Summer Vacation Part 2

Summer Vacation Part 2

The next leg of our summer vacation journey brought us to Cedar Falls, Iowa to visit my siblings, Monica and Allen. Monica and her husband, Wes, just bought a house so they hosted us while we were in town for three days. We visited the Sturgis Falls festival with Monica and Allen, which just happened to be going on while we were in town. They had a children’s tent where we got to see a magic show, a yo-yo show, and Mady got to express herself with sidewalk chalk (her favorite medium). I took her on some very over-priced carnival rides. Her general reaction ranged from boredom (the merry-go-round) to terror (the go-gator kiddie roller coaster). I probably should have known better because she still gets intimidated by some of the attractions at Chuck-E-Cheese. I did succeed in convincing her to go down the giant slide with me. It was the kind where they give to a burlap sack to sit on. By “convince” I mean I carried her up the stairs and had to wrestle her onto my lap when she started to panic at the top… Hopefully the experience didn’t scar her too much. We also had some carnival food. Allen ate a giant turkey leg like a caveman.

My folks were also in town to help Allen and Amber paint their house. The brought their trailer and stayed at a nearby State Park. We spent some time with everyone at the campground and went swimming in the lake. Amber created a burger recipe for a contest that she wanted to test on us. It was burger stuffed (yes, stuffed) with smoked gouda and bacon served with sweep red peppers and avocado. I forgot what bread she used for the bun, but that was good too. Probably the best burger I’ve ever had. Before leaving Cedar Falls, we visited Mr. and Mrs. Lundy. Sherman Lundy was Carrie’s high school chemistry teacher and he has kept in touch with us over the years. Their house is full of all sorts of fascinating stuff (rocks, dinosaur bones, dolls, and the largest train collection I’ve ever seen). It is always nice to visit with them and they love doting on the girls.

The final stop on our journey was to Dubuque, Iowa, to visit our friends Jen and Tim. Their daughter, Sam, is one week older than Mady, and their son, Austin, is just a couple months older than Cami. Mady really enjoyed having a playmate and lots of new toys and dress up clothes to enjoy. We went on a riverfront walk and visited a local Children’s Zoo. We also took the kids to Jumpin’ Janes Bouncehouse. It was a giant room with six large inflatable toys and a play place. The cool part is that adults get in for free, but we were having just as much fun as the kids. We basically had the whole place to ourselves. Mady was a little hesitant at first, but she eventually started having fun in the bounce houses and we even got her to go down one of the slides.  Sam was fearless. She was climbing on everything and even went down the giant slide a few times.

That was the end of our vacation. The last drive, from Dubuque to Cleveland, was the longest. We left early, made regular stops to eat and stretch, and got home pretty late. One exciting moment of the drive was when we spotted a semi swerving around ahead of us. He almost went off the road a couple times and almost swiped a few other cars off as well. I called the highway patrol and we got to watch as they pulled him over.

Now were safely home and back into our summer routine. It was a great vacation and probably something we’ll continue to do during the summer.