Iowa Visit

Grandpa, Grandma, Grace, Abby and Kitty on the front porch
Originally uploaded by Jenmomma

I've been home for a week, but just getting around to updating about the trip. I've got lots of pictures in Flickr.

We took a trip to Iowa to visit my parents. Eric, Grace, Luke and I left on Thursday morning to fly out. Luke's first plane trip went reasonably well and we made it to Iowa in early afternoon. We went back to my parents house and then Thursday evening went to "Thursday Nights in Pella." Every Thursday in the summer, the community hosts some sort of gathering with booths/vendors, etc. This week was "Inflatables" so Grace had tons of fun jumping in the bouncy house, going down the giant slide etc. Check out the pictures.

I can't really remember what we did on Friday except for grocery shopping and Mom and I and the kids took a trip to the library to get some books for Grace for the week and I got three books which I finished before coming home. Eric spent lots of time fishing and caught lots of big ones (see pictures).

Saturday Eric and I went on a date alone! I pumped while I was there and had enough for a bottle, so Eric and I went to see "What Happens in Vegas" and then to dinner before heading home to find that both kids survived nicely.

Sunday we went to church, Eric did a lot of fishing. We let Grace have a special night. She took her bath and got her PJs on and then got to come downstairs and watch "Enchanted" before going to bed. She LOVED it.

Monday, Eric went home and the rest of us stayed. I can't remember anything else specifically that we did.

Tuesday, we went to the Pella Aquatic Center and went swimming. They had a really nice family/kid area that Grace could play in. They also had some really cool tube slides and an Adventure River. Grace loved the adventure river and I think went on it 6 times with various family members.

Wednesday, my brother had a ceremony to re-enlist in the Army, so we went to his reserve unit in Des Moines to see it. It was really cool and we got to hear lots of compliments about what great work he does. We then had a little detour to the mall and went to dinner.

I don't really remember any other details on Thursday or Friday, except Mom and I went to breakfast on Friday and Dad stayed home with both kiddos. He was a little nervous to have Luke on his own, but I fed him before we left and got home before the next feeding was due, so they did just fine.

Throughout the week Grace had tons of fun with the following activities. Many are captured in the pictures:
- Playing with the cat and dog.
- Picking flowers outside
- Grandpa bought her a motorized Jeep that she drove around the yard
- Riding on the 4-wheeler with Grandpa to see the cows
- Fishing in the pond
- Playing in the kiddie pool in the yard
- Play-doh with Grandma in the sunroom
- She had a picnic lunch with Grandpa one day
- Helping Grandma make cookies for church

Saturday I came home with the kids. It was tough to travel with two kids on my own, but we survived and got home around 9 p.m. I think Eric was glad to see us.

All in all it was a wonderful trip. I definately prefer visiting in the summer. Not nearly as many fun things to do in the winter months. We did have a scary moment the first night. Grace was sleeping in a room upstairs and we left the door open. We showed her where my parents bedroom was in case she needed them. For some reason Grace got up around midnight and was looking for someone (we think), but she wandered into the office instead of my parents bedroom. We think she wasn't used to doors being open, so she tried to open a door. There was a closet door off the hinges leaning against the wall in that room and it fell. Thankfully there was a bookshelf against the other wall and when the door fell it landed on the bookshelf and didn't fall all the way to the floor (or on Grace). It was a big heavy door so that could have been bad news.

Well, the pictures tell most of the story. It was such a good time.

Tomorrow Luke has his 2 month checkup and I hope to update on all his milestones.