rushmore was 10 years ago.  It is so amazing.

We hiked around and enjoyed perfect weather.  The weather was perfect the whole vacation.

The kid really enjoyed Custer State park and all the bison.  I have to say I was a little nervousness because some of the buffalo would bump cars!

This was right out the passenger window.

On the way home we took the route thru the badlands.  

It looks like another planet.

Needless to say, after seeing this sign we did not get off the beaten path in the badlands.

After going thru the badlands we made the long trek home.  It was a really fun vacation.  

On my needles

I am slowly completing projects this summer. It almost feels like I am in slow motion. 

It took me 3 attempts to get one sock completed. I tried a new method and like the finished product.

I am also working on a knitted bear. All are in progress, summer has kicked in to a slower gear and reading easy summer books has distracted me in the evenings.  I am enjoying this slow, no deadline summer!