Iowa Vacation 2016

We had an amazing summer vacation in Iowa.  The drive there went fine, with only a few crying spells.  I had a work conference in Western Michigan and was able to ride there with a co-worker, so Eric and the kids picked me up from there.  My conference didn't end until late afternoon, so we didn't make it as far as we had hoped on day 1.  Cody's max is about 3 hours before we have to stop and stretch...and it's never a quick stretch; Graecyn does much better now - as long as she has the iPad and a steady stream of movies and games.  We spent the night in Ottawa, IL making day 2 about 7 hours (it ending up taking us about 9 hours after 2 good stops to stretch).  We were fortunate that the weather was great, so we grabbed lunch and then found a nice playground off the interstate in small town Iowa.  The kids ran and burned off some energy for about an hour and then slept most of the last 2.5 hours to Grandma and Papa's house.

The weather was great the entire week we were there and we spent as much time as possible playing outside.  We boated and swam in the lake.  Spent a day at the Amusement Park.  Rode all of Papa's toys all around the farm - golf cart, go cart, power wheels galore.  The cousins had a blast playing with each other and I don't think Grandma and Papa's playground has seen so much action!  I even got to see my great friend, Holly - we hadn't seen each other in over a year (we were both pregnant last time we saw each other)!



We took advantage of Grandma babysitting and left Cody with her to take Graecyn to her first movie in the movie theater.  Addison and Colton came with us and we saw "The Secret Life of Pets" - such a cute movie and Graecyn loved it.

We went to the splash park, the big cousins had a slumber party with Graecyn, and we got to celebrate Camden's 3rd birthday (the superhero costumes Grandma and Papa got him were a huge hit with all the kids)!  Addison was in love with Cody and carried him around everywhere - where ever Cody was, Addison was close by!

Such a fun visit and so many great memories made!