The Official Pau Family Web Site

We (Grandma Stogdill, Jeri, Tim, and Josiah) headed out at 8:30 from Grandma’s house and got to the fair a little after 9:00 AM. After getting we got weighed, Grandma bought a fresh cinnamon roll to share.

Next Tim and Josiah headed to the MidAmerican Energy hall to pick up our free fidget spinners (for the first 1000 visitors). Jeri and Grandma met Jonathan and Rachel at the gate.

Jonathan, Rachel, and Josiah went to the DNR Building to do archery…but they didn’t have it this year. Next they went to the Horse Barn. We walked through the Varied Industries Building and saw some of the vendors and their demonstrations.

Tim and Jeri caught a magic show by Steve Trash. Some acts were good. A few were exceptional.

Grandma, Jeri, and Tim sat outside the church during the hymn sing. We watched the chainsaw wood carver next to the church.

Tim and Jeri went to get two veggie corn dogs and deep fried veggies for lunch. We saw Jonathan, Josiah, and Rachel on the Sky Glider.

The place where we got the veggie dogs is in the background.

We did a lot of walking today. The weather was nice…temps in the mid-80s and a nice breeze with some clouds.

Jonathan got some nachos for lunch. Here he is eating them in the Cultural Center courtyard.

Rachel got a henna tattoo in the Cultural Center. Josiah made a candle. We watched a pottery demonstration there too.

One prize winner was made from Lego. (I guess that the correct usage is not to pluralize Lego.) The model honored Desmond T. Doss, the conscientious objector, upon whom the movie, Hacksaw Ridge, was made.

Josiah made a candle. The scent was Candy Cane. When we got home, he gave the candle to Grandma.

There was a pottery demonstration. Here is Josiah pointing to the pot.

The Cultural Center was air conditioned. So it was a nice place to relax inside.

Josiah met some kids climbing.

Then Tim sat with Josiah to watch the Steve Trash magic show again.

They then went back to the Cultural Center to watch wood turning.

The guy was making a wooden Christmas Tree.

Jeri went with Grandma to get some ice cream. Then we met at the Food Center, sat and enjoyed some air conditioning, then headed home.

Finally around 4:30 PM or so, we headed home.

Here’s Josiah, the proud owner of his first fidget spinner.

Yesterday we (Jeri, Josiah, and Tim) drove back from Moline to Des Moines. Uncle Jim. Aunt Vicki, Jonathan, and Rachel came over to Grandma Stogdill’s house for supper. We enjoyed the evening. Josiah and Uncle Jim kept trading jokes. We ended up staying hop later than normal.

This morning, Jim joined the four of us at Village Inn for breakfast. Yum!

Jim went on to a meeting while the rest of us headed back to the house. We met Jonathan at Blank Park Zoo a little after 10:00 am.

Today was Josiah’s first visit to a zoo…he’s 11 years old. He has been learning a lot about various animals from the PBS television series called “Wild Kratts.” So he really enjoyed the trip.

Josiah grew some wings.

Taking a short break in the shade.

We saw sea life, birds, tortoises (one was HUGE and weighed about 500 pounds), lions, tigers, giraffes, rhinos, monkeys, and lots more.

Check out the monkey expressions.

Here we are in front of the ostrich exhibit. Although the ostrich looks like he’s ready to peck at Jonathan’s head, he’s really too far back behind the fence.

Josiah said that his favorite (which he was telling us about before today) was the Red Panda. He used Jeri’s phone to take a picture.

The weather was again beautiful. Thus our two and a half hour stroll through the zoo was exceptionally pleasant…especially for a summer day in Iowa.

This morning, Uncle Greg, and cousins, Jessica and Sebastian, left for Omaha. Before they left, we took a family photo.

Last night Uncle Greg and Sebastian worked really hard to polish the badly tarnished house numbers on Grandma Pau’s house. The day before, they had replaced the outside light which was also very tarnished and overall ugly. Here are the bright and shiny results.

This afternoon, Jeri, Josiah and I (Tim) traveled across the bridge back into Iowa. We drove to see our old Davenport house where we lived from 1992 till 1995. It’s still there and looks nice. However the old Rasing tax office where Tim used to work (just two blocks from the house) is completely gone.

From there, we stopped at Greatest Grains, a health food store, in Davenport. When we checked out, Jeri recognized the lady as one who had worked there over 20 years ago. She didn’t look that old; she must eat really healthy and take care of herself.

Then we drove down to the Mississippi River. We stopped near LeClaire Park and walked across the Sky Bridge.

Then we drove across the Centennial Bridge into Rock Island. There we stopped again at the new vegan café in Healthy Harvest Urban Farms for lunch. The three of us each got a veggie wrap which we enjoyed.

With Jeffrey back from Alaska (he spent six weeks at Kako Retreat Center), we took everyone out to eat to Souplantation. (Victoria and Lizzie spent four weeks at the camp in June.) Plus we had rarely seen Jason for the past few months as he was immersing himself in coding school to expand his web development skills.

Our homeowners community had a picnic at the clubhouse for the Fourth of July. They had bounce houses and games for the kids. Everyone brought a salad or dessert to share. Joanna made a strawberry-upside-down cake that was right side up because we never flipped it. One popular burger chain is The Habit Burger. They have locations in various states but primarily in California. They catered burgers and fries for our picnic. They even had a veggie burger option.

Last year, we harvested ZERO peaches from our peach tree. We credit an opossum (or some other night-time creature) for eating them all in one night.

However this year, we have had a bountiful harvest! We have picked well over a hundred peaches. Most are quite small…about the size of a quarter or half dollar. A few are larger then a golf ball. The rain probably helped increase the crop.

We’ve made peach cobbler a few times and have eaten quite a few fresh.

Joanna, Victoria, Jeffrey, and Lizzie sang “Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho.”

Here’s Lizzie playing “O Love that Will Not Let Me Go” which was arranged by Justin.

Lizzie and others worked hard on this arrangement of “Just a Closer Walk with Thee.”

Lizzie, Joanna, Sarah, Nicole, and Victoria after the Spring Recital.

Today we saw the first tiny avocado on our new tree!

A few months ago (in January), we bought a 10-year-old semi-dwarf avocado tree from Moon Valley Nursery. Over the ensuing months, we became more and more concerned as we watched the foliage gradually turn brown all over. But over the past few weeks, the buds have turned into a lot of new leaves and flowers.

Here are some pictures taken back in March. With the foliage turning brown, we were concerned.

The tiny avocado in the picture is smaller than a pea. We hope to see it grow MUCH bigger!