A Day at the Park

I haven't blogged much during the past few months, and my writing chops are getting rusty. I wasn't being lazy, though; I just haven't had much to write about. 

Each day is basically the same:

We take Ellie out for a walk in the morning, and Daphne and I go for another walk while Ellie naps and Char watches YouTube on the computer. Lunch is either from a drive-thru or it's leftovers. Char plays with the other kids in the neighborhood in the afternoon while Daphne quilts, and I take a nap. Daphne usually meets me on the deck between 4 and 5, and then we make dinner. We have meat and cheese on Friday nights, Casey's pizza on Saturdays, and I usually grill on Sundays. We walk Ellie again after dinner, and then we watch a movie. Sometimes Char watches with us; sometimes she goes out to play again. 

There. I wrote my entire "How I Spent My Summer" essay in one paragraph. Of course there have been slight variations, but that really does sum up how we spent our time. 

In fact, we haven't traveled beyond the city limits since we brought Ellie home three months ago. That's sad. We needed to air ourselves out. We decided to surprise the girls with a trip to Pella, Iowa. Why Pella? There's a park there that Char really enjoyed playing at during last year's Tulip Time celebration, and there is also Jaarsma Bakery. Daphne and Char love that bakery, and it is in walking distance of two meat markets that I enjoy. So, we hit the road.

Ellie was a bit concerned when "Mom" and Char left to explore the bakery.

Cat Char arrived a few minutes later to calm her down.

Charlotte talked Daphne into buying her a fish cookie. The truth is that Char could care less about fish or the cookie. She just wants whatever shape has the most frosting. And Mentos. Char likes Mentos.

The park is impressive. There are so many things to climb on, around, under, and over.

Char and Ellie were raring to go.

I thought I'd be holding a leash the entire time, but Ellie was game to play, too.

Ellie wasn't very good on the balance beam.

We spent three hours at that park running around and playing follow the leader, tag, and hide and seek. We'd stopped for a snack break, and then with frosting on her cheek Char asked me, "Dad, can we play hide and seek some more?" I nodded, and she giggled, "This is so awesome!"

Daphne and Ellie got some bench time at the end of our visit.

We knew we'd pass by Prairie City on the way back, so we stopped by Goldie's Ice Cream Shoppe for a late lunch. We ordered in the drive-thru and ate outside.

Char had chicken strips, fries, and then vanilla ice cream. Hello, red and white checked paper! 

For my money, the only thing you need to order at Goldies' is the pork tenderloin sandwich. It won best breaded tenderloin a few years ago, and it is still great. Hello, tenderloin. I like your little bun-hat!

Daphne and I split the sandwich and cheese balls. I claimed the bonus fry as my own. 

We weren't home for more than three minutes before the doorbell rang. Soon, Char was off to the races with her friends, but our other little girl was pooped. 

I'll admit that I also took a nap. But not before I unpacked my fist full of dynamite beef sticks. 

We later decided that after going nowhere since mid-March we had set the bar so low that anything different was going to be fun. Char had such a blast that she asked if this was part of her birthday celebration. I said, "Nope. We just wanted to surprise you with a day at the park." 

Char beamed, "Well, I loved this day!"

That's more than we could have asked for.

Not Fair Update (with Updates!)

Fair Food Fridays continue! We've gotten back in line during the last two Fridays for our Fair Food Fix.

Last week they introduced cheese curds. We were excited to try them, but these were a bit "blonde" for us. We have high hopes they get better with practice.

Update: We later gave the cheese curds a second chance, and they were much improved. 

The State Fair Grinder was spot-on. Daphne was in the process of adding peppers when I took the picture.

Update: Two weeks later, and the Grinder was even better; there was more cheese! 

Update: It was time to try their Cajun Chicken on a Stick. The chicken was tender, the breading was spicy, and the onion and pickles were a surprise. Well played, Fair Food Fridays!

A deep fried Snickers bar is hiding in there. We haven't have one of these since Charlotte was born. Char was impressed with how good this was.

The Applishus food stand (a Daphne favorite) made an appearance this week, and we had a slush and their Apple Egg Rolls with caramel. Both tasted like we were standing next to the Varied Industries building. 

The mini donuts turned out to be donut holes, but no one was complaining. 

Last week Daphne ate her first Gyro with me, and we shared another Jumbo Tenderloin today. Both rocked.

