Oops, not being very chronological here, publishing Nebraska before Iowa. It wasn't because Iowa was boring, I actually thought it was a pretty place.
We pulled into the state as a freezing mist was starting to fall. I had Michael drive because he is excellent in the snow, and I am decidedly not. It was dark driving thru, so no pics were taken.
We spent the night at our friend's home. They were pastors of our tiny lil church in Tustin, MI, but now reside and serve in Boone, Iowa. Here's a link to
their church.
Sunday morning dawned bright and cold, and very, very icy. Here are Michael and Curtis 'skating' on the sheet ice in their tennies:
The kids and I all took turns landing on our butts as well. Kid #1 in her new coat and hat, the old set was from the thrift store and beginning to disintegrate:
Is she not just picture perfect? Biased? Nah...
We attended church with our hosts, enjoyed the service, and had a nice buffet lunch afterwards at the Golden Corral, one of Mike's fav places west of the Mississippi.
Sunday was also Kid #3's birthday- she turned four! I have never been in a place on a kid's birthday where I could not make a cake, and I despise with all of my heart the crusty skanky chemical cakes from grocery stores! What to do?? Fortunately, we had found a Whole Foods Market on our way out of the suburbs of Chicago, so I was able to buy a nice vanilla cake (Kid #3 picked it out- the one with roses, of course! No listening to mom's advice to choose the tiramisu confection!) The ingredient list on the side of the cake read just like any recipe I would use: butter, eggs, unbleached flour, etc. No hydroxidyl peroxide or whatever the hell they try to feed us these days. Anyhow, the kind lady at Whole Foods wrote Esther's name on the cake for us, so it was almost as good as a mom-made cake, and probably prettier! Kendra fixed up a birthday girl chair, they were both so sweet to let use use their house to participate in the whole birthday ordeal!
The happy birthday girl:
My babies love to snuggle while they sleep, no matter where they are:
Kendra, Kid #1 and I playing Sequence, a pretty fun card game. I must do something about that muffin top!
Labels: iowa, road trip, travel
You can see from the furrows that whoever farms here just plows and plants right around the skeleton. Does he ever wonder about the school's history? Or, being a local, does he know it already and just accept this empty edifice as part of his area's story and go about his business? Such a beautiful building, it had a lovely half-circle terrace in front. If it weren't about 8˚ outside, with hungry kids waiting in the car, we might have tried exploring inside. There were no trespassing signs up, just a lonely lovely brick building.
The kids and I all took turns landing on our butts as well. Kid #1 in her new coat and hat, the old set was from the thrift store and beginning to disintegrate:
Is she not just picture perfect? Biased? Nah...
My babies love to snuggle while they sleep, no matter where they are:
Kendra, Kid #1 and I playing Sequence, a pretty fun card game. I must do something about that muffin top!
