Weekend adventures: weddings, garden walks, and cubes

Last weekend was a busy one for us Feuerbachs'.  Natalie was in a wedding on Saturday for our friends Seth and Jenny.  That meant Mr. Mom was going to be making some major contributions to taking care of Jackson. 

TANGENT ALERT
I know I make a point of this in some blogs.  Natalie has poor navigational skills, and I kid b/c they are funny stories that are funny insights into our lives and not to demean Natalie.  It is a theme that continues to pop up and sometimes it is pretty funny.  With that disclaimer out of the way, on to the story.  I get home from work and Natalie is in a hurry to get going.  She says the rehearsal dinner is at 5:30.  Already I'm thinking, "Sweet, we have to get Jackson in the car and drive to Solon in 15 minutes.  It is going to take a minor miracle for that to happen since the very speedy Iowa City road crews have spent 3 years creating the most awesome traffic bottle neck directly in our path to Solon.  It is 5:15 on a Friday, I'm sure no one will be on the road."  With those thoughts in my mind we take off, and of course there is a huge line of cars trying to get to the interstate.  We get through that and almost to Solon and Jenny (the Bride) calls and tells Natalie that the rehearsal isn't until 6:30.  I turn around and head home.  My friend Jeff was coming over to hang out and this setback would mean Natalie was going to the rehearsal alone.  Jeff and I would watch Jackson while she does the wedding thing. 

I get home and Jeff shows up.  Natalie feeds Jackson and heads back to Solon.  About 15 minutes go by and she calls, "I'm in the country somewhere and I'm lost."  I laugh and try to get some landmarks out of her and head to google maps.  I call her back and get her back on track.  She gets there a little late, but not too late.  The rest of the night with Jackson is fine with Jeff and I, and Natalie makes it home safe and sound without directions later that evening.

The next morning Natalie wakes up and heads out to a hair appointment.  The appointment is in North Liberty.  She's been there numerous times by herself and with me, so I suspect she'll have no problems finding it.  I was wrong.  I get a call and Natalie had headed south, she was almost to Kalona which is quite a ways in the opposite direction.  I get her turned around and back on her way thankfully.  Like I said before, funny stuff. 
END TANGENT ALERT

Back to the story.  We showed up a little early so Natalie could feed him and we were able to watch a little bit of the High School baseball game being played next to the church.  Jackson's first sporting event, not important but a milestone in my mind.  The wedding was nice, Natalie looked beautiful (as always). 

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After the wedding, I had a few townie cocktails (Busch Light and Bud Light) and we went home around 10.  Jackson handled the crowd pretty well and my duties as Mr. Mom were handled quite well.  Here is a pic of Jackson because he looked so cute.

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The next day was packed to the brim with activities as well.  We were invited to my Nana's (Grandma's) "Garden Walk" in Keystone Iowa.  We headed to Keystone and visited her gardens.  It was a beautiful day and we sat on her neighbor's (Rosemary) porch and had lemonade and cake.  A fun little Sunday afternoon.  Here are a couple of pictures:

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1 comment

The garden was nice, and Nana does a very nice job turning a yard into many different themed mini gardens.  I'm sure it took a lot of time and skill.  I lost my green thumb in a horticulture class in high school.  It might have been because we cared more about water fights with the hoses instead of growing plants....ahh memories.  Anyway in there house I see something on a shelf.  It beckoned my like the song of the Sirens.  It was a Rubik's Cube, and I had a very distinct urge that completing that would become my next goal in life.  That might a sad thing considering the tasks insignificance in the overall scheme of life, but I considered it a worthwhile task that I must complete.  Side note, my life is filled with nerdy little goals, although not considered important to some I find them rewarding.  That said, I had always wanted to do it and now seemed like the appropriate time to take on the challenge of the cube.  Don (step grandpa) handed me an old pamphlet explaining how to complete the cube and that is the beginnings of my cube and cube related adventures.

After the garden walk we went back to my Mom's to grill out.  I spent most of the time playing with the cube and pestering my nephew Brennan. 

After that we went home.  The cube still had a hold of me and I spent a couple of hours trying different things.  At an hour too late to tell you in this forum, I sat the cube down and went to bed a defeated man.  I swore that night that solving the cube's riddle would be harder than I first believed and that I would try again tomorrow to unlock its secrets. 

After work the next day Natalie, Jackson and I went on our run / jog and came home before the bugs carried Jackson away.  I sat down and stared at the cube.  For a simple object it is very complicated.  I took what I had learned the night before and started again.  After an hour I had solved the cube.  I was expecting it unleash something like the monster from Hellraiser, or some other mythical creature, but it did not.  There sat the finished cube, and I thought, "I bet people on the internet would like to read my story and see a picture."  So that brings me to the here and now, finishing up a blog about our weekend and my completed goal of solving a Rubik's Cube.  I know, I know...I'm nerdy.  How many of you have done it?  Seriously, not many I'm guessing.  Anyway, have a wonderful day / night and I hope our weekend recap made you laugh a little, hopefully not cry...I did use the word hell.  I'll leave you with a picture of an object that I will always remember...Toodles!

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