on the iphone || June 2020

At the end of May, after already being home for an extra two and a half months with the kids, I remember thinking that it was going to be the longest summer in the history of America.  And now here we are just days away from July 4th, which always feels like the top of the summertime mountain.  Next week, we'll already be on the downhill slide of summer and there is so much more summering to do!  More pool days and kayak floats, outdoor movies and barbecues, bike rides and road trips.  This has definitely been the summer of so many unknowns, but we are doing our best to find the joy and adventure around every corner.  

A few photos from the iphone this past month...

Starting with our first restaurant visit since March on the kids' (un)official last day of school.  The social distance guidelines made the place feel incredibly quiet, but I was just happy to have a night off from doing dishes!

Anniversary day dates for the win!  Except nothing was really open and the trails were flooded so we ended up back at our house much sooner than we expected.

The stinkers of Samantha Circle!  Love this crew so much.  

I had the best of intentions with summer reading this summer...but I think we are all burnt out from home-school because they have yet to earn one of their weekly prizes.  But we get ice cream anyways because...Covid.  There have been so many "because...Covid" moments this year!

A wild and crazy night of Twilight with this bunch!  I'm not sure what they put in that wine...

She's getting the hang of golf life.  Which in Mila's world means eat-all-the-dots-pretzels-while-everyone-else-golfs.  

Girlfriend got an upgrade to a new bike this summer after struggling to make it to SingleSpeed on a big bike ride with friends.  Her bestie, Adrienne, effortlessly pedaled all 7 miles on her little geared bike and poor Mila's legs just couldn't keep up.  So the next week, we snagged the very last bike at Dick's and a new helmet to go with it.  She figured out the gears in no time and made the same ride to SingleSpeed a week later like a boss.  Not much will stop this girl when she's got her mind on something.  She just learned to ride last summer and a year later, she's riding miles on her seven-speed.    

We had a fun bike ride with my dad for Father's Day weekend.  There was rain in the forecast all day, but then it cleared up enough for us to go for it.  We had a great ride to SingleSpeed (turns out we've spent a lot of time there since they re-opened!), and then rode in rain the entire way home.  It didn't spoil our fun for a minute, though, and I'm pretty sure we would have all turned around and done it again the next day.  Long bike rides have officially taken the cake for the best post-quarantine family activity so far this summer.  

We revisited George Wyth Beach a few times this summer before the pool opened.  They had the most fun with their cousins in tow.

I want to remember this afternoon.  After starting the summer in quite the funk, we were finally able to visit the pool and spend most of the day there.  We ordered yummy food poolside, the kids had a blast jumping off the boards, and we soaked up lots of sunshine.  Afterwards, we had some ice cream and did some reading on the deck.  Mila climbed on my lap and fell asleep there!  I held on for dear life, remembering all our post-pool naps with all her sun-kissed skin and humidity curls and wondering how many more I might get.

And just like that, it felt like summer.   

I spent an afternoon baking pies to finish off the dessert section of my Magnolia Cookbook.  The pecan pie was amazing; the mascarpone peach tart was good but not worth the hours it entailed!

And one more breakfast casserole with yet another hollandaise sauce.  This one I whipped up to perfection.  

The kids and their stuffy sock monsters - Lola and Brainy.  

Fuzzy pj scooter rides before bed...in 90-degree weather. ;)

Man am I glad Iowa officially passed the cocktails-to-go bill.  Verve's Paloma is my fave summer cocktail.  

Father's Day wiffle ball with the Pattersons continued for the second straight year.  

Scenes from strawberry picking...

And scenes from our front porch.  Rainy days are such sweet invitations to slow down, stay in our pjs, and read on the porch!  

Okay, July.  We're ready for you!

Wordless Wednesday || A Night at the Drive-In

While there may not be a lot of things that feel "normal" this summer, there's often a silver lining that can be found if you look close enough.  And Saturday night, our silver lining was found right on the silver screen.  One of our community's sweetest summertime traditions, Movies Under the Moon, was cancelled due to all things Covid and social distancing.  But just a few weeks later, Downtown Cedar Falls and Gallagher Bluedorn announced a new version of Movies Under the Moon - drive-in style.  Families could "purchase" free tickets, then park in the huge lot north of the Dome to enjoy a night under the stars in the comfort of their car space.  And when the first round of Friday movies sold out within minutes, the great people organizing the event added a Saturday showing to the mix.  Simply to give people something to look forward to and add a little summertime magic to a very strange year.
     

Saturday night, we packed up the back of Beau's truck with all the essentials - an air mattress and some of our favorite blankets, enough pillows for an army of movie goers, our friend, Luke's, contractor radio which provided enough sound for all our neighbors, and popcorn, Sour Patch Kids, Junior Mints, and Hot Tamales.  We ate some pizza on the patio at Urban Pie, then headed to UNI and were greeted by a sea of volunteers who directed us to a perfect spot in front of a giant jumbo screen.  The night couldn't have been better for a movie - there was a chill in the air perfect for some pickup truck snuggling, the sky was all sorts of golden, the stars were thick and the moon was bright.  Cruz's friend, Lincoln, happened to be right next to our car, we played UNO while we waited, and then we settled right in to that familiar score of one of our favorite Disney movies, Moana. 

Sometimes change leads to new and even better beginnings.  And I think Cedar Falls may be onto something with this new approach to Movies Under the Moon.  If you grew up in Cedar Falls, it's likely you spent a night or two under the stars at the old Hillcrest Drive-In.  Maybe this will be the summer to step back into history and recreate something pretty special.  We'll definitely be in line for a front row seat.