It was a cool crisp morning. The clouds were beautiful and the sun was shining. It was a beautiful day to enjoy the park.
We’ve had such beautiful weather the past few days. Beautiful fall days mean getting outside and soaking in the sunshine as much as we can before it turns cold for good.
Last week Drew and I decided to visit Yenruogis to hunt for rocks. He’s studying geology in science and we wanted to have rocks on hand to study. Spur of the moment we decided to give a shout out to the homeschool group we get together with once in awhile and see if they wanted to join us. We met Thursday morning, the kids wandered all over the park and then we ate a picnic lunch. It was actually pretty cold that day but when the sun popped out it was nice and the scenery was beautiful!
Yenruogis is a small park just outside of our little town and we always seem to forget it is there. The lake was originally a quarry. There is primitive camping and lots of places for picnics. You can walk all the way around the lake, which the kids did. We really need to take advantage of this great place more than we do and we plan to. It’s also a great place to go sledding in the winter.
We saw lots of beaver activity.Lake Darling – the kids love walking over this bridge!
Then Abby asked if we would want to meet at Lake Darling on Saturday to walk the trails. So we got up early, packed our lunch and met her and the grandkids at our favorite camping spot. It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm. The kids played for awhile at the playground, we ate our picnic lunch and then walked the trails. It was nice to enjoy each other’s company and to get outside in the fresh air.
I planned an impromptu get together last Sunday. Drew had been begging to go on a Mule ride and I was thinking a wiener roast would be fun so I convinced Joe that we should drive the Mule to Dad and Mom’s and have a wiener roast in the timber.
Uncle Drew and Bayah relaxing in the back of the Mule.
The day was beautiful with warm temps and sunny skies. I contacted Abby to see if they would like to join us and let Dad and Mom know we were going to be using their timber. They had originally planned to be gone but decided to change their plans and join us.
My favorite place to be.
It ended up being such a fun time. We ate hot dogs and chips and pumpkin bars. Some played corn hole, some sat and enjoyed the afternoon. Drew gave Bayah rides on the Mule and the kids had fun climing the bluff and exploring the timber. Then we had s’mores before heading home.
Joe and Jeremy are accomplished at roasting hot dogs!If corn hole is being played, Braxton will be playing!The kids love to climb the sandstone bluff
We had spent the weekend getting things done around the house and finishing up the chicken coop. Joe knew he had to be gone this week for work so was focused on that. I just wanted us to have a few hours of relaxation time, being with family and enjoying the beautiful fall weather. It was nice to just spend a few hours enjoying each others company and enjoying the beautiful fall day.
Dad and Mom on the right, us, Jeremy and Abby on the left. Uncle Jerry was down a couple of spots and Skip and Brandi were a little ways up the hill.
Another Houseal Family Get Together is in the books. We had the most beautiful fall weather this year and camping at Lake Darling is always a great experience. We camped Thursday through Sunday together with Dad and Mom, Jeremy and Abby, Skip and Brandi, and Uncle Jerry. Then on Saturday everybody else came for the day. I took lots and lots of pictures and still didn’t get pictures of everyone. And we didn’t get a group picture this year. Oh well, hopefully next year we’ll remember. I love that we try to do this every year!
I found a rock at our campsite! Thanks Brandi!Joe and Uncle Jerry heading out on a trail. I drove them to the other side of the lake and dropped them off. I’m hoping to walk this trail yet this year. We walked at least one trail each day and the kids brought their scooters along.I wonder what Bayah and Great Grandma are discussing?Brandi brought her paint supplies and rocks along and lots of rocks were painted and hid around the park. So much fun!Boys rolling down hills!There was lots of corn hole played. Uncle Jerry and Jeremy won the tournament on Saturday!Grandpa and Bayah may or may not have hid under the table to eat candy before we ate lunch!An early morning walk before everyone before anyone else was up.Boys fascinated with motors.Dad and Joe – wonder what they were discussin?Skip and JeremyDad, Me and JoeBraxton and DrewMom and Uncle Donnie (Mom’s baby brother)Abby and Uncle JerryMom and Uncle Terry – Mom’s younger brotherUncle Jerry. He’s not a Houseal but he’s always invited and I love that he camps with us too! He’s Dad’s brother-in-law.Noah and Braxton (Braxton LOVED playing corn hole!)We had morning fires and evening fires – lots of wood was burned over the weekend!
