It's been a busy, but fun Labor Day weekend. On Saturday we braved the heat to attend the annual Regina Fun Fest carnival for lunch and rides (not in that order!) The boys also got a chance to play with some Regina-student-built robotic cars.

One of only two rides Daniel would attempt

After coming home to cool off a bit, we headed for the pool--final weekend of the season. Since we went during the Iowa football game, we pretty much had the place to ourselves and the cool water felt great!

On Sunday I told John I needed some time alone as the first week of school ended up with five straight days of early dismissals due to extreme (high 90s) heat. The boys' school is one of a few of the district's older schools lacking air conditioning. Those rooms are HOT! With all that extra time to fill after having just completed the whole summer of finding ways to fill afternoons after camp, I felt like I'd run a marathon (which will never actually happen) only to find out there was another 10K at the end.

Keeping cool after early release from school

So the boys all went to see Planes, which the younger set thoroughly enjoyed while John noted that it was built upon every possible kid-movie cliche in the arsenal. Then they headed to the Walgreens across town where we had to have a picture printed because the machine was broken at our local store. And since they were in Coralville, the boys thought they should hit a local park. They got home in time for dinner and I felt refreshed by my four solo hours.

Today we took a family bike ride to Grandma and Grandpa's. Of course, first we drove to a park about a mile from Grandma and Grandpa's.

 Some day we could probably make the whole ride, but the boys need gears on their bikes. Even today's short trail ride was a hilly challenge for all. But we had a nice visit and then headed back to the park for a picnic lunch and play time.

The park equipment was fine, but they soon switched over to nature's jungle gym and after this tree proved too tame, they found an even bigger one and went much higher than we thought wise.

Our helmets will protect us!

After that, an afternoon of Lego followed by grilled burgers and summer sweet corn. I'd say that all makes for a fun, if exhausting holiday weekend. Here's hoping for cool temps and full days of school this week!

Oh, and here are the pictures we had to pick up from Walgreens. Edward needed a picture for a class project and we thought we'd take one with his new glasses, since his first-day-of-school picture showed the old pair in all their bent-below-eye-level glory.