travel log - week 2

Saturday evening we (the siblings) decided to have a sleep over at Steph's house, so we pawned off as many kids as we could and put the rest to bed.  We all piled into my sister's giant van and took off to get some ice cream.  About five minutes into our adventure Steph got a text from her hubby who was home with all the kids.  Two words, "Emilia barfed."  We went home.  After messes were cleaned up, kids bathed and put back to bed, we watched an amazing Midwestern thunder storm on the porch and then played games until the wee hours of the morn. 

Sunday August 7th
We drove back up to Cedar Falls to Grandma and Grandpa's house.  E and N spent the day on the couch with fevers and the barfies.

We hung out in CF for the week.  Grandpa took us to the Pool and splash park.  I got to see my dear friend from High School and her sweet girls.  We ate Iowa sweet corn, roasted marshmallows in the fire pit, ate cupcakes at my friend's shop downtown and just had a great time!




(This is where the remainder of my pictures are still on my memory card in the lost camera so I'm stealing from everyone else)

Friday the 12th we went back down to Nauvoo, Illinois for my sister's sister-in-law's wedding.  After the occassion we went down to Muscatine and spent the night at my sister Becca's house.
Saturday the 13th we went with Becca, her Hubby Matt and their son Garrick and checked out the Button Museum, the river, the train and the playground.  On our way back up to CF we passed through Iowa City.  They were having their "Sand in the City" celebration where the city dumps literally tons of sand on the street and groups come in and build amazing sand castles and structures. There was also a giant pile of sand for the kids to play in, a bouncy house and of course snow cones, cotton candy and the likes.  Grandpa and Grandma spoiled the girls by letting them get a rainbow snow cone as big as their head.  :)

Sunday evening my good friends the Palmers came over for dinner.  We spent the evening laughing so hard our guts hurt...just like we've done since the 5th grade :)

Monday, August 15th
We drove down to Iowa City and met up with my brother Andrew.  He took us to a playground and splash area down town.

We spent the night at my sister Amy's house.  The girls played with their cousins and I got to love on my new nephew Everett and his delicious fatty legs. 

Tuesday, August 16th
We went boating with Amy's in-laws.  They had a giant tube they pulled behind their boat that fit six people at a time.  I thought the girls might be freaked out being on it...but I was wrong.  They all thought I was tons of fun, especially Heidi who all but refused to get off when her turn was over. 

Amy's husband Brett thought it would be hilarious to try and flip Amy and me off the tube.  We got all the kids in the boat and Brett drove like a maniac trying to give us whip-lash, skip us across the water like a rock or drown us...whichever came first.  It was so much fun, but the best part was watching Naomi.  (This is mean, but I could laugh because I knew I wasn't in any real danger).  Naomi thought we were going to die.  For real.  She was sobbing and reaching out to us and screaming to her sisters, "Who is going to take us back to Oregon?"

When we got back to land, alive and in one piece, the girls played in the water until Heidi decided to be a party pooper.  Literally. 


After we got that lovely mess cleaned up, we headed back down to my sister Steph's house in Sigourney for the rest of the week.