Last Sunday Drew and I went on a field trip. There is a little town called Lancaster just outside of Sigourney and all that is left is a handful of houses, a church, and this beautiful one room school house. I had never visited the schoolhouse before and since they were having their annual open house I decided to take Drew on an adventure.
The first floor
This little schoolhouse is the only one room wooden structure, two story schoolhouse west of the Mississippi! It has been preserved beautifully and we enjoyed our little adventure exploring the building and the beautiful grounds.
The second floor
We tend to think that we need to travel to enjoy beautiful places or pieces of history but sometimes they are right in our own backyard. It was fun to tour this and even better, we visited with friends and neighbors and people we knew who had gone to school here. Before we know it, those who did go to school here will no longer be with us which makes it even more priceless to talk to them and hear their stories!
This is the staircase that takes you to the second floor. We learned that at one time there were two separate staircases, one on each side of the building. One was for the girls and one was for the boys. Drew found that to be interesting and I explained to him that when I was in 4th grade our school building, which is no longer standing, had two staircases leading into the school. They were on opposite sides of the building and one was for the girls and one was for the boys.
We’ve been so busy lately and it’s been hard to fit in some stitching but I’ve managed! I’ve been stitching orders and stitching things to sell and once in a blue moon I stumble across a pattern I just have to stitch for myself!
When we were at the quilting/needlework store in Amana we found this cute cross stitch/beadwork kit. Two of us purchased the kit and are going to make Christmas ornaments to commemorate our camping trip. I haven’t done beadwork in a long time and it’s been fun to do a little bit of it again. I’m looking forward to finishing mine and seeing how Susie finishes hers. I’m sure they will look totally different from each other and yet both will be beautiful!
You can’t really see how the beads sparkle but they do. And they’ll really sparkle on the Christmas tree! It’s fun to have someone else stitching too as I don’t have anybody local who stitches and I’ve always thought it would be fun to stitch with friends!
All set up for the weekend. It doesn’t always work out but these campsites were perfect so that we could set up all four campers with our doors facing each other. We had this whole area just to ourselves!
A few years ago we started camping with a group of friends over the Labor Day weekend. There are four couples in this group and we take turns picking out a campground. This year was our year to choose so we chose the Amana area. The other three couples live in the Clear Lake area and we live in southeast part of the state. Some years we have to travel a bit more, other years a campground that is more centrally located is chosen. This year was a lot closer for us but the others wanted to explore this area so it worked out great.
We all headed to the Amana Campground on Friday and set up camp, had some supper and sat around the campfire. Then on Saturday we headed to Mt. Pleasant to the Old Threshers Reunion. This is an annual event that takes place every year in Mt. Pleasant after the State Fair is over. Many people in our state will camp at the State Fair for two weeks then pull their camper straight to the Old Threshers. I have lived here my whole life and never visited so I was looking forward to this too.
It was wonderful to see all the old steam engines, tractors, vehicles, different motors, etc. and the best part was seeing all of the young people taking part. This is such a big part of our history and it would be so sad if people didn’t keep up the tradition of holding this reunion for all to see. There were so many young people joining right in with the old learning how to run all of these things and doing all the work involved. I would love to go back again and spend more time here taking it all in.
Remember the old Burma Shave signs?
On Sunday we toured Main Amana. We walked through the shops and took it all in. The Amanas are a group of German villages established long ago. They lived in communal houses and each member of the village was assigned a job. One person may be a cook, another a farmer, a gardener and so on. They all worked together to keep the community going. Many of the old original buildings are still standing and being used as restaurants, shops and as houses. The General Store and the quilting shop were favorites among the women and the men simply tolerated the day! The restaurants are fun to eat at as they serve traditional German food family style but unfortunately Sundays are busy and we couldn’t get in without a reservation. So we checked out the Meat Shop, purchased some Amana meat and headed back to the campground with some yummy things to try. We went for a walk around the campground in the afternoon and checked out the dog show. There was an AKC Dog Obedience show going on all weekend and according to the lady when we registered, there were 3,000 dogs in the campground. It was fun to see all the different dogs and watch a small portion of one of the shows. It reminded me of the horse shows when I was young only with dogs!
