Hike 2 and 3

Made it to the top. Far off is Julien's monument. Once we finished this trail we were off to that one. 

Some interesting facts about Dubuque. Enlarge and read!

This is the view from the monument. Gorgeous!

County Fair

We went to the County Fair a couple weekends ago and saw a demolition derby. I was in awe! It was like bumper cars for adults. It was the coolest thing. I told Kyle that I wouldn't mind doing that. 

We went back at night to see the stock car races. They had a special entry that night that had cars from the 30s and 40s that actually race in Iowa during those times. 

I failed to mention it was in the middle of summer and chilly! and windy!

Mines of Spain

We went in search of a new bike trail and came upon the Mines of Spain. It has ten different hiking trails. We decided to do one and try to do a different one every weekend. 

It starts off nice and smooth. Easy I thought!

Beautiful views. The water in the background is catfish creek you can go kayaking on it from one of the trails. Still nice! Reminds me a lot of Leakey.

Got to some stairs and have to go up about three hundred. I would have taken a picture of those but I was gasping for air. Two miles they say, it felt like 10! I was about ready to take a break and you are not going to believe what we encountered.

SNAKE! That got me going!!! Before you knew it we were back at the truck. More pics to come on hike 2. I'm considering renaming the blog adventures of a city girl!

Jamaica

We went to Ocho Rios, Jamaica this past week and it was awesome. Just seeing the sun and feeling the warm temperature put a smile to my face. It was a very relaxing trip even though our luggage didn't make it there until the next day. 

The water was such a beautiful blue color. This picture does not do it justice. 

This is just a small section of the hotel. We were in the deluxe ADULT only section. When we got there it was so late we didn't notice the hotel was purple! We woke up to be surprised because it looked white at night and in pics we had seen. 

Our room was awesome! It had two whirlpools. One inside the room and one on the terrace. See the spiral staircase? It goes up to the second floor balcony! What's up there?

A whirlpool pool that fits two with a gorgeous view!

We went on a cruise to the Dunn River Falls and snorkeling. The water was so rough I got sea sick. On all the trips I have been on I have never gotten sea sick. It feels horrible!!!!

I was holding on for dear life!!!! Can you tell by the look on my face?

Yay! We made it! This is the falls, it's a 600 ft. slippery Climb. You form a human chain with your tour group in order to make it to the top.

It was beautiful! 

Next day Kyle went Scuba diving and I hung out on the beach. When he got back some guys were walking around with a wheel barrow filled with coconuts and a machete. They would chop the top off the coconut for you so you could drink it. Oh yeah, we also took a kayak out on the water. KYLE FLIPPED US! We had to swim back to shore! 

By the last day we were so sunburned we had to cover up. 

The dark spot in the water was a reef. On the last day Kyle took his snorkel gear and swam out there. He said there were a lot of nice fish. On our way home we had a long day 6 hours in the air and 3 in the car. Luckily on the 4 hour flight we got bumped up to first class. Couldn't have ended the trip in a better way. Back to reality! 

Birthday Cake!

We decided to have my birthday cake early since we will be in Jamaica for the big day. Kyle baked it for me yellow cake with Almond Joy frosting and Almond Joy candies on top. It was delicious! Kyle making my birthday cake, I think we just started a tradition. 

Parents Visit

We were able to visit a lot of places while my parents came to visit. The weather was beautiful their entire stay. We went to Galena, Il to do a little shopping( pic above). We also went to visit this place called the House on the Rock built by Alex Jordan. It was this crazy house filled with a bunch of collections of this man. It had three sections and we only made it through 2. It was huge. In there is the world's largest carousel, crowns, gun collection, music collection, world's largest doll house collection, a statue of a sea creature that was larger than the Statue of Liberty. I could go on and on. The man was so eccentric. 

Another day we went to Antique Archaeology better known as American Pickers. We heard that Frank and Mike are breaking up from the show. Kyle looks like he would fit right in. Maybe he should audition. 

We also had a chance to go to the Mississippi Museum and Aquarium. Mom had an adventure there. We were feeding the fish and she dropped her cane in the pond! And then to top it off she got stuck in an elevator. She really wanted to top Nico and Jake's story. Lol. We had a great time and enjoyed their visit. Now that they know we don't live in the middle of no where and that there are two casinos for dad maybe they will visit more often. 

4th of July Weekend

Mom and Dad came to visit and I had a several things planned. There is something to do everyday in the Dubuque and surrounding area. It might be a small town but there is so much to do and see. We really hadn't ventured out so now was as good as time as any. This was a look out point in Ballwood,Iowa. About 20 minutes from our house. Can you see the Mississippi in the background?

We took a river cruise on the Mississippi to see the fireworks!