The Iowa State Fair is going to host their own Taste of the Fair event next weekend. I'm glad Iowa is trying to keep the ISF spirit alive even though the fair is now 390 days away.

Update: I am officially a Fair Food Friday Fan, and I have a hat to prove it.

Not Fair

Like most fun events, the Iowa State Fair is postponed until 2021. 

I could make a depressing list of all the things we'll miss about the ISF, but I'm not going down that rabbit hole. I'll concentrate on the stuff that we can do, instead. 

No doubt about it, the food at the Fair is a highlight for our family. We were able to safely enjoy a taste of the fair yesterday thanks to Brenda Smith Concessions. They are hosting "Fair Food Fridays," and offering food from stands that you would normally find on the Iowa State Fairgrounds. 

You preorder online and pick a time slot to pick up your order. Each time slot is an hour long, and it seems like you'll need it because the line of cars is pretty long. This was our first Fair Food Friday, so I can only speak from our one experience, but our wait was about 25 minutes.

We had no idea what the process would look like, but it went very smoothly. When we got closer to the stands, an employee in a mask in gloves approached our car and asked what my order number was. She confirmed the number, and then wrote it on a sticky note that was placed on our wind shield.

Getting closer!

I can almost smell our food.

Yea! Char got popcorn chicken. Daphne and I shared a Pickle Dogg and a Jumbo Pork Tenderloin.

Those look like hand-cut pickles and onions on there!

We drove to an empty school parking lot and ate our lunch. I took one bite of the Pickle Dogg, and exclaimed, "Oh. My. That tastes just like the fair!" Daphne took a bite and quickly nodded in agreement. We traded smiles as we passed the tenderloin back and forth over the hand brake.

It was so good; I had to try to not spill on myself in my excitement. I ordered this ISF shirt back in May before the fair board decided to postpone. This may be the only time I will wear it this year.

No, Fair Food Friday is not the Fair. But it is as close as we'll get for awhile, and I'll take what I can get.

How Did You Spend June 7? (National VCR Day)

National VCR Day is exactly my kind of holiday. Most people threw out their VCRs years ago. I think I still have three (or four).

This is a great day to celebrate in the garage! I pulled this JVC Hi-Fi Stereo VCR out of storage and dusted it off.

I ran this old head cleaner tape through the JVC, but that was mostly for nostalgia. I don't really think these tapes do much.

It's unnecessary, but I wanted to see if this universal remote would work with the JVC.

They don't print VHS codes for these remotes anymore, but the DVD/VHS combo machine code 0692 was successful.

I haven't seen this videocassette message in quite awhile. (See, it is Hi-Fi!) I wonder what the movie will be?

Charlotte's grandpa and grandma dropped off a box of VHS tapes awhile ago, and we found The Princess Diaries in the mix. Fun fact: Garry Marshall also directed Pretty Woman. Thematically, the movies are close, and Hector Elizondo plays a similar role in both films.

Daphne really likes The Princess Diaries, and now Char has become a fan. The VHS image looks pretty good.

The Princess Diaries is probably better than the VHS movie tapes that I picked out.

Yeah, much better...

Happy VHS Day!

FLIX@OURHOUSE

Although we didn't know it then, March 12 was our last day of school. We just thought it was the first afternoon of Spring Break. We decided to celebrate the beginning of our short vacation by going to see Onward at Flix Brewhouse.

I don't like pictures of myself, but I like goofing around with the Flix photo booth. Strong Bad approves of Barley's van, Guinevere.

As everyone knows, almost all businesses, including Flix, shut down a few days later.

The Monsons are lucky. We haven't gotten sick, and we still like being around each other. The grocery store might not have everything we want, but it has everything we need. We even got a puppy. Life is going to be different for awhile, but life is still good.

But, yes, there are some things that I miss. I imagine that many parents have a family photo as a background picture on their computer. Not me. This is my current background picture:

That's a supreme pizza from Flix. A pizza and a movie it is one of my all-time favorite combinations. As a family, we have had a lot of great times at Flix: dance performance celebrations, lazy afternoons, birthday parties, and retro movies on the big screen. I look at that picture and yearn for a vaccine.

To remind us of that fun, I tried to turn our garage into a "theater."

I placed our tank of a Proxima on the freezer and connected it to an old DVD player.