We played some cards and lots and lots of bags at the campground. Spent each night sitting around the fire talking and enjoying each others company. Kelsey made us sugar cone s’more one night. Yum!
The weather was perfect, overcast and cool when we were at the Old Threshers and warm and sunny on Sunday. The evenings cooled down and the fire felt so good. It was another fun Labor Day weekend spent with good friends!
It was so nice Thursday as we were pretty much the only ones there!
My daughter contacted us right after we came home from our Clear Lake camping trip and asked if we would want to camp at Lake Darling with them the following weekend. And of course, we made it happen! How could we not make it work when it meant spending time with her and our son in law and our grandkids? We had such a great time in a beautiful setting.
We had such a pretty view across from our camper. These guys visited a couple of times.
We spent the weekend relaxing, hiking, playing games and just enjoying each other’s company. There was some really good food to eat too. Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Ward and Uncle Jerry and Cousin Todd came for a visit Saturday afternoon/evening which is always a treat. Great Grandma brought homemade peach cobbler and homemade strawberry pie!
There’s nothing like camping to enjoy family. Days and evenings with nothing to do but be together. Very little internet reception meant the kids didn’t beg to be on devices and us grown ups couldn’t spend much time on devices either. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and we took advantage of the cooler temperatures. There are paved trails along the lake and through the woods that are great with little kids as they can ride their bikes and scooters. There are also trails to hike that aren’t paved which we plan to walk someday too.
There was a mink running along the shoreline here. He ran under the bridge we were on when I took this picture, crossed the creek and ran back under the bride. He was a pretty little critter!The trails were so nice to walk on!A little coffee and early morning reading for me! I like to get up before everyone else and have some alone time and listen to the campground wake up.The early morning sun peeking through the treesGrandpa and Braxton having an early morning discussionDrew starting an early morning fire to warm me upBayah may have gotten tired so Daddy gets to carry her scooter while Grandpa gives her a rideI got some stitching time inSugar Cone S’mores – yummyUNO in the evenings. When Abby and Jeremy were dating we would play UNO at the campground, now we’re playing UNO with their kids!Grandpa is trying hard to convince Bayah that there’s a crocodile in the lake. She knew better!The boys made a bridge on the bridge!
Camping has been a favorite of ours for quality family time for years now. And it makes my heart happy to have my daughter and her family camping now too. She said once that she has such great memories of our camping trips when she was growing up and she wants her kids to have those same memories. Joe and I are blessed that she wants to include us in those memories!
Joe asked if we wanted to go for a drive last evening and we ended up at Lake Darling. It’s a beautiful state park. They have done some major improvements over the past few years and cement paths are one of them. We had never walked on this one and Drew wanted to walk across the bridge so even though we weren’t really dressed for a hike, or dressed for being out in public!, we went ahead and took off. It was a beautiful evening, the heat and humidity had died down and there were very few people around on a Tuesday evening. Even though we hadn’t planned on going anywhere to begin with and we certainly hadn’t planned on going for a hike, it was just what we needed. Family time outdoors.
My dad grew up in a small town just down the road from Lake Darling. It’s a manmade lake and he remembers when it was made. He talks about going to the dedication ceremony that they had. Mom moved to town when they were in high school and she always tells the story of how when they were dating, after a long hot day of making hay, Dad would come pick her up and they’d head out to the lake to go to the beach so Dad could cool off and clean off! I don’t know that the young kids today will ever understand what it meant to make hay. It was a hot, dirty, itchy, hard job. I can remember trying to help when I was younger but I could never manage to haul those bales around.
I can remember when I was little camping here and swimming at the beach. Then when I got married, we camped here many times with our kids. We’ve met here many times over the years for picnics with family. The last time I saw my Grandpa Houseal alive was at an outing here. There are so many memories associated with this beautiful place.
