Music Man Square

I had never been to Music Man Square until my nephew, Ben's wedding in June... then two weeks later I was there again with the girls.... I combined the pictures from both trips to give you the complete "picture" of the "square". I didn't get pictures of each store but you can get the idea. Obviously the pictures from the wedding are the ones with the tables set up....

I HAD to take a picture of the restroom ceiling. prettiest I have ever seen!

Fun getting ice cream from the ice cream parlor!

Robin likes hers!

Sue LIKES hers !

Then we set outside the parlor and had some MORE laughs!

Such a good picture of this special mother and daughter !

Rose Cottage Tea Room

Another "chapter" in our trip last week was the Rose Cottage Tea Room .
Sue, Diane's sister took us to Clear Lake and after we went through those lovely gardens from the last post, we came here for lunch. What a beautiful old house!

The tables were set so attractively

And with the good company we had, the atmosphere was just the icing on the cake.

They had just added a panini to the menu and then the apple chicken salad. What a lunch I had!

This was another room and we were just in awe of the skills of SOMEONE who painted in this room.

It was just so beautiful! Such a talent!

A little "teasing" the bride to be....

The owner even played the piano for us while we ate....
Such a great time.....
Later today will add the last installment of the trip last weekend!

Central Gardens of North Iowa

After our wonderful walk earlier in the morning we met up with Diane, Robin and Diane's sister, Sue and went to this beautiful garden! It was so relaxing walking through, looking at the flowers,and plants and listening to the little streams of water throughout the park.

This cute little statue was sitting in one of the flower beds

This arch has been used for weddings... we thought it would be a fun place for a photo-op!

A Little Road Trip

"Wilma-Friend" and I took a little road trip Yesterday and came back today.
Our dear friend Diane's mother passed away this week up in Mason City, so we wanted to go up and spend some time with her.
I will share the day with you in a few posts. As usual I took a lot of pictures. It was a special time together.
First thing this morning we got up and headed to the Music Man Footbridge. We had a nice walk and enjoyed the water and flowers and plants.
It was also fun to retrace the steps that I had just taken two weeks ago today as Sarah and I photographed my nephew and his bride.

Started out at Music Man Square
Wilma with Meredith Willson :O)

The footbridge

a beautiful old house overlooking the creek

I LOVE all the old architecture. Here is a B & B in the neighborhood.

An old fence

Stay tuned for more of the day :O)

Wedding Announcements :O)

My "Wilma-Friend" and Dave are getting married July 29th.
I am SOOO excited for them. Last week Wilma came over and we got her announcements
ready to hand out and to mail.
Rachel (a missionary friend from Tanzania) designed them
Wilma ordered clear envelopes from Stampin' Up!

...then used a 4x6 index card that she ran through the printer

THEN she found these cute little stickers.....

THIS WOMAN is amazing !!!!!

Deano's Birthday AND Fourth of July

Yesterday was our friend, Dean's birthday so we had a little birthday party for him and then celebrated the Fourth too. What a great time we had.

Giving the birthday boy hugs !

Then we had a picnic

Dave and Wilma AND Wilma's mom ( I didn't realize I cut her out, Poor mom!) joined us for lunch.

Dean went inside to the AC and Dave headed home to do some work and us girls headed to the pool
We were in there for several hours and just wanted to let you know we all ended up RED...except Kia....:O)

While waiting for supper, Brownie entertained us by playing "peek a boo"
I think I could have watched him all evening.... He also "smiled" for us, but I never could get a picture of it... he was too fast.

Then we had a great spaghetti supper with garlic toast that was JUST right !
Evidently that was a BIG deal at their house :O)

Thanks Deano and Suz ! It was SO much fun !!!