Iowa Activity: Wilson's Orchard

Mary and her family headed to Wilson's Orchard.  Mary says:

We went to the apple orchard! Well... I'm sad to say that there were hardly any apples and by hardly I mean there was one... literally only one, in the whole orchard!  Apparently they had a rough season and not many apples came of it.  We were pretty content with our tiny little apple though, and I am happy to report that we saw tons and Tons of deer!!!! 

A link to the Wilson's Orchard can be found here.  Here are some fun events they are planning (that do not involve apples!):

October 13-14:  Pumpkin Festival
October 20-21:  Games Weekend
October 27-28:  Trick-or-Treat

Thanks to Mary for sharing with us!

Love, 

The Literacy Committee

University of Iowa Lecture Series

The University of Iowa Lecture Series is hosting two speakers in October: L. Hunter Lovins (October 4) & Junot Diaz (October 12).

Here are the bios of each speaker from the University of Iowa website:

L. Hunter Lovins: L. Hunter Lovins is President and founder of the Natural Capitalism Solutions (NCS) (www.natcapsolutions.org). NCS educates senior decision-makers in business, government and civil society to restore and enhance the natural and human capital while increasing prosperity and quality of life.

Junot Diaz:  Junot Diaz was born and raised in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic. His work has appeared in: The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Time Out, Glimmer Train, Story, African Voices, Best American Fiction '96 (ed. John Edgar Wideman); Best American Fiction '99 (ed. Amy Tan); Best American Fiction '00 (ed. E.L. Doctorow) and The O. Henry Prize Stories anthology, 2009; Diaz was included in the 20 Writers for the 21st Century issue of The New Yorker (Jun '99). 

More information about each lecture can be found by clicking here.

October Theme: Citizenship

Happy October!

We are in month two of the Lengthening Your Stride program.  We hope that you each found meaningful ways to lengthen your stride in the area of personal health during September.  This months theme is citizenship.  Be sure to check out the goal suggestions tab -- we have lots of links there this month.     

As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, "we believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law (Articles of Faith #12)."  We can demonstrate our belief in this doctrine by being good citizens of our city, state, and country.   

We hope that this month you can gain a deeper understanding of the blessings that come through lengthening your stride in the area of citizenship.

Please feel free to share your insights and thoughts with us throughout the month.

Love,

The Literacy Committee

Come to a Friday morning activity!

Hey Girls,

I am trying to accomplish a few health goals for our Lengthen Your Stride program. Since I moved to Iowa, I have been wanting to become familiar with some of the local hikes and nature trails. Maybe some of y'all would like to join in? Considering I am super pregnant, I am going to stick with the taking my stroller on paved nature walks as opposed to backpacking my chunky kid on a hike.

So, here is the activity:
We will be meeting Friday morning at 9:30 at the Mormon Handcart Park. The trail in the Handcart Park is short but it joins up with Clear Creek bike trail, which is a really wide paved sidewalk through a forested area. Everett and I went and strolled for a while today and we saw two little snakes and crossed a bridge and found a dead mouse... so, it was a huge hit with my 2 year old and he wants to go back. The trail does not loop, so we will just have to pick a point and turn back. Maybe we could walk for 30-40 minutes and then turn back? If some girls wanted to go longer or turn back sooner, that is cool too.

Here is a link to where the park is. (You turn off of either Mormon Trek Blvd or Melrose Ave onto Hawkeye Park Rd and then look for signs.)

What do yall think? Is anyone up to come? Email me back if you do so we get a headcount and dont leave anyone behind.

xoxo Regan Judd

Iowa Activity Ideas: Oktoberfest(s)

Who knew that we could find not one, but TWO, Oktoberfest celebrations near Iowa City? 

The Amana Colonies will celebrate Oktoberfest from September 28th - September 30th.  For more information and a schedule of events, click here.

The Northside Oktoberfest in Iowa City will be on October 5th & 6th.  For more information and a schedule of events, click here.

With love,

The Literacy Committee

Iowa Activity Idea: Mount Vernon, IA

Rachel H. is one of the Iowa natives in our ward -- she shared this fun information about her hometown, Mt. Vernon:

Mt. Vernon, the town I grew up in, is about a half hour from Iowa city and it has some fun little things to do. This Saturday they have the Old Lincoln Highway arts festival all day. On October 13th they have a chili cook off. And the first Thursday in December they do "magical night" for Christmas. There is a live nativity and pictures with Santa and whatnot- its great for families. They have a lot of great festivals in the summer, like Chalk the Walk and the Chocolate Walk, but that's a ways off.

Anyway its a cute town with a beautiful college campus. There is a nice Frisbee golf course on campus and there is a solar system through town that you can walk along. The planets are separated by distances proportional to real life. 

Click here to access the Mt. Vernon calendar of events.  And just to recap:

September 22nd (tomorrow!!):  Lincoln Highway Arts Festival 
October 13th: Chili Cook-Off 
October 20th:  Great Pumpkin 5k -- more information here.
December:  Magical Night

Thanks to Rachel for letting us know about all of these fun things!  Have a wonderful Friday!

Sending our love,

The Literacy Committee
 

Iowa Activity: Fry fest, September 7th

Rachel and her husband were able to go to Fry Fest this year. She was generous enough to let us share a little bit about the concert and even a few photos. It looks like a great concert and that they had a fabulous time.

Rachel: A week or so ago was the annual Fry fest ("a celebration of all that is Hawkeye"). Brennan currently works as an intern for the City of Coralville and since they sort of host it, they had him working at the festival all day instead of the office. I think Brennan was perfectly fine with the change of pace. And I was perfectly fine with the concert tickets that came with it. :) 

The evening didn't get off to the greatest start when I headed down to Coralville. I was just meeting Brennan there after his work day. But President Obama was also visiting Iowa City that day so traffic was backed up since they had the freeway blocked for him. That meant I got to walk a long way to the concert. A very long way. I was already running late so this was extra frustrating to me. But I made it! And I even remembered to bring a jacket for Brennan so he could cover up the pink Fry Fest t-shirt he was tired of being seen in-haha. The performers were Lee Brice and Sarah Evans. I don't know their music very well but they both have a couple of songs that I like. We ended up hanging out backstage for the whole concert. All-in-all, it was an evening we got to spend together, away from the house, without a baby, without spending money, listening to good music, and enjoying beautiful weather. So it was great!

Brennan and Lee Brice. During lunch they handed out "meet and greet" passes to the people in Brennan's office. This is the picture they put on Lee Brice's website. Brennan loves the pink shirt. :)

Thanks for sharing Rachel! And for those of us who missed it, it looks like a fun event we can look forward to next year. Have a great rest of the week!

The Literacy Committee

p.s. don't forget there are only 10 days left in the month of September. Make sure to enter your goals in the sidebar of the blog!