Flemings go to Washington, D.C.!

A few weeks ago, Jeff got the chance to go with his parents and his brother's family to Washington, D.C. for a long weekend. Jane won a scholarship to attend the National Ovarian Cancer Alliance national conference, and the rest of the family decided they should tag along! Neither of his parents had been to D.C., and they definitely made the most of it. While Jane was in meetings, Randy and Jeff hopped on bikes, tour buses, and the Metro to cram in as much as possible. Jeff saw some repeats of places he had seen before, but also got to see many things that he hadn't yet seen. Some highlights below:

The first restaurant they visited: an Irish pub, of course!

Randy at the U.S. Capitol

Washington Monument

Randy and Jeff at the White House

Jane and her friends wearing teal for ovarian cancer

Scott, Connor, and Jane having fun at dinner

Jeff, Randy, Connor, Jane, and Scott at the White House

Randy at Arlington Cemetery

Jane and Connor getting ready to ride to the top of the Washington Monument

Jane and her friends getting ready to meet congressional staffers as part of the ovarian cancer conference

Ready to take on Capitol Hill!

Norman Borlaug, Statuary Hall, U.S. Capitol

Jane's cousin's name on the Vietnam Memorial Wall

The backdrop doesn't get much better than this in Washington!

Herky on Parade

As anyone who is friends with on facebook knows, we have been tracking down Herkys this summer. There are 83 of them, so it may be too ambitious to try to get all of them. It's been fun to try though! We've hit about a third of them so far, mostly just capturing them while we're out and about in town. We have hit almost all of the downtown and Iowa City ones, so we'll have to work a little harder to hit the rest of them. I'm including them here so we can easily go back and see them. (Feel free to ignore this post if you're sick of seeing them on facebook already!)

Iowa's Jazz Capitol Herky (Ped Mall, in front of Givanni's)

In the Paint Herky (Ped Mall, in front of Sheraton)

Checkmate Herky (Ped Mall, in front of the library)

C(Herk)itry (in front of Old Capitol Mall)

Baker Herky (Iowa River Landing, in front of Scratch Cupcakery)

Herky On-Call (Iowa River Landing, in front of UIHC)

RAGBRAI Herky (Coralville Youth Sports Complex)

Happy Little Herky (Scott Blvd & Rochester, sponsored by Regina High School)

Peking Opera Herky (corner of Dubuque St & Park Rd)

Wizard Herky (Coral Ridge Mall)

America Needs Farmers Herky (Coral Ridge Mall)

Wrestler Herky (Coral Ridge Mall)

Marching Band Herky (Kinnick Stadium, south endzone)

Lindquist Herky (Lindquist Center, Madison St)

Graduation Herky (Pentacrest, corner of Clinton St & Iowa Ave)

Herky's Community (Iowa Ave & Clinton St) 

Journey of a Warrior Herky (Iowa Ave)

Rough Hewn Herky (Iowa Ave & Dubuque St)

#Herky (Iowa Ave)

Out of this World Herky (Iowa Ave)

Cyborg Herky (Iowa Ave & Linn St)

Organic Herky (Dubuque St & Washington St)

Aqua Hawk Herky (CRWC, Madison St)

Drawing the Line Herky (Clinton St & Washington St)

Groom Herky (Washington St)

Daredevil Herky (Brown Deer Golf Course)

Iowa Granite Herky (College of Public Health) 

Student Herky (Old Capitol Mall)

UNESCO Herky (Clinton St & Church St)

Thumbprints of Hope Herky (Clinton St, in front of Currier Hall)

Summer Weekends!

Why don't the winter months fly by like the summer months? I cannot believe it's July already! We have been trying to take advantage of everything summer has to offer, including a weekend trip to Kansas City last month. We visited Uncle Scott, Jeanine, and Connor at their house on Friday night. I don't think Jack had ever seen so many Matchbox cars in one place! We spent Saturday at an indoor water park. It wasn't very busy since it was so nice out, and it was the perfect size for the boys. By the end of the day, Jack was brave enough to go on the bigger slides. He is taking swim lessons this summer, and we hope that it will make him more comfortable and confident in the water. After the water park, Jack and I enjoyed a long nap in the hotel room while Jeff and Lydia went to the store. Sunday was Father's Day, and Lydia and I made ourselves scarce in the morning so Jeff and Jack could sleep in until 8! We had lunch downtown with everyone before heading home. I have great memories of going to KC with my family when we lived in Des Moines for summer weekends, and it was so fun to do it with our little family. We can't wait for many more weekends like this. Here was the only picture we took. Liddy's curls were out of control in the indoor pool humidity!

We took the kids to Arts Fest and Jazz Fest in downtown Iowa City, and Jack had his face painted both times. It was quite a treat for Jack, and I don't think he knew what to think of how he looked in the mirror!

In addition to swim lessons, we took Jack to a golf lesson with a friend of mine at Brown Deer. Calling it a "lesson" is a bit of a stretch since it was really just hitting a few balls on the range, but he had a blast. This weekend he tagged along with Jeff and Grandpa Steve for all 18 holes!

I almost forgot--Grandpa Randy and Grandma Jane took Jack to Illinois in late May to see hummingbirds! Jane has a family member with a farm where they attract hundreds of hummingbirds. Every spring, a man with the Illinois Hummingbird Project comes to the farm to tag them. Jack got to hold several hummingbirds and helped the researcher carry them back and forth while he tagged them. It was such a neat experience and one that he'll never forget.

Here are a few more pics from our phones of the everyday smiles from our family: