Family Time in Iowa

Ginny in her car seat, thrilled to be
going for a drive.

Every morning, when my toddler wakes up, she asks if we are going for a drive. She really loves going for drives. I don't understand the thrill, but if it makes her happy, so be it.

This past Friday morning when she asked, we told her that we were indeed going on a drive. It would be a long drive, though. We were heading to Iowa to visit her cousins, aunt, uncle, and grandparents. She was quite thrilled at the prospect.

As she ate breakfast, DH and I finished any last minute packing and loading the vehicles. Our trip had two purposes this time. We were going to visit my DH's family, and drop off the DH's old Buick with his parents. So, instead of riding in the same car together, Chris would drive the Buick and I would drive the minivan with the kids.

Once we were in the minivan, Ginny became concerned because Daddy was no where to be seen. I explained that he was in the car in front of us. For the first hour of the drive, I heard my toddler asking, "Daddy?" I would point Daddy out in front of us, which would satisfy her, until five minutes later when she would ask again. The drive took about 6 hours, with the girls and me getting off I-80 before my husband as he headed to his parents to deliver the car and I headed straight for his brother's house.

When we arrived at my BIL and SIL's house, Ginny was extremely excited. She couldn't wait to see her cousins, Jacob and Ainsley. We were able to relax a bit after our arrival, but soon had to change clothes and prepped for family pictures. I readied Grace and Ginny in their blue jeans and black Ts that their Aunt Kim picked up for the pictures. Then I got myself ready. We headed over for the pictures where we met up with my FIL, MIL, my foster BIL, and husband. The pictures seemed to go nicely and didn't take too long, a blessing after a long drive. From there we went out to dinner then back to my BIL's house.

Riding the train with Jacob

The next day was fabulous! It also meant another drive. After all, we didn't want to disappoint Ginny, our two-year-old. We loaded all eight of us in the van and drove an hour to Des Moines so we could go to the farmer's market.

The Des Moines Farmer's Market is unlike any farmer's market I have ever been too. I have been to farmer's markets in larger cities (Des Moines really isn't that big), but they don't come even close to rivaling the size found in Des Moines. The market is HUGE. The market has a great variety of goods. Not only does it have your standard fare of fresh produce, but also lots of crafts, baked goods, ice cream, and cooked delights to try.

Grace loved the Farmer's Market too,
can't you tell?

We arrived around 10 a.m. and didn't make it through the whole thing in the 2 hours we were there. (The market ends at noon.)  The food was quite good. I started my day there buying (and eating) a cream horn. My husband got a sausage filled with cheese that we ended up sharing. We tried Gooners, a food made like crab rangoon but filled with stuff other than crab. We tried the sausage queso gooners. Quite good. We also got some chicken dumplings from a Russian food vendor. Our market food adventure ended with homemade ice cream.

At one point, we stopped for a bit while my SIL went to get some more cash. We waited next to a small tent that had a young man playing guitar and singing. Ginny loved this! She was released, temporarily, from her stroller. She proceeded to dance, even trying to get her baby sister to dance with her and her dad, who happily complied despite his aversion to dancing.

 From there we found the little "train" that is set up to give little ones rides. Ginny and her cousins rode the train. Ginny couldn't wait to ride with her cousin Jacob, holding his hand in anticipation. Grace found her stroller seat comfortable enough that she napped for over an hour while we walked around. Overall the day was a huge success. The rest of our day was spent relaxing, with Ginny taking a nap then playing in the back yard with her cousins. She even discovered a sand box for the first time. She loved it! Don't most kids?

The joys of a sand box

The next day, we went to mass then headed to my FIL and MIL's for a visit. We stayed for lunch and visited the rest of the afternoon. We felt awful because there was some miscommunication between my DH and his mom. She thought we were staying for dinner too, but we had told his brother we would be at his house for dinner. We would have changed our plans, but Chris had promised to play golf with our niece after dinner. It was a tough decision on what we should do. We decided should keep his promise to Ainsley. I'm glad we did that. We found out once we arrived that Ainsley had been looking forward to golfing all day. They ended up having a lot of fun on the golf course.

Grandma holding Grace!

Yesterday morning, we headed home after our long weekend. Ginny was still just as thrilled about taking a drive. Eventually, we made it home. I had plans to get things done today, but I feel like I need a day of rest after all the driving and visiting. I'll join the real world again tomorrow.