We left on Friday, June 28th (which also happened to be our ten year anniversary!!!) at about 6:30 p.m. Kids had been bathed and were in their pjs. We drove through a McDonald's drive thru (super healthy, I know) and hit the road.
Silas doing his "angry sleeping."
The miles we drove from Orlando to Iowa
Ava had so much fun playing with her cousin Aili, and Silas loved all the open country space. The kids got to ride on the go-cart, and on Papa's Razor. We LOVED the gorgeous weather, although us "Floridians" were a tad bit cold in the evening. :-)
Daddy and Ava
Papa and Silas
Silas pretending to drive the go-cart
Silas taking Nana for a walk. :-)
On Sunday, we went to church in the morning and were able to see a few of Eric's friends from high school as it just happened to be their baptism day for their twins.
Aili and Ava fell asleep during church like this..........
After church, we celebrated Silas's 2nd birthday with family. Chelsey, Jerrod, and the rest of the kids came and were even able to spend the night, and my parents and sister drove down from Cedar Falls. It was SO GREAT to have all the family together.
Doing some tie-dye with the cousins
They had fun!
Silas's neat birthday cake.
He LOVED it!
Ava, Silas, and cousin Aili
On Monday Eric went into Iowa City to meet with an old co-worker and visit his old lab. I think he enjoyed catching up with everybody there. While he was doing that, Chelsey and I went to the Tanger Outlet Mall and did some fun girl time shopping KID FREE (can't remember the last time I was without my kiddos), while Tom and Jan hung out with the grandkids. It was such a fun, relaxing day.
Doing some fishin'
He LOVED hanging out with his big cousins
Almost touching the fish that Papa caught.
Nana and Silas
Watching his cousins drive the go-cart around the yard.
Blowing bubbles with Nana
Picking up some heavy rocks.
On Monday night, my best friend Tiff and her two girls, Jade and Jordyn, drove to Eric's parents' house from Des Moines to visit for a little bit. I was so glad that I was able to see them during our brief trip home!
Ava and Jordyn
The kiddos....Silas, Ava, Jordyn, and Jade
Tiff and I
On Tuesday, Eric went golfing with his dad and I went into Iowa City to meet up with my friend Kara and her four kiddos. It was great to reconnect with all of them, and Ava was so excited to see her friends again. The kids played hard, and Silas did his best to keep up with all of them. I so miss my days of going to the Coral Ridge Mall for playdates at the "germ pit" and eating at the food court.
Kara's kids and mine.....Braxton, Dylan, Silas, Riley, Ava, and Kaeden
Ava with her Nana
Tried to get one with both Nana and Papa and the kids, but Silas would not look up.
What a stinker!
Tuesday evening, after supper, we loaded up the minivan again and headed up to Cedar Falls to stay with my parents. Mom sent me a text asking that I let her know when we were getting close as they were "still trying to clean the house." So I let her know when we had taken their exit from Highway 20 and were just a few minutes away. When we turned onto their street, we saw them all standing outside next to a boat! That's right.....they had purchased a boat and surprised us with it! They had been looking for one for quite awhile, and had just gotten it that same day. Needless to say, we had quite a bit of fun with that in the three days that we were there. :-)
Wednesday was a day to relax. We took the boat out and did some water skiing, which was GREAT!! Silas, however, was not a happy camper when Mommy jumped in the water from the boat. Poor guy. It was such great weather, and we had the water practically to ourselves. Loved every minute of it! After that, we went back to my parents for lunch, and then my Dad hung out with Silas while the rest of us hit the movie theatre for a matinee of Monster's University. It was super cute, and I think we all enjoyed it.
Surfer boy with his hair blowing in the wind
Ava LOVES going for boat rides
All that fresh air wore him out
I LOVE this picture. A little boy and his dog. :-)
On Thursday, which was the 4th of July, we all headed to Eagle Grove to visit more family. We first went to Mom's parents, and my aunt, uncle, and my cousin's husband and son were all there. Unfortunately, she had to work, and I am not sure about her sister (Jenna, if you are reading this....where were you?? :-). Silas opened presents, and we all enjoyed catching up with each other. Ava had fun playing with my cousin's son, Draven, and Silas thought it he was cool hanging out with the "big kids."
My uncle Steve, my grandma, my sister, my mom, my brother and my dad.
LOVE family time!
Ava with her great grandparents.
I was able to get Silas to sit still long enough for one quick picture.
After lunch, we drove out to Lake Cornelia to reunite with some of the Umthun clan. Again, it was so nice to see everyone, and the kids just loved being out there. Two of my cousins were expecting the same time as I was, and we all three had boys within just three days of each other (the other two were actually born on the same day, and Silas just three days later), so we got all three of them together again and had them go at a birthday cake. I bet at least a hundred pictures were taken of that, as nearly every adult had a camera out for that fun. :-)
Swimming with Papa
I love this picture too. Papa and Silas, just sitting on the dock having a nice little chat.
The three birthday boys waiting for their cake
Liam (7/2/11), Carson (7/2/11) and Silas (7/5/11)
Big thanks to Brianna Umthun for getting his cute cake for the boys.
Time to dig in!
I would say he had fun......
The easiest way to clean off a two year old covered in frosting when you are at the lake.
Naked boy!!
Ava and Silas with my Grandma Umthun
Friday was our last day in Iowa. Eric had a meeting all the way in Iowa City early in the morning, so while he attended that, I saw to watching all of our laundry and beginning the fun process of packing. A little before lunch we all took the boat out again for one last time, and spent several hours on the water again. I hope we get to use that boat many more times!!!
The bubble mower he got from Uncle Brett and Aunt Megan
My brother using his wakeboard
Ava and her aunt Kelsey
My parents with both kiddos
Kids in the their pjs, ready for the long trip home.
We ate an early supper with my parents, and took off about 7:00 p.m. for our LONG journey back to Florida. We were not nearly as excited to be in the car for 24 hours this time. Ava requested that I just "leave her there" and she did NOT want to go back to Florida. She said she could just live with Nana and Papa. But the kids did pretty well again, and we drove through the night once more and did not stop to get the kids out until Chattanooga, TN the next morning. It does help that when you take your first break to eat a meal you are already half way home. The rest of the drive on Saturday seemed to take FOREVER but we finally made it home at about 8:00 p.m. on Saturday night.
I was the only one awak for awhile while driving through Tennessee
Both kiddos passed out as well. :-)
We stopped at a Dairy Queen for an afternoon break outside of Atlanta.
Silas could not get over how big it was!
And we were home! 1,374 miles from my parents' house. :-(
And 22 hours and 46 minutes of drive time. WOW!
It was a great trip home, and we can't wait to do it again! Hopefully we can just fly the next time though..... :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment