We "Camped" in a Yurt!

We took the kids yurt camping! Camping is a loose term here.

Yurts are semi-permanent structures, and they kind of remind me of a circus tent. They're becoming a little common in state parks throughout the country, and I thought it would be a good way to stay overnight at a state park with the kids. The yurts have bunk beds, a futon that folds out into a full bed, and electricity. There's also a facility located there with a flushing toilet, running water, and a shower. It was a perfect weekend getaway with two little kids.

The only public yurts in Iowa are these two at McIntosh Woods State Park, which is in the northern part of Iowa (about halfway between Des Moines and Minneapolis). The state park itself is pretty small, but it's located on Clear Lake, which is large & beautiful. We could see the lake from our yurt! I wrote about our yurt camping adventures on my travel blog, here.

Pella Tulip Time!

Spring is here, and we decided to enjoy the day down in Pella for their annual Dutch festival called Pella Tulip Time. If you're ever in Iowa in early May, be sure to check out this fun & inexpensive event. I blogged about the day trip here, but here is our day in pictures:

MONSTER Jammies!

I got a coupon code a couple of days ago in an email from Children's Place for 40% off, plus free shipping (no minimum). I picked out sunglasses for Jo, which came to $1.70, as well as a T-shirt for her that was under $4 after the code. Then, I went to search for spring jammies, since the kids really only have winter pajamas that fit them. I saw these monster pajamas and knew they'd be a big hit! They're normally $12, but I got them for about $7. I placed the order Tuesday night, and they already arrived today! I don't think I'd ever ordered from the Children's Place before (I gave them my email when I found a pair of clearance pajamas in their store last month), but I'll have to remember to order from them in the future. 

We put in a patio!

When we moved into our house, there was a teeny, tiny patio out back. It wasn't able to serve much purpose, so the last owner used it to hold her trash bins. You can kind of see it in the background of this picture of Oliver:

I wanted to expand it. First, I decided to set up the raised garden beds that my mother-in-law and father-in-law got for me for my birthday this past fall. I've been so excited to use them! We did this step near the end of March. On the left, you can see the old patio.

With the garden beds in place, we got busy digging out the patio! It needed to be at least 6" deep: At least 4 inches of gravel, an inch of sand above the gravel after it sinks in, and then the pavers on top of that. We also wanted it to slope away from the house. So, we dug down 6" near the house and 8" farthest from the house to get a good slope.

Before we were done digging, Home Depot had a big sale on patio pavers: 88 cents! We weren't ready for them, but I couldn't pass up that deal. We went and loaded up!

It took weeks to dig. Seriously, digging a giant pit doesn't sound as time consuming as it is. Well, at least, it didn't sound very time consuming to me! I would go out and dig on dry evenings after the kids went to bed, and, many days, I'd be out digging in the backyard while the kids played. It still took weeks! I'm so glad we had the raised garden beds to fill. That helped relocate a lot of the dirt.

Then came the gravel. Once again, I underestimated this step. It took so much gravel. I mean... we used more than a cubic yard of gravel! I stomped it down every inch to make sure it was well compacted. We were able to keep the slope going, too. This part was expensive. It cost us about $100 in gravel!

Then came the sand! We had it delivered for fairly cheap. We still have some leftover that I'm trying to put to good use.

Andrew used some garden trim that the previous owner left for us to trim out the patio. Then, we added a layer of sand. I had to make it kind of thick to get the pavers to the height I wanted them. I placed most of the pavers myself and painstakingly leveled each and every one. It took a lot of time. Everything about this patio took a lot of time!

There's our patio! We finally got all of the pavers in place.

We found a really nice picnic table on Craigslist for a fairly reasonable price, and I planted some pansies around the patio that my parents gave me when they visited last. Our lettuce and snap peas are starting to really grow, so Andrew used some chicken wire from our neighbor to protect our vegetables. The pansies weren't as lucky. The bunnies ate most of those flowers.

We're going to have to continue putting sand down into the cracks over the next few weeks as it compacts. We're really happy with the outcome of the patio, though. I love having a table and look forward to eating out there soon!

Iowa Arboretum on Arbor Day

I believe Arbor Day was yesterday, but they were celebrating it today at the Iowa Arboretum. Admission to the Iowa Arboretum is free (but they accept donations). They had crafts for kids and a tree to take home!

Oliver finger painted some trees on a door hanger for his room, and then he stamped leaves onto pieces of wood to make an ornament. Jo happily colored pictures while Oliver made crafts. 

Most of the trees and flowers weren't in bloom yet, but the arboretum was still beautiful. We had a great time walking (running) around and exploring everything.

There was a children's gardens with a big play house and numerous raised garden beds that are planted with blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, horseradish, and currants. Everything was just starting to sprout. I think it will be a lot of fun to check out again in the summer!

On the way to the arboretum, we passed an extraordinary Hindu temple. So, on the way home, I stopped to get closer and take a few pictures. It was really out in the middle of nowhere!

There were two options for trees: a black cherry tree or a serviceberry tree. I'd never heard of a serviceberry tree before, but, apparently, they are a pretty good choice of tree to plant near a house. The berries are edible, but the birds love them and usually beat you to the fruit. They're supposed to have white flowers in the spring and beautiful red leaves in the fall. So, we chose that to take home and plant in the front yard. It's a funny angle, but  here's our new tree!