September! (Which is really a Labor Day weekend recap.)

So to wrap up August... we took one last summer road trip. I know. 

If you're keeping track on where we've been this summer: 

• All of us to MN
• Waukon/Decorah
• Husband to Wyoming
• All of us to Indianapolis
• Kids to MN
• Kids to WI for camp
• All of us to MN
• Me to Orlando
• All of us to Chicago
• Me back to Orlando

And for our last and final trip we took a little day trip to Mason City, IA for some musical theatre fun. 

First stop was the Charles H. Macnider Museum. It's located in a former mansion that has been renovated. I loved the roof! 

We were very patient and cultured. Looking at all kinds of art. 

Patient because the real draw of the museum was upstairs, and we didn't immediately run right there. But we were there to see the Bil Baird exhibit. 

He is a famous master puppeteer. He also worked for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. And even if you don't think you know who he is... you probably will recognize his work: 

Have you ever in your life realized that the "One little girl in a pale pink coat" was wearing a crucifix? I hadn't either. And you bet we watched that scene of the "Lonely Goatherd" while we were standing there to see it. She completely is. We already knew it was a Catholic story, but it was a fun and small detail I had never noticed before, and we watch The Sound of Music all the time. 

We had a delightful time taking in the magic of the puppets. 

There were plenty of hands-on activities in the area, and even my kids who are likely not the intended age, put on a puppet show for us. 

We saw more art after the puppets. M liked this one because it matched her shorts. 

I really liked this watermelon and peaches. I can't quite explain my reasoning, but I could really look at it for a long while. 

But we had to head out for approximately one building down the street... to Music Man Square! 

We looked like fan girls because we had our Meredith pose with Meredith Willson. 

A little backstory: we had been talking about stopping here for YEARS as we drive through every time we go to my parent's house! But it's closed on Sundays and Mondays. Our family watches The Music Man every 4th of July. 

I am so glad we were able to make it happen! And my parents even came down to meet us for a while at the museum. 

We saw the 76 Trombones. 

The girls took a picture in the bathroom, and annoyingly, it's actually really cute. Why is that the place to take a good picture?!

The whole thing is broken up into 3 parts. There's a museum, Meredith's boyhood home, and the square, which has all the little town shops and even an ice cream parlor. (We definitely stopped.) 

The last thing we did was tour his boyhood home. It was pretty neat, but not as cool as Abraham Lincoln's house. 

It was a lot of fun and I am glad we went!

On the drive home we stopped at a pizza place that we have talked about eating at for the past 20 years. Seriously. 

It was good. I mean, it's hard to screw up pizza. 

Sunday... was my birthday. I turned 39! My friend got me a cookie cake to celebrate and my family and I have enjoyed eating it this past weekend. 

You know you're 39 when your favorite gift is a fan. To be fair, this Woozoo Stand Fan is AMAZING and makes such a difference in my room! 

I also really excelled in middle age by getting socks, chapstick, Touchland hand sanitizer, and a new sleep eye mask. Each item, equally delightful! 

And for Labor Day and the first of September, we did a lot of house projects, including but not limited to, starting M's Halloween costume. 

Guaranteed you can't figure out what she's going to be from this. But it's also the only picture I took yesterday at all. Just know we also cleaned, and did some outdoor projects too!