Road Trip!

So, I finally got to check out the Iowa scene this past week... I discovered that it's a pretty laid back place to hang out, we had a great time just visiting with all of Mom's family. I also found out that the trip from home to Orange City, Iowa takes about 10.5 hours and I travel really well for about 10 hours - those car seats are pretty comfy, but sometimes enough is enough!

Here's a picture of me in my seat - I spent about 22 hours in this thing on our trip!

We spent a lot of time in Orange City walking downtown and to all the city parks. Our first night there we went to the downtown park where they have a bunch of windmills on display for the yearly Tulip Festival the town hosts.

We stopped on our walk to take a picture in front of the Sioux County Court House.

This is a view of the downtown park and all the windmills - it's a Dutch thing.

I just thought I looked pretty cute on this one with my dad.

Wednesday night, our second day in Iowa, we went to the Blue Mountain restaurant in Orange City - it was good, but the highlight was the huge thunderhead cloud we saw as we were leaving.

It's real, and it's spectacular!

Grandma bought me a snowsuit for this winter - Hopefully I grow really fast after my surgery so that I can fill it out!

On Thursday was my cousin Maddie's birthday, she turned 5. We went to the other park in town to have pizza and cake - by the way, if you ever get a chance to try Pizza Ranch pizza you should - it's mine and my dad's favorite. We enjoyed Pizza Ranch pizza three times during our 7-day stay as well as some of their broasted chicken - yum!

This is my cousin Maddie with her birthday cake - I hope I grow up to be almost as cute as she is!

Before going to Maddie's birthday party we went to my mom's college to check out the campus, and since Julie is going to school there now, she gave us a tour of all the updates around the college. We stopped to reminisce about the days when mom was fit and ran track for the Dordt College Defenders - she even has some records that still stand from such a LONG time ago -hard to believe!

Me and mom in front of the record board.

Our little family being models for Dordt College - you should have seen mom trying to get up on the sign...she's got some working out to do!

Dad got a chance to do some golfing with Uncle Andrew on Saturday morning and then we spent a good part of the rest of the day posing for pictures....you know how grandma's are, we needed to have pictures since all of the family was together since Joni and Barry and my cousins, Ethan and Erin, came to join the family fun. After the photo shoot, we headed to the downtown park again and had a snack and enjoyed the beautiful weather and each other's company.

Here's the whole family.

Back row: Andrew, Matt, Grandpa, Barry with Erin
Middle row: Jenness, Me and Mom, Grandma, Julie, Joni
Seated/front row: Marty, Michael, Maddie, Max, Maggie, Ethan

Saturday night, we went to the Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor in LeMars, IA
Now you all know how I keep gaining all that weight - my secret's out!

Mom, Julie and me in front of the old fashioned ice cream truck.

Sunday was another good day. We went to church - I was really good. I met all of Grandpa and Grandma's good friends and I thought they were all pretty great. Then we had some dinner and spent some time just relaxing with the family again.

This is our family in front of Grandpa and Grandma's church.

I enjoyed spending time on my clown quilt in the park with Mom and Maddie.

And, of course, we spent a few hours every night watching the Olympics.

Dad and I took a break from watching the Olympics to ponder all the tough questions in life.

Now we're back at home and ready for our next adventure!
Blog at'cha later!