We posed for this quick pic before we headed for church.
Thea wanted some pictures of the crops growing in the field to take back to Texas. Jonathan is standing in a row of drying hay next to the corn. You can see the soybeans, timber, and beautiful rolling hills in the background.
The corn is looking particularly good this year and is standing tall, well above Jonathan's head.
This year, it was nice to have Debbie, Thea, and Emily all there to present the Iowa State Fair Grand Champion Ram traveling tropy in memory of Craig Van Arkel (Emily's dad).
The Benda family from Minnesota won this year. Our families have been friends and have done sheep business together for many years. They told us that this ram's grandmother was sired by a Van Arkel ram. So it is very fitting that he was awarded a trophy in Dad's name.
Some other highlights from the fair included:
Big tractors,....
....giant pumkins,.... 
....and fried dough (a.k.a. elephant ears).
Emily's friend Kelley and her mom Terri were staying in Orlando for a week, so we paid them a visit. Emily and Kelley worked as Disney interns at EPCOT back in 2000 during the year-long millennium celebration. They have been great friends ever since!
We took an up close and personal look at the new Finding Nemo ride in the seas display.
Jonathan posed for this pic next to a replica of the famous red phone booths in the UK display.
We topped off the evening with a buffet style meal and entertainment at the Heidelberg Restaurant in Germany.
Pine Jog summer camp ended last week. Ironically one of the most fun moments with the campers this summer was a day when we were stuck inside because of bad rain and lightening. We built a fort in our classroom with a rain-fly from an old tent, lit some candles, and told ghost stories about each other until the rain stopped. What fun!
There are several wild mango trees growing on the Pine Jog property that have been producing nice fruit the last few weeks of July. Jonathan has been researching mangos online and driving around harvesting the ripe ones at least once a day. It is best to let them ripen on the tree and pick them before they fall on the ground and get nibbled on by all sorts of creatures. 
A paint roller extension pole for painting ceilings with a light bulb changer attached to the end works quite nicely.
This is a photo of Jonathan with the biggest mango harvested to date.
We got a whole jeep load that day.
It looks pretty calm in these pictures, but it was a pretty exciting trip with periods of heavy rain and thunder, a fast current around the bends, and lots of downed logs and vines blocking our path. We had to stay single file for most sections of the river and get out to portage a lot. The naturalist at the Trapper Nelson interpretive site (where we stopped for lunch) said we were one of the hearty few that had paddled the whole length of the river that week. 
It is always nice to have a self portrait of the photographer every now and then.
Rachel is all smiles in this shot letting the current take her down river.
Jonathan designated himself the kayak mover and helped everyone lift there kayaks over the logs at each portage.
Derk's kayak is tricked out with all kinds of kayak fishing gear. He even attached a cutting board to the front for prepping bait and holding his GPS fish finder.
