July Round Up

Ahhhh July... probably one of my favorites months (after October of course). The month started out with celebrating the Fourth of July in Dubuque with my husband's family. We went to a Fourth of July celebration at the Mathias Ham House. If you don't know this about me I have a passion (obsession?) for historic preservation and historical architecture. And on the Fourth of July the Ham House does a bunch of festivities with a lot of historical demonstrations, old time music played by a band, ice cream and cake, and free tours of the house. All of these things are totally right up my ally and I loved sharing them with my children! I totally recommend going to this celebration if you're in the area on the Fourth! Altogether we had a great relaxing weekend hanging out with family.

We ended the Fourth of July weekend with a trip to the Maquoketa Caves State Park. I've been wanting to go for awhile, and it did not disappoint! The caves were beautiful! After hiking around there for a bit we went to Bluff Lake Catfish Farm. This was my first time eating here, and it was SO GOOD! You HAVE to go there if you're in the area!

We also celebrated my 30th birthday in July! On the actual day of my birthday we kept it pretty low key with just a walk down to Main Street for some gelato at Stam Chocolaterie.

The rest of these are just fun ones of us hanging around the house.

And just like that July is over. I always get a little sad towards the end of July that summer is coming to an end, but as soon as August hits, I am all about fall coming! Bring on the apple cider!