Pella Tulips

I wanted to post some of our photos from last weekend's little excursion to Pella...

Monday Mind-Dump

Thought and happenings...

• This weekend I took my wife and kids to visit the beautiful city of Pella. We spent all of Saturday exploring the heritage-filled parks and exquisite shops, traipsing through neverending seas of colorful tulips, and enjoying delicable delights from the famous Jaarsma Bakery. While we were unable to make it for the Tulip Time festival last weekend, this time around there weren't any crowds to battle with and we enjoyed our dutch letter treats by simply sitting on the sidewalk in the sun together.
  
  
• Due to family activities that filled this weekend, I had to postpone my running of Nancy's 10K-On-The-10th until today, though I made up for it by trying out a new 6.2-mile route I comically call the Serious Horse Loop. This is a fantastic run filled with a mixture of hills and trails that takes you out of downtown, past the Valley horse stables found south of Grand, through the back side of Water Works Park and into Grays Lake. A portion of the route follows a serene backwoods park entrance road ... perfect for transporting you away from work for a few precious moments. I highly recommend it.
  
  
• The softball gaffes continue. During this past Thursday's game, I somehow managed to crush (literally) the end of a finger while manning third base. I'm not sure how, but the ball skipped up away from my glove and into that hand as an outfielder attempted a low, fast throw to my location. A couple X-rays taken on Friday show it wasn't broken, but it sure felt like it.
  
  
• Race planning with Tom continues, as we work towards directing the Capital Pursuit race together in September...so much to do yet.
  
  
• Pastor John's message yesterday on "The High Gate of Entitlement" really struck a chord with me. It left me with a lot of thoughts about this unhealthy sense of entitlement - also about its role in politicalized Christianity and in the culture in general.
  
  
• Tomorrow, I will be riding my mountainbike-steed to work in celebration of Bike To Work Week. Happily looking forward to the peaceful 20-mile early morning commute.
  
  
• Final note, I'll be posting my 100th blog this week!