Book Report

It's been ages since I've written about books, but I do continue to read, and sometimes it feels like my goal in life is just to fight my way to fifteen minutes alone with a book.

I've been having a good streak of reading and wanted to share.  If you're female, read On The Island.  It's a terrific book about a 30 year old woman and her high school charge that survive a plane crash, only to be stranded on a deserted island.  It has quite a lot of substance about that harsh reality, and the strange dynamic of living in isolation with another person.  It's wonderful.  And most interestingly, it was self published and has become a phenomenon through word of mouth.  Love it.

 I also recently read Wheat Belly, and found it very inspiring.  I like to read nutritional books every once in a while to keep me honest, and this was a pretty startling look at the effects of all the bread-related products we eat.  Turns out that a significant proportion of my food was made up of pasta, buns, cereal, crackers and cookies, you name it.  I've spent the last two weeks going without wheat, and it's amazing how difficult it can be - it forced me to actually increase my portions of food with nutrients in it.  Imagine that.

Finally, I just finished Killing Floor, by Lee Child.  Apparently I'm the last person in civilization to hear of the Jack Reacher series, it's going to be a movie with Tom Cruise any day now.  A friend tipped me off, and I was gripped by the story immediately.  It's a page turning murder mystery, with an intelligent plot and riveting action sequences.  Very fun.  I'm a good chunk through the second book already.

Fun With Goggles

Swim goggles, Oreo cookies and ballet.  Three great things that go great together.  Here's the video.

New Hats!

Iowa Trip, Part 2

During the rest of our trip to Iowa, we caught up with all our local friends and family - fireworks, barbeque, catching fireflies, and playing with twin cousins and baby cousins.  It was a great trip as always!

  

Iowa Trip, Part I (Adventureland)

 We had an AMAZING time at Adventureland this year!  Our friends Chad, Stacey and Maxwell joined us, Max is the blonde cutie in all these pics.  We spent about 7 hours at the park in steaming, humid hot and sweatiness.  Good thing there were no lines!  A couple of those hours were at the new waterpark, which was an absolutely fantastic time.  The highlight for me was walking alongside Ada in the "lazy river," as she swam with the current, and exclaimed to everyone about how she could swim all by herself.  It was really great.