It's May, It's May, the crazy month of May!

We flew to DC on the 30th of April to see Julia's May 1st play.

                                                            I think she was a bunny. :-)

RJ had hockey on Sunday morning. 

He is one of those kids on the ice!
We went to a nearby church afterwards.

Julia's volleyball team played at St. James

I think she was the only one 

on her team who could hit the ball!

We visited Gonzaga College High School

where RJ will be a freshman next year.

We met the president while we were

exploring the grounds. He said there

are 4,000 students at the school.

St. Ignatius...founder of the Jesuits.

The visiting Bishop talked for an hour
in a freezing cold church, and then he
smiled for pictures after Confirmation

on May 6th.

Sara's friend Hillary was RJ's sponsor.

Her son Logan was confirmed in their

church the previous week. Hillary 

and Logan visited our farm a few

years ago.

St. Agnes stands in front of the church.

The kids go to St. Agnes school.

While we were flying to Iowa on the 7th, the

Bueckers family was at a track meet

watching Caiden and his team win it all!

Trina left a car at the airport for us,

so we could drive to their Crescent

house where we were staying.

We flew to Cedar Rapids on the 7th

and went to the Pella Tulip Festival

the next morning. First, we took

a tour around the town. Two large

industries there are Pella Windows

and the Vermeer company that

makes balers and other ag equipment.

Next, we walked down to the bakery

to stand in line to buy goodies. Friends

from our Texas park who live in Iowa,

LeeAnn and Richard, met us there. 

After lunch in the local cafe, 

LeeAnn and I went shoe shopping. :-)

The famous Vermeer Windmill is

still working, but they weren't 

grinding wheat the day we were there.

Inside is a five-story museum

with Dutch artefacts and history.

I learned the The Netherlands is

composed of a group of islands,

each with its own dialect and customs.

Most of the tulips had bloomed early, 

but there were still some late-bloomers

around the town and at the museum here.

The volunteer is explaining how 

the mill on the top floor worked.

We watched the parade from the top level of the windmill!

After the parade, we stopped for

some "sarsparilla"...yes, that is the

correct spelling for "sasparilla".

My father used to order it by the

case from somewhere near Boston!

Google this...they rent it for a

variety of events. This was Tom

and Trina's home until a year ago 

when they moved out into the country.

Ana and the girls came down for Caiden's graduation

party and also stayed at the Crescent house.

 Afterwards, we ordered pizza and shared 

some fun family time. On Mother's Day after church

we had burgers and salads at the country house.

Later we rode back to Minnesota 

with Ana and the girls because our pickup

was at their house for the winter!

On Monday night, Claire played her violin 

with the Junior-Senior concert orchestra

and also received an Academic Award

for superior grades. We headed home

to North Dakota on Tuesday morning.

After eight hours, we made it home on the 12th!

Chicken eggs were incubating when we were

at Doug and Sara's, but the eggs didn't

hatch until after we left! Julia has three here.

      I think RJ is holding nine baby chicks!

On Thursday, the 14th, Doc Seiler presented

a slide show and talked about his 400 mile

walk on the Camino de Santiago in Spain.

Caiden's graduation was on the 17th.

We watched it on our computers, and 

I took a pic from mine. He also received 

recognition for academic excellence.