Now I’m ready for another camping trip to Lake Darling. Hopefully this fall. We’ll bring our bikes and hit those trails and see what more Lake Darling has to offer!
I have rarely traveled. Unless there is a reason to go somewhere, I would just rather stay home. I’ve been to South Dakota when my oldest son competed there in the Nationals with his 4-H Shooting Sports Club. We had so much fun. I’ve been to Kentucky to visit my brother-in-law and sister-in-law when they lived there and we then went onto Memphis and met more of his family there and went to Graceland. (They are huge Elvis fans!). I’ve been to St. Louis to visit the Arch and to Hannibal, MO to camp with friends. That is as far away from my little Midwest Iowa town I’ve ventured. Until two weeks ago.
Joe came home a awhile back from a business trip to Florida and told me we were taking a vacation to Florida so I could see the ocean. He didn’t ask, he told. He knew if he asked, my answer would be no. I’ve always wanted to see the ocean and last summer for our 30th anniversary we were going to go on a trip but thanks to Covid we canceled it. Well, this time around he wasn’t going to take no for an answer and two weeks later the car was loaded up and we were Florida bound!
We took a cooler of food so we wouldn’t have to eat out much and we didn’t plan to do anything big, just see some country as we drove and visit the Atlantic and the Gulf. Oh, and I have an Uncle and Aunt who just happen to live in The Villages who were thrilled that we were coming down and were so gracious in taking us to their favorite beaches and then we spent a day in The Villages tootling around on golf carts seeing all there is to offer there.
We had a great time. They joked that I was bad luck as we didn’t see the sun until our last day there so my beach visits were all overcast with wind and lots of waves. But I didn’t care, I was fascinated with the ocean! We collected lots and lots of shells, wandered the beaches, drove down Daytona Beach and drove across the Skyway. We stopped in Nashville on the way there and on the way back and got to visit Broadway Street and see The Grand Ole Opry. We drove through the mountains, which were beautiful and my next travel adventure is going to be in the mountains somewhere. Joe says the Rockies!
It was such a fun week. I might be willing to actually go again sometime!
Hazel caused a little bit of trouble when she got home. Since we don’t actually have a place for Hazel at the moment, Dad volunteered to keep her over the winter until we can get a place fenced in for her. Dad is glad to have her to maybe get some weeds eaten down in his lot. Unfortunately, Hazel came home with us on a Monday and on Tuesday, she escaped. We spent Tuesday night looking for her to no avail. Dad felt awful. He called Uncle Jerry to see if he had sold the rest of his goats. Uncle Jerry proceeded to bring one of his old dairy goats along with another little goat to stay with Dad and Mom in hopes that they would help lure Hazel home.
She was spotted following the neighbor’s cows around. And she came out of hiding once when Mom went down and called like a goat but once she realized it was Mom and not a real goat, off she went. Then, thanks to a neighbor who had an “animal caller”, they took that down with them along with the old tame dairy goat, used the caller and lured Hazel back to the barn. She followed the dairy goat up no problem. I’m sure after spending three nights “in the wild” and all by herself she was ready for some company.
So we brought her home on Monday, she escaped on Tuesday, then she was home again on Friday evening. Saturday afternoon I took Drew over to spend time with her. She was a little skiddish, and why wouldn’t she be. The poor thing had had quite the week. Taken away from her herd, loose in the wild, back to a strange place. But Dad can catch her as she seems to have warmed up to him quickly, and we spent some time just talking to her and petting her and letting her get used to us. She’s a sweet little thing and has the most beautiful ears. It will take some time but I think she’s going to fit right in with us.
We went back over Sunday evening and took supper to Dad and Mom and spent some more time with Hazel. And Nanny and Rubio – as the other two goats have been named now also. Uncle Jerry will be taking them home at some point but how can you not name a goat? Nanny is a big pain in the behind. She is tame as can be and gets into everything and eats everything – including your clothes. Rubio on the other hand has never been handled and doesn’t want to be messed with. So for now Dad will have a good start on getting rid of those weeds with is new goat herd!
