Father's Day, Baseball, Bikes, Ralph's bum leg, and German Beer

We started Father's day off with a church service at Point of Grace Church in Waukee.  The worship music was not my favorite but the message was good (which is always important). Specifically, because it touched on trials and testing from God, which I feel like we've experienced a lot of this past year :)  It is important to remember that God is strengthening your character through this and bringing you closer to Him.  How true!  We also got to see some performances by the kids who had just finished bible school that past week (super cute!).  

Go Cubs!

Then, John wanted to celebrate his dad by attending a baseball game.  So, we headed to an Iowa Cubs game.  They are a AAA baseball team for the Chicago Cubs.  We had a blast!  We ate hot dogs, had ice cream and bought some Cubs stuff (of course!).  The Cubs (AAA and MLB) teams both lost that day :( but it was still a good day to be at a baseball game and to remember John's dad (who loves the Cubs! And certainly understands them losing)

Happy Father's Day -- Dad Lattimore!  We wished we could have celebrated with you and that the Cubs had won! 

That night to celebrate my dad we read Father's day cards that we had each written to him (which was John's idea --- a really sweet one!) and then we read a chapter out of The Hobbit.  My dad had read this book to me as a child and it is one of my favorite childhood memories with him.  We also find it fitting that we feel as if we live in a hobbit hole now and we are also on an adventure just like Bilbo! 

Happy Father's Day Dad!  We miss you and love you...

Monday John had a great interview at the Habitat affiliate in Des Moines and we were ready to head out on Tuesday to see the neighborhoods. John decided that riding bikes through the neighborhood would be faster than walking them.  I rode around the neighborhoods with him on Tuesday and had a great time. The neighborhoods are safer than some of the others we've seen, with side walks and better housing.  We did not see much trash, loitering, or graffiti.  A lot of the homes are in old historic districts so some of the houses are being fixed up in these areas.  This particular Habitat also likes to restore a whole neighborhood, something they call "Rock the Block" - very cool. So they will go in an build houses and then offer to help restore or fix up others in the neighborhood, working block by block.

On Tuesday afternoon Ralph started limping...great...after attempting to carry our 30+ lb, 13-year-old dog on the afternoon walk we decided to get it looked at.  A vet visit, nail clip and a few beef-flavored anti-inflammatory pills later he seems just fine...Sometimes we're not sure if Ralph fakes things for better treats or food. There have been a couple of times where we have switched to wet food because Ralph won't eat his dry food anymore --- personally I think he is protesting...:)

We finally did make it to the Hessen Haus for dinner.  I am pretty sure I ate the best macaroni and cheese ever that night.  It was that good..even John thought so and that is saying a lot for a man that existed on Kraft Spirals for the better part of a decade.    We also had some great German Beer too and made some friends at the bar watching the U.S. soccer match...

Yum!

fun beer hall

Isn't he adorable?

.

I helped John on observations via car on Thursday.  It was fun to get to see more of the neighborhoods.  They are so much safer than Louisville and that is always more fun!  We ended our night in Des Moines with a dinner out (no where particularly special) just somewhere in suburban West Des Moines!  We then hit the road for Providence (it has taken us 3 days to reach North Scituate -- where we are staying -- more to come there! ) 

...please stay tuned :) 

\

C+J & 3 walking pups and 1 limping :(

Lesson Learned 

1.  I was behind so I am sorry that I did not do a Mother's Day blog --we love you both so much!  

2.  Biking and running on the same day may kill you if you are not in shape (John and I were exhausted the day after we did this!)

3. Germans are really not kidding with their beer and cheese they are for realz

Mosquitoes and Gnats oh my!

No lions, tigers and bears, but plenty of itchy creatures here in the midwest! However, we have really enjoyed our time in Des Moines.  We are staying at a cute little country RV resort called Timberline in Waukee, Iowa (about 20 minutes west of downtown Des Moines).  We thought for awhile we would be in Timberline for the weekend and then switch to Walnut Woods State Park which is right on the Raccoon River and a bit closer to John's neighborhoods...but then we found out about the bugs! We had failed to read up on the affect of heavy rainfall in the early summer on mosquito populations.  Eww...

After arriving last Friday night in the midst of what we were sure to be gale force winds and a torrential downpour (we don't really know what gale force means, but my driver was sure we were in them!), Saturday was much nicer :) On Saturday night (after a full day of work) we headed up to Walnut Woods for a dog walk (and to see if it was worth the switch) and to check out more of the huge greenway system they have in Des Moines and central Iowa in general. We were sitting in the truck trying to figure out which trail to get on and I saw it...a mosquito.. followed by hundreds more that swarmed our truck.  We sat there in awe at the National Geographic scene around us.  So we canceled Walnut Woods from the place to stay list :) Then, we thought we were being smart by heading down the road to a city park called Waterworks (the name should have clued us in) for the dog walk.  I had just gotten out of the truck and walked a little bit with the dogs and I was swarmed by thousands of killer mosquitoes!  It was crazy! (ok, maybe a little exaggeration, but not much ;)  John ran back to get the OFF and I tried to keep the dogs moving (who only wanted to stop and pee --- which was understandable, but terrible timing!)  It was not as if we were the only people in the park either.  I saw people riding bikes and families having picnics.  I could not figure out why the mosquitoes were feasting on me!  And after being attacked by similar killer gnats in Davenport Iowa, again with no else seemingly bothered, we were beginning to think midwesterners have some genetic defense! Then we saw it...four cyclists venturing across the grass, running from the trail with arms flailing and screaming   "Get them off!, "They are attacking me!" "I hate mosquitoes (hey, me too lady)"...Anyway, we offered them some OFF and they were good to go.  Lesson learned...stay away from parks in Iowa with any form of water especially in the evening..and we have...We would like to offer many thanks to Waukee, Iowa and their amazing greenways!

Saturday was a late night, after the mosquito debacle we headed downtown to eat dinner.  We wandered around a bit trying to find the Hessen Haus (a German brewhouse that my cousin Charles had mentioned).  It was 9:00 (10:00 eastern ---we had not really adjusted), and anyone who knows me knows how I get without food ;(  We will use the adjective crabby-- and this is a nice way to put it.  I am very thankful for my husband's patience with me during these times!   Anyway, we ended up eating at Dos Rios, a really good Mexican restaurant.  The guacamole was fantastic and I was happy to finally eat!  We even got to hear a street band complete with horns and tap-dancing while we were eating!

This is really long...so I will sign off for now...
C&J + 4 itchy pups

Lessons Learned

1. see second paragraph --this about sums it up for all of us  

Headed to Sevierville and back again....

A couple of weeks ago I had a call from my dad's office.  They wanted to dedicate a conference room in my father's memory.  I drove the 6 hours down to Sevierville (from Indy) with Ralph and Phoebe on Tuesday morning.  It was wonderful to see my Mom and hang out a couple of days.  She was thrilled to see the pups!  She misses them (oh and me!)!

The service was on Wednesday afternoon.  It was very nicely done and they had me unveil a plaque.  I cried it was very sweet!  The conference room will now be called the Schmutzer conference room (they said they already generally called it that because he spent so much time working in there).  Some people told some nice stories and their memories of my dad.  

I also got to have dinner with and see my cousins and Aunt and Uncle at the cabin (the same cabin where John and I married).  Liz and her 2 daughters Parker and Harley, Jeannie and her son Jackson, and Charles and his wife Laura and 2 girls Ava and Hazel.  It was wonderful to see family for even a short bit of time!  

I left on Thursday afternoon and drove 6 hours back up to Indy.  We left the next morning for Des Moines.   Talk about whirlwind...it was.  

The drive to Des Moines was another long trip (7.5 hours).  We completely underestimated the length...and drove in to Des Monies at midnight during a large thunderstorm...Lesson learned...again!

The place we are staying in Des Moines is called Timberline is nice.  Even though we arrived late we have a nice shaded spot.  Good.

C+J & 4 happy to be together again pups! 

Lessons Learned

1. This is not a lesson but families are wonderful and so wonderful to see! 

2.  Shorter trips car trips are better for everyone...

3.  The gnats in Southern Iowa could kill you (we are pretty sure---we were attacked by millions at a community park/rv campground on our evening dog walk...)

