For the Hejlik family, there is no greater highlight at the Iowa State Fair than stopping by the Iowa State booth in the Varied Industries building and picking up our Cyclone football posters. This year we were fortunate enough for Mike to even get his picture with Cy himself. We also bought a couple of Iowa State shirts and Mike got his Iowa State tattoo. He got one on his hand and I reminded him that he had to distribute communion on Sunday. Fortunately he got it on his left hand so no one would notice it. I'm trying to discern whether he did this by accident or he actually thought ahead for a change. The jury is still out on that one.
As the kids age, they start to come into a few bad influences from the outside world. One of them being dear Father "Darth" Huber, who has turned Micah and Reed to the dark side with a little help from their evil uncles, Joe and Jeff. Thanks a bunch guys! Micah had to wander off and pick up his Hawkeye football poster and Reed got his picture taken with Herky or Jerky or whatever the Hawkeye's name is. 
In an effort to bring me over with them, Micah tried to impress me with the "hardware" in the Hawkeye tent. Gotta say that a trophy filled with fake oranges is almost cool, but in the end I wound up saying, "Did I shave my legs for this?"
After all that "Hawkeye" excitement, I was absolutely exasperated! Actually we came upon these swings and I just had to try one. It really was comfy and sure would make a nice Christmas present. I'm sure it would hold a dog or two in there too. Are you reading this Michael?
What would the fair be if we did not seek out and the Big Boar and Super Bull? This year we did not get a good pic of the Big Boar but he weighed in at a mere 1200 lbs. The Super Bull was a 3,022 lb. Charlois bull. I'm partial to angus as that is what we had growing up but that was one big bull.
Our last stop for the fair was our afternoon snack, a bucket of warm chocolate chip cookies and glass of milk. Even though the boys are regular magicians when it comes to making things disappear, we only managed to eat enough cookies between the four of us to be able to put the lid on the bucket and take the rest home. (Actually Gabby and I ate some for breakfast the next day, but that's another story.)
After the fair, we drove to Stuart and stayed overnight. Gabby drove down and met us there. We were there for Dave and Rosie Tisl's (Mike's aunt and uncle) 50th wedding anniversary celebration on Saturday. Before the party, we had some time to kill so we took the kids to the All Saints Church which was burned in 1995 due to religious intolerance by a crazed arsonist. They have been doing a lot of renovation to it, trying to salvage a part of both the church's history and Iowa's history. While we were outside looking around, the caretaker came out and was locking up and gave us a tour of the inside. I'm going to have to dig out some pics of Mark and Kari's wedding pics to refresh my memory of how beautiful the church was. They now use it for receptions and concerts and such. They do have a chapel there that a Serbian church uses for its services and they continue to do renovations on some of the religious art and also have an educational video that they use for field trip tours on religious tolerance. It's nice to see a community take something tragic and turn it into a positive. Hopefully I will get some pics for a future post as our camera lost its battery power in the middle of the tour but Gabby took some pictures with her phone.
The anniversary party was very nice and 6 out of the 8 Hejlik siblings made it to the event. (Do you feel guilty yet Jeff? You know you left me high and dry with "you know who"! If your name is not Jeff, just ignore all that is in these parentheses... just a private joke.) George and Betty Tlach even made the long ride down for the day. It was good to see the Tisl family again. Dave and Rosie are such good role models for married couples. They make it look so easy. It was really great to see Mark and Kari and their dog, Molly, again too. It's been so long since we've gotten together. We'll have to do it again sooner rather than later.
Micah and I are finishing laying out all the things he needs to pack up. Got his new towels washed...made him wash them himself. Made him practice folding dress pants and hanging them up so they don't wrinkle. He is busy this evening making a list of things he needs to get done before we leave Wednesday evening. We have a meeting on Thursday a.m. at 8 and then the "move in" starts. The reality of it all started to set in this afternoon and I am trying to just not think about it too much. Keep Micah, Mike and I in mind on Thursday afternoon when we say our 'good-byes' and all start new adventures.
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