Two computer speakers and a sub provide the audio.

I'm projecting the movies on the back of the garage door. I ordered a white sheet from Target, but it is too thin for this application. You can see the garage door through it. We placed a blanket behind the sheet and added some picnic table cloths for the sides since the picture can be zoomed bigger than the sheet.

But can we enjoy Flix at our house? How about Frozen II? We saw that movie at the Brewhouse. 

Let's try.

Here's the screen with the lights on.

Here's the screen with the lights off.

Initially, the idea was that we would do a Harry Potter marathon and just watch all eight movies. We didn't know if the old projector would be able to last even that long. I set out some folding chairs and used the sawhorse as a table for supplies. 

The garage was so cold back in March we put on winter coats and hats. I also fired up a space heater. Time to watch Deathly Hallows Part 2!

I can't get a Flix supreme pizza, but the garage does serve dessert - ice cream and cookie.

It was really fun! When the Potter marathon was over, I wasn't ready to tear the theater down. But we needed to make some changes. Char got restless being stuck in her chair, so we eventually put down a rug, a blanket, and some pillows. We also added a dog bed for Ellie. 

Now the girls can get really comfortable.

No, this isn't a perfect setup. The "screen" has waves in it, and the image isn't nearly as sharp as it is on a TV. But Daphne says that is all part of the charm. Bless her.

I was so excited about being a dad when Char was born. I bought her a slew of animated movies on DVD at Goodwill even though it would be years before she could enjoy them. Since I can't connect a Blu-Ray player to the old Proxima,  I was glad to have that supply when everything shut down in March. The Urbandale Library has also been a great help. And since the DVD is not a dead format, Redbox is providing new releases.

Our routine is to watch one movie a night. So far, we have watched:

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (x2)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (x2)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (x2)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (x2)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (x2)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (x2)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (x2)
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
Abominable
Megamind
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
Brother Bear
Brother Bear 2 (Better than you think)
Secondhand Lions
Brave
Tangled
The Lego Movie
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part
Zootopia
WALL-E
Bolt
The Road to El Dorado
How to Train Your Dragon
How to Train Your Dragon 2
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
The Sound of Music
Cinderella 3: A Twist in Time
Treasure Planet
Sinbad
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Open Season 2 (not recommended)
Napoleon Dynamite (Char's favorite)
Robots
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
Sing
Tarzan
Hercules
Turbo
Eight Below
Moana
Big Hero 6
Coco
The Sword in the Stone
Paranorman (Scared Char, but didn't scar her)
Swiss Family Robinson
Puss in Boots
Oliver and Company
Mary Poppins Returns
Aladin (2019)
Peter Rabbit
Frozen II

The Queen’s Corgi (not recommended)

Sky High (should have had a sequel)

Paddington 2 (better than the original)

Because of Winn Dixie

Playing with Fire

The Princess Diaries (on VHS)

Mary Poppins

Trolls

Frozen Sing-Along Version (And we did!)

Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker

Nanny McPhee

Dora and the Lost City of Gold (kid-friendly Indiana)

Scooby Doo and Kiss
Trolls World Tour
SCOOB!
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
Fly Away Home (forgotten gem)
The Princess Bride (Char's B-Day pick)
Space Buddies

When Char was out playing with friends or in bed:

Glory Road

Goal! The Dream Begins

Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (much darker and less fun than I remembered)

Indiana Jones and the last Crusade

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (I’d rank theses four movies as follows: 1, 4, 3, and then 2)

The Core

Kill Bill Vol. 1
Kill Bill Vol. 2
A Knight's Tale
Captain America: The First Avenger
Iron Man
Drop Dead Gorgeous
The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)
The Saint (1997)
Iron Man 2

Thor

Marvel’s The Avengers 

Iron Man 3

Thor: The Dark World
Guardians of the Galaxy 
Avengers: Age of Ultron (convoluted and not much fun)

Ant-Man

Captain America: Civil War

Doctor Strange
Spider-Man: Homecoming 
Thor: Ragnarok 
Black Panther
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Avengers: Infinity War
Captain Marvel
Avengers: Endgame
Spider-Man: Far From Home

By myself:
Death Race
Death Race 2
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

I know these are not the best of times, but I want to be able to look back and know we tried to make the best of them. Honestly, what else can you do?