Our First Party

It was great to "break-in the house" with our first party. We did miss all our normal party friends and buddies from Newburgh (and other lands), but were happy to reconnect with friends that moved to the Des Moines area after college.
Here are Ken and D*. Ken was D*'s Pledge Dad in our service fraternity (Alpha Phi Omega) in college.

This is my high school buddy L*. She is the gal who hosted us last weekend for an ice cream social.

Notice the lack of a beautiful sun umbrella! We did not need to block the scorching sun, because it was nice and cool. We were lucky since the rain stopped just in time, that we didn't need to use the umbrella to keep us dry.

Here are some of the kids - "spying" on the big boys, who wanted the little one's out of Matthew's bedroom. Look at Anna's gaze in awe - she loves "big kids".

After our picnic we tried to make it to view the fireworks. We saw the show while on the way, but is was over by the time we got there. Our friends brought sparklers though, and our kids got their first experience (no not Anna) and really loved it. Of course I was a nervous Nellie the whole time, but that shocks no one.

Although we miss all the beautiful sights of the neighborhood fireworks, we really enjoy Iowa's "no firework" peace and quiet at bedtime.