Hello Friends! So, this last month has been particularly busy for us Bradfords. We've been in and out of town quite a bit, hosting youth group events and hosting my new sister-in-law for a visit or two. So, please excuse the delay in my posting. I'm hoping to get you all up-to-date with this post!
For those of you that don't know, Kevin is a flight instructor at a local university (University of Dubuque) and sometimes that allows him the opportunity to represent the University at different events, mostly air shows. One of the air shows that he gets to go to every year is in Osh Kosh, Wisconsin and is one of the biggest in America. It's a week long and there is so much to do and see the week is almost not enough. People fly in from all over the world to network and share their passion for airplanes. It's a pretty cool experience. Kevin was VERY excited to be able to take me along this year. We went for the second half of the week and it was quite overwhelming for me, as it was my first experience at any kind of air show. I did a lot of nodding and smiling when Kevin told me about different airplanes and what they do. Not that I don't care, I just have no idea what he's saying most of the time. There are lots of technical terms I don't know yet. Anyway, it was a really fun weekend for several reasons. First of all, I got to spend it with Kevin and share in something he really loves. Second of all, I brought another flight instructor wife with me!! Kevin's supervisor, Brett is also on the leadership team at our church, so his wife came along with me!! We had SO much fun. We supported our husbands and went to the air show the first day we were there, but then the second day we were in Osh Kosh, we went OUTLET SHOPPING!!! We found some great deals and I think we found ourselves a new annual tradition. Thanks Brett and Iuliana for a super fun weekend!!
A couple weekends later, Kevin took me for another first, the Iowa State Fair. Kevin and his family go to the Iowa State Fair every single year for the first day of the fair. Kevin, again, was really excited to share this with me (and so was my sweet sister-in-law, Wendy). So, our group set off early to hit the fairgrounds. It was Kevin, Wendy, her boyfriend and our dear friend Jake, Holly (my mother-in-law), Nate (my father-in-law) and me. We hit up the coffee stand first so we could start the day off of right and we watched the tail end of the opening ceremonies and then started going around to the different exhibition halls to look at vendors and all the other great things the fair has to offer. I got to see the famous butter cow (yes, that is a cow made of butter) and then we made our way through some art exhibitions which were wonderful (and always make me wish I had SOME sort of talent). After that, we had our first food on a stick. I had a State Fair Corn Dog and I have to tell you, I wanted to eat them all day long. Seriously. After that, we did some wine tasting and went on the skyride/tram thingy. We finally split up and the kids went one way and the adults went another. The kids decided to ride some rides and boy oh boy was that fun. We first rode something called The Crazy Mouse and I think almost all of us decided that was the best part of our day. It was just about the most fun roller coaster I think I've ever been on. The happy new couple rode on the ferris wheel and Kevin and I did a few other rides that were more nostalgic for me. Then it was time for some more food. Pork Chop on a stick was next on the menu. I am not a big fan of pork, so I passed on that one. I also passed on the fried butter on a stick that Jake tried. We slid down the giant slide, listened to some a capella music, rode a few more rides, ate a few more delicious foods (not all on a stick) and finally decided to call it a night. We went back on Friday for a few more hours of fun too. I have to say my first experience with any state fair was pretty amazing. I loved every minute of that weekend.
The weekend after that, Kevin and I went to Davenport to finally finish up buying some stuff off of our registry at Target. We decided to go to Davenport because they have a Super Target and since it's back to school time and there are 5 colleges in Dubuque, we thought our chances to actually get the things we needed would be better in Davenport. Plus, we love any chance we can get to go to Davenport. We made a whole day out of it. We had lunch, met up with friends who tagged along while we went shopping and then went to our friends' home to grill up some burgers and hang out. We enjoyed our time with Brandon and Kelsy SO much. We're so excited that they MAY (fingers crossed and prayers being said) be moving to Dubuque soon!! We would love nothing more than to have them back in Dubuque to hang out with all the time!!
THEN, the weekend after that, we went on a tube float down the Maquoketa River with two of our great friends Matthew and Leah Johnson. It was SO much fun. We left at 9:00 in the morning and came home at 5:30 in the evening. We had beautiful weather, lots of yummy snacks, drinks and wonderful company. I can't wait for next summer to do it all again!!
Finally, this last weekend we were back in Des Moines for Kevin's friend's wedding. We spent the long weekend with Kevin's family and it was so much fun. The wedding was beautiful and I got to meet lots of Kevin's friends from high school. We were also able to just hang out with Kevin's parents and eat delicious food as well as play some fun board games. It was such a relaxing way to spend Labor Day weekend.
Well, that should catch us up to the present. I'm sorry I don't have pictures from each event, I may add some later, but for now I just wanted to FINALLY get this blog written!!! I started it WEEKS ago and then got busy again and didn't have a chance to finish it. I am also having a hard time getting the format of my blog down and adding pictures has proven to be quite a challenge for me.
Also, in the last month, we've met the newest members of our Great Adventure Church Family, Daniel Theron Young and Isabel Grace Warren. We've babysat some cute, cute kids. We've hung out with other dear friends and have had wonderful times together. We are looking forward to many more memories in the coming months!!!! I hope you can all forgive me for the extremely long post and for not breaking it up with any pictures. I hope to do better with the posts as the weeks go on!! Thanks for reading!!
