Paw paws

Melissa's new obsession is the paw paw fruit.  She first tried it from the ISU research farm that Myron woks at and then she and Grandpa Ed went out on a hunt and found that there are a few wild groves of them growing around SE Iowa.  The fruit is sweeter the more "rotten" the fruit looks.  It is really a lot of seed with some edible fruit surrounding it, but Melissa and Ed claim to enjoy eating it....they both do enjoy harvesting the seeds.

Melissa plans to stratify these seeds over the winter and plant them in the spring.  The paw paw trees grow slowly but should grow fine in Iowa.

Alena has climbed into this paw paw tree to harvest some fruit.  It has quite the tropical look for an Iowa tree.

August 2017 Highlights!

Here's a selection of the most exciting events from August....

Trampoline park!

Big Air Nora!

Edith sitting, mostly naked, on the table and eating.

Edith's favorite place, all summer long, this is where you will find her.

Taking a sip of water out of the sprinkler.

Merry-go-round at Adventureland!

Same table eating, same little nudist.

On the table again.  With clothes, unique concept.

Alena in a tree.  This was not her first tree-ing this summer and it certainly won't be her last.

Alena with a chicken.  Like being in a tree, Alena often has a chicken in her arms.

First day of school!

It was the first day of school for Alena (3rd grade) and Nora (1st grade).  Always a little sad when school starts, especially after such a fun summer!

Michael Strabala - Wedding Celebration

On a beautiful August afternoon, a group of friends and family gathered to celebrate Michael Strabala and his marriage to Samson Elsbernd.  The festivities took place at Michael's sister's farmhouse and was quite beautifully done.  Besides the wedding, it was practically a 1998 class reunion, since nearly half of them were in attendance (at least the best and brightest)....pictured below.

Old West

It was Julianne's dream to take an old-timey family photo and it finally happened at Adventureland!

Spelunking

While Edith had a whee of a time with Grandma and Grandpa, the rest of the Jensen crew drove to Maquoketa Caves and went camping, hiking, and of course....cave exploring.  With some $2 headlamps from Wal-Mart (which ended up providing a little less light than we planned), our group was ready to explore the depths of Maquoketa.

Relaxing at our campsite, getting some foil packets ready to cook.

Creek play.

More creek....these girls love a good creek.

This cave is not too tight for Melissa to fit through!

These girls are small, I don't think they'll get stuck in this cave (whose name I cannot recall).

Climbing out of a cave that Daddy was not keen to climb into.  This girl was plenty brave!

On a very nice woodsy hike.

Posing on the trail inside of "Dancehall Cave".

Alena really came into her own climbing through these caves, over and over and over.

Under the land bridge.

Softball - Nora's first year

Nora decided to try out softball this summer and Melissa decided to try out coaching.  It was a coach-pitch league (no strikes or outs, but lots of fun) and they got to be on the best-named team, the "Sunbirds"!

Nora did a wonderful job hitting (almost never had to use the tee) and she was the fastest base runner on the team.  Melissa did a great job getting the girls ready for games and the girls all made solid improvements.

Looking cool in the dug-out!

A good throw from short stop....coach Mommy looks impressed.

This was a solid hit, between the pitcher and the third baseline.  Clearly, she knows how to place a ball....one word....coach.

The team in full!

AFV???? (and Carlton of course)

Alena and Daddy went to Elmcrest for the Zach Johnson Classic.  It was hot and a lot of walking and they saw too little golf to make that part exciting.  They did get to see Grandpa Steve play a little out on the course, but the highlight was not Grandpa....it was getting to meet the host of America's Funniest Videos in person!  He was very nice and really quite buff!

An orange cat and his girls.

Edith and Jones.

Nora and Jones.

Alena and Jones.

Edith's first camping trip

Nothing better than camping in the great outdoors, lollipop lights illuminating the scenery, fire going and enjoying some great Ossman company (and a cold beer).






Even babies like beer.  Too bad it's empty.


A bit of land-kayaking.


Edith like camping soooo much, she didn't want to miss a second.  Which included not going to bed.  So, Mommy and Grandma Dee took Edith back to the farm and slept there (about 10:30pm).  Everyone came back in the morning for pancakes.

Nora's first dance recital

Nora finished her first year of dance (ballet and tap) and capped it off with an exciting recital performance that I still cannot believe.  She was not nervous in the least bit, although I was nervous for her, and she performed amazingly.  In fact, she performed so amazingly and did so well at listening and trying her hardest all year that she was awarded one of only 5 "Outstanding Student" awards for the entire dance troupe which includes a scholarship for next year's dance lessons!  GO NORA!

Chef Alena

Alena has really become quite the chef in the kitchen the past few months.  She is an expert at pancakes, grilled cheese, and has her own secret recipe for deviled eggs.  She also likes cooking recipes delivered from Blue Apron (pre-boxed ingredients shipped to our house).