What to do in the Iowa HEAT and HUMIDITY? Go swimming!

Tuesday, August 26:  Being in Pella, we are only less than an hour from our good friends and first cousins, Ryan and Ashley and their family in Des Moines - another blessing for us!  Door to door from our house to theirs is quite a simple trip - and worth it every time (we've gone twice already!).  This past weekend they invited us over for a Saturday afternoon swim with some other friends, too.  It was hot and humid, so great Iowa weather to take a dip in the pool.  

Dan taking an attempt to swim against the current...

Thomas and Henry watching "Frozen" - taking a break from the heat...

And pizza and grapes to end a great day with new friends and lots of fun!

Our final days living the HOTEL life...

Monday, August 25:  I can honestly say that not once over the past two weeks in the hotel have I thought "I can't wait to get out of this hotel!"  God has been so good to us with such a spacious, accommodating, friendly place to stay.  Everyone has been super nice and we have even made some new friends at the Country Inn and Suites.  Thomas isn't going to want breakfast from anyone other than "Miss Lisa," and I'm pretty sure he will go through a breakfast buffet withdrawal for a while once we get into the new house!  Back to peanut butter sprinkle toast dipped in OJ...

"Aunt Nikki" made her way back to Pella on her last day before school started and jumped right in to playing with the Tman.  I was not in charge here!

And since Dad was officially at work, why not sneak in a trip to the bakery for a donut.  Thomas ate this whole thing - bite after bite after bite - and was completely content.  Love this kid!

Where might you ask will we be getting groceries in our new town?  FAREWAY!!  Yes, they have a Fareway.  When we lived in Iowa City, I absolutely loved my little Fareway down the street - and now we have one again.  AND, they have carts for kids.  Watch out ankles.  Thomas gets a bit excited sometimes.  

We now have Monday night FaceTime dates with Aunt Shannon and the boys...and look forward to them already (we've already had TWO!).  Since we've left AZ, there house has grown as you can see Thomas above FaceTiming with Lightening the Lizard - Quinn's new best friend.  Yuck!!  

Thomas and I have made our way back to the "oh-gurt" place a few times already now.  Please don't judge :)!  It's just so good - and remember, 100% of the proceeds go to missions...

Since we have lots of room in the hotel, there's no big rush to get out in the 90 degree heat and 90% humidity we've been having lately, so we've been watching some Iowa Public Television cartoons and working on our water painting skills to help Dan decorate his new office.  Pictured here is MACK - "I'm not a Mac, I'm a Peterbilt!"

And "parms" - farms - are commonly built and played with over and over and over...

A McDonald's date without Aunt Shannon - how wrong?!  But I had to keep him awake somehow - as we had a walk thru at the new house at 1 pm this past Friday and I just wasn't sure he was going to make it awake if we didn't keep him moving.  I did give him a choice for lunch (after a play date at the gym and library stop) - he could go to Smokey Row or McDonald's - and I should have known, but here he is thoroughly enjoying his cheeeeeseburger, french fries, apple juice, and gogurt (not pictured)!  And we did make it awake through the walk thru...but not for long.  

Thomas and I made a trip to Fareway to stock our cupboards at the new house and we couldn't leave without buying some Fareway brand BBQ chips in honor of Hunter-Bean!  We will eat them just for you, Hunter :)!!

Watch out for Thomas's new gig after his bath....he's a SHARKNADO!!!!  

(This is brand new since being in the hotel...not sure where it came from, but BEWARE.)

Only a couple more days till we get into our new home...so many more adventures to come!

Adventures with Daddy...

Sunday, August 17:  On Dan's last day before starting his new job, we started our church search in the morning, dined at the local Chinese buffet called Panda Garden at noon, took family naps shortly after, and headed out for a late afternoon at the lake - Lake Red Rock - only a few minutes drive outside of town (and about 4 minutes from our new house!).  It was sunny out, so the shades had to come out, too :).  What a cool dude.

Thomas and his "sticks"...

Shadows are so cool (and they get a 2 year old taking his sweet time walking to get movin' a little faster, too!).

"Wook at this hooouugge pish, Mom!"

"Pishin' wike Grampa Terry..."

LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture of my guys :).

What do you think we had to draw in the sand?  Tractors.  Big surprise!!

So fun.  We are looking forward to spending a lot more time by the river and lake - exploring, hiking, biking, swimming, fishing, camping, picnicing, etc. 

First ever trip to the Iowa State Fair!

Friday, August 15:  So Dan and I are both natives of Iowa and neither one of us have ever been to the Iowa State Fair....until now.  Dan hadn't started work yet, and we had one more free day, so we packed up our bags and headed to Des Moines for the day.  It poured all the way to Des Moines, so to buy some time, we made our first trek to our closest Costco - almost exactly an hour from Pella!  It was lovely and two hours later, the rain had stopped and we headed to the fair :).  Perfect timing.

We took the shuttle bus from the State Capital building and it dropped us right off at the gates to the fair.  Thomas enjoyed the ride on the big, long bus!

What was right inside the gate that we were dropped off at?  Yep, you guessed it!  All kinds of John Deere equipment :).  Let's just say it took us a little while to get past that section of the fair...

Dan was bound and determined to find the double-bacon wrapped corn dogs (recommended to us by a friend) and we did.  Was it worth it?  Absolutely.  So much as to I have full confidence that Kid President would approve!!!  

Thomas liked the corn dog, too!

And what was I after?  I was after the fried mac n' cheese (recommended to us by the same friend - she has good taste!)...and was this dish worth it?  Absolutely.  I actually think Thomas enjoyed it more than me!

After our bellies were full, we headed to "Little Hands on the Farm" and the Baby Animal Building...and here is Thomas the Farmer :).  Looks almost like a natural!

Baby Ostriches - my favorite!

A baby goat...Thomas's favorite!

Thomas was so excited about the "Butter Cow" - seriously.  He talked about it for a LONG time.  Pretty cool.

And a "Butter Field of Dreams"?!  Possibly even cooler...

Can you guess what food we had to get in before we left - whether we had room or not?  Fried Oreos.  Worth it?  Absolutely.

And a family selfie to end the adventure on the bus ride back...what a great day!  We can't wait to go back next year, too!