4.  Lightning from far away looks really cool when driving through Iowa --but not so cool when we you are in the storm with trailer and dogs in tow...

Weekender in Indy

Indy KOA

Our campsite in Greenfield was nice and shaded and we had plenty of space in the back with the dogs for the first bit of our stay...luckily ;)  We were unfortunately located right beside the dog park!  A little ridiculous!  Like the Louisville KOA there was not a great place to take the dogs on a long dog walk so we did some searching and found a great 6 mile greenway 10 minutes away (Pensy Park Trail).  It was an old railroad track that had been converted to a greenway trail.  It was well used but in general we did not see a ton of dogs (which was nice).  Lilly goes a little nutso when she sees dogs (really because she wants to play) so if we saw a dog in the distance it could get a little crazy for awhile (some of the stretches were perfectly straight for longer than a mile.)

Greenfield Pensy Trail

Friday night John and I wandered into downtown Indy into an area called Broad Ripple.  A fun midtown area (we loved the houses down there!)  We ate at a well known pizza place called Bazbeaux Pizza.  John really liked his usual sausage pizza. I went out on a limb and got a Mexican style pizza (not sure why ... sometimes I wonder what I am thinking...anyway...not the best decision).  Sometimes you just need to stick with what you know is good!   Our cookies at Insomnia Cookies were decidedly much better!  Warm chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin right about of the oven.  Yum!

night life in Broad Ripple

street art!

On Saturday we went for a run on the Cultural Trail in downtown.  It is several miles and passes monuments, museums, street art, and the canal.  We of course did not run the whole thing but did have a fun run in White River Park and through the city!

White river park and canal

War monument 

me and monument 

This marks the trail throughout the city 

Community garden in white river park 

In the afternoon we caught the end of a small bluegrass festival in Irvington and went paddle boating along the canal in downtown.  John and I have improved since our Jailbreak triathlon days (we dumped our canoe the last time we did that race).  However, the first bit into the paddle boating experience was a bit suspect as we could not seem to angle our boat correctly (with the rudder) and almost ran into the walkway.  I was not much help because I was laughing so hard I almost peed my pants.  We finally got the hang out if it near the end of the adventure. We saw 3 wedding parties (getting pics), 1 bachelorette party and 1 actually wedding from our little paddle boat.

Bluegrass festival

Smile!

Canal

Pics via paddle boat

1 of the many wedding parties

On Sunday we attended Mercy Road a church that reminded John and I a lot of our church in Clemson (DCF).  We felt right at home and enjoyed the service.  The pastor was very passionate and he had this perma smile on his face during the whole message.  You could tell he just really loved what he was doing!  All of the people we met were sincerely excited to meet us. 

We decided on another local favorite spot, Kountry Kitchen and Soul Food.  The building had no windows (it was a bit of a dive diner in a shady part of town!) and we were not even really sure if it was open BUT...the food and service was wonderful and there were quite a few people inside.  The lemonade and sweet tea were amazing---maybe pure sugar with a little lemon and tea but still amazing!   The owner asked us how we found out about the place and then told us that Tony Dungy, and  President Obama had eaten there...We laughed.  I said "I found you all on Urbanspoon." She just gave me a big smile and said "That's nice."  I am pretty sure she had no idea what I was talking about...

church

brunch!

In the afternoon we hit the Indy Zoo.  So fun!  We especially enjoyed the baby elephant (admittedly I took 15 pictures), the dog show, petting the dog sharks and seeing the fun bears!  It was a neat zoo that had the exhibits broken into biomes.  There was a desert section, forest section, ocean section...etc...I will not include all of the pics but a few that I really enjoyed! 

auntie and baby!

enjoying a frozen treat!

brown bear!

soo cute!

I had to head to Sevierville later that week for a couple of days so John and I spent our last night out at Bru Burger Bar (great burgers!) and a cool ice cream joint.  The ice cream spot made the ice cream right in front of you with liquid nitrogen.  You picked the flavors and type of ice cream.  A great chemistry experiment!

Last restaurant spot!

making ice cream!

C&J + 4 pups that are enjoying greenways! 

Wildlife Seen

1. 2 alligator snapping turtles laying eggs (so cool!) -- Lilly and Fiona almost got their noses chomped on

2.  A crawdad in full attack mode about to attack Fiona's nose again!

Lessons Learned

1.  Green ways are great unless you see a dog walking toward you from 1/2 mile away :)

2. Sometimes sticking to old standbys when it comes to food is a better idea

3.  Warm cookies are always good!

4.  Even simple things like paddle boating can require a little practice!

Waiting for an after walk treat...see you soon!

Goodbye Louis... Hello Indy...

John finished his observations on Tuesday and Wednesday (June 4-5) and I joined him Wednesday afternoon for lunch in a downtown area called NULU.  We had lunch at a place called Taco Punk (delish) and ate some fun chocolates at Ghyslain a little french eatery...so fun!  John had gelato which he loved the chocolates were pretty but not great...next time I will forgo fun chocolates for good gelato!   

fun chocolates!

The neighborhoods in Louisville were a little rougher than San Antonio. There was a lot of graffiti, people loitering, and abandoned warehouses.  I walked through some with John and then others we drove through (which was nice because some areas I did not want to get out of the car!).  Even though the areas were rougher the habitat houses were still bright spots where they were located!  

habitat houses

industry buildings 

We hit the road for Indy (a 2 hour drive--which we were thankful for!) on Thursday June 6.  We spent Thursday and Friday doing work (we both have summer classes this semester and they started on Thursday the 6th!).  We stayed in the Indy KOA, which was located in Greenfield, Indiana (about 20 minutes from downtown).       

More to come 

C+J & 4 glad for shorter car ride pups! 

Lessons learned

1. Just because chocolates look fun does not always mean they taste good!

2. Shorter rides for the dogs are much better for everyone! 

Parks, Church, Horses, and Kentucky Bourbon

On Saturday night, after a long day of work :), John and I decided to take the pups to a new park.  We chose Cherokee park which is located on the outskirts of downtown Louisville.  The park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted (the same guy who designed Central Park!).  It had a 2.5 mile loop that was shared  by cars on one side and runners/walkers/bikers on the other.  It also has pathways that meandered in between the center of the park - beautiful!.  It was hilly (which we found out when we tried to run with the girls), and full of big old trees.  We have been trying to run a couple of times a week, which is we used to do more regularly, however, walking 4 dogs can eat into any other types of exercise sometimes.  As a result, we decided to include the girls on the run (Ralphie stayed back in the truck).  The girls did well unless they saw another dog and then you could potentially have your arm removed from your socket...but on the bright side they were all pooped when we got back to the Caista that evening.      

I have been reading this really great book called Gods of War. It is written by Kyle Idleman a teaching pastor at Southeastern Christian Church which so happens to be in Louisville, Kentucky. We chose this church for our Sunday worship service. Let me just say. Wow! Southeastern Christian Church is the 3rd or 4th largest church in the country with 19,000 worshipers on Sunday (granted they have 4 campuses). However, it was the largest church we have ever been to. When we arrived I spent the first 10 minutes ogling at the size of the church inside (with a full coffee/bakery shop, bookstore, classrooms etc.) and the next 10 minutes ogling at the size of the sanctuary with its 3 levels, movie seats, and 4 jumbo screens in the center (imagine a basketball auditorium -- that is what is was like). When I got over the enormity of the place I was able to enjoy the service. They had a guest worship leader and he played the piano amazingly. I was also super excited because Kyle Idleman was the teaching pastor that day. He preached on a neat message about challenging others with the truth of the gospel. It was convicting and thoughtful message and he is a very good speaker and I encourage anyone to read his books and see him speak. Very cool.

I  have a picture below of the church ( I did not take this-- I tried to take one of the outside of the church as John was driving -- did not work out --- and I felt weird taking a picture in the sanctuary--)

Southeastern Christian Church sanctuary 

Sunday afternoon was our tourist day.  We chose the Kentucky Derby Museum as our outing it is located at the Churchill Downs race track the home of the famous Derby Day in May.  My Dad, Mom and brother would have all loved it.  My mom loves horses and my Dad and brother enjoyed watching horse races.  It was a fun way to remember my Dad as he enjoyed going to the horse races later in life and even visited the Keenleand race track a couple of times with Debbie.

The museum was neat with all sorts of interactive displays, you could watch filmed Kentucky Derby races, call a race and record it (cool!), race horses on a video game (I won!), try on fun hats and such for pics, and meet a Kentucky Derby winner.  We met the 2009 Kentucky Derby Winner, 7 year old Mine that Bird.  Mine that Bird was the second largest long shot to win the derby (his odds were 50-1).  He seemed pretty content to hang out with his old friend Winston (a 20 year old pony - who reminded us of Ralph) and his super large soccer ball. Oh, and another thing he has earned $2.2 million in winnings for his owners.  We are still trying to figure out how we can get money out of our dogs.  Wouldn't that be helpful...The coolest thing about the museum was the tour.  We got to go in Churchill Downs, see the horses, jockeys, and watch a real race! John and I have decided that Derby Day in May is on our bucket list!  This means that one day I will get to purchase a super fun hat like you will see in pics below!

Ready for the race -- bourbon and all (really a candle!)

Horse racing = fun hats! 

more fun hats and John wanted me to add a flask ;) 

John's "infield look"

inside Churchill downs 

Jockeys and horses 

Churchill Downs!

Out the gates! 

Finish Line

 

Mine that Bird

The largest soccer ball -- Ever!

Monday John had is interview at the Habitat in Humanity offices in Louisville.  Everyone was very excited and encouraging about John's research.  John was also excited to get started on housing observations on Tuesday.  Monday evening we made it back to downtown to try a cool restaurant called Doc Crow's.  This restaurant had some famous Kentucky Bourbon...so we both got a "taste" which is really what I would think of as a "shot" but in a super fancy glass. I am not a liquor girl but it seemed like the thing to do when visiting Kentucky (though it was somewhat aweful - I think I'll stick to the occasional margarita :) . As always, the food was good and the company was awesome!

Doc Crows

C & J + 4 at home pups :) 

Wildlife Seen

1.  a woodpecker

2. many squirrels (Phoebe's favorite)

3. many rabbits (Fiona's favorite)

4.  1 dead baby water snake (sadly no one's favorite :(

Lessons Learned

1.  Make sure the dogs are a little more tired before running with them...which kind of defeats the purpose a little :) 

2.  Mega churches really are huge 

3.  Accessories always help make a picture more fun!   

Happy 5th Anniversary!

The date

So, Friday May 31st was our 5 year wedding anniversary! Fun huh? John likes to say 5 years of pure bliss :) ...Well, it has been pretty wonderful (even though we have had some amazingly hard stuff to deal with in the last couple of years).  God could not have blessed me with a better husband... and for those of you who know John, I am a pretty lucky gal (and who are we kidding he is pretty darn lucky too!).  So yada yada...enough of the mushy stuff!  

We spent the day doing work but did get to go out on Friday night.  I chose an Irish pub called the Irish Rover in a historic neighborhood called Clifton.  It was right off the avenue which had a lot of neat trendy restaurants and shops.  John ordered a Guinness and I ordered a hard cider and they set us up in the "date table."  Really this meant that John and I were sitting next to each other in a high back booth facing the street.  It was nice and cozy but funny since John and I always laugh when couples sit on the same side of the table.  We generally like to sit across from another and John in general a no public display of affection kind of guy---sometimes I can get him to hold my hand --- sometimes ;)

So any sort of diet we were on before went out the door at the Irish Rover.  I ordered bubble and squeak (which is basically a fried mashed potato cake) and John ordered cheese and chive fritters (which was basically fried cheese) for appetizers (did I mention we had also eaten a bread basket full of the most amazing sour dough and soda bread!).  Anyway, I did not feel as bad because I had a salad for dinner -- John had a BLT with Irish chips (or what we Americans like to call your basic french fry!)

fried cheese and chives  and bubble and squeak!

We topped the night off with local made ice cream from the Comfy Cow which was just a 5 minute walk from dinner and home to the Casita where we snuggled in to our little hobbit hole and enjoyed an episode of Downtown Abby.

Cheers to 5 happy years! 

Thank you for the first 5 years can't wait for the next 50 --- I love you dear!

C + J & 4 lucky to have us as parents pups!