Iowa!!

DeA and I loved our time in the Midwest while I was attending Palmer. We have been looking for an opportunity to return since we left. This was the first year in a long time that we didn't have to burn vacation time for a sibling's wedding, we jumped at the opportunity to go. It required an early flight out of SeaTac. That wasn't so easy on some of us.

 Of course, one of the kids never needs sleep.

 Even the cold shuttle ride didn't wake up the Jens.

  A chocolate donut helped perk up Ryker at the airport.

 A breakfast sandwich didn't really help Jens' energy.

  The flight to Chicago was pretty smooth. Some slept, some rested, and one didn't do either.

 Jens was dressed to impress at O'Hare.

 Ryker slept most of the flight to Chicago, but that didn't stop him from sleeping on the flight to Moline. As we were taxiing to take off, the flight attendant apologized for the A/C being broken. It didn't seem like a big deal, since it was only 100 degrees in Chicago at the time. About twenty minutes into the forty minute flight, a lady started screaming from the back that she needed help. The guy next to her was convulsing from the heat. That gave the kids quite a start, but thankfully we landed without any other incidents. The plane was so hot that the ramp was cooler.

   The kids were elated to find the airport well air conditioned. They were excited to enjoy the Midwest, until they walked out the door into the 100 degree heat with 70 percent humidity. Jens complained that her shirt was sticking to her skin.

 The kids were hot, hungry, and hot. The first stop was obvious, Chick Fil-A and their delicious frosted lemonade!

 Once the kids were satisfied, we took them to the main point of the whole trip: Whitey's ice Cream!

We took the opportunity to re-create an old pic:

The next morning we attended what we thought was our old ward. They re-drew all the boundaries since we've been gone, and it turned out that we didn't know anyone there. We did get to see some of the old members after Sacrament meeting, like Bishop Onkin and Sister Huebbe. The kids kind of posed for pictures.

We ate lunch at the Machine Shed. It is a farm style restaurant that is delicious, but it also gave us opportunity to re-create another photo.

Someone started to act out because of all the attention that Rock was getting while recreating his history. After we let him enjoy a few pictures of his own.

We excitedly headed down to Muscatine to spend time with Kelli and Steve. We loved spending time with them and Jenni and Jim while we were in living back here, and it was fun to re-live some of that with their now older kids. Sydney was just a little newborn when we moved out to Iowa and Carter wasn't even around. 

Speaking of Carter, he loved hanging out with his new-to-him cousins.

It was fun to watch them bond over a shuffle board tournament.

As we were getting ready to leave the kids noticed fireflies. They were fascinated and ran outside to catch as many as they could.

They tried to bring about three dozen back to the hotel.

Carter and Sydney wanted to come visit Nauvoo with us. They fit in seamlessly with our kiddos.

They were even in our family pictures.

The kids loved all the visitor sites.

Jens was very busy asking us to take pics of her while posing.

The little troopers even enjoyed an extra ride down to Carthage Jail.

The kids seemed to feel something special in the jail and did a good job of being reverent. Also, DeA kept looking at these pictures and saying "so, this is what our family would be like with five kids".

The kids insisted that we take a picture exactly like this. They positioned us just so...

After getting back to Muscatine, the kids painted their souvenir rubber band guns that they picked up in Nauvoo. 

Also, someone doesn't know how to open a bag of hot dog buns.

The time change from Pacific to Central made it hard for the kids to wake up in time for breakfast. The boys made it a few times, and seemingly tried to make up for the days that they missed.

Carter and Jens traded places for the night, with Jens staying with Gordons and Carter crashing with us.

One of the biggest lures of the trip was the idea to go the Field of Dreams. The boys played for over two hours, despite the 100 degree temperatures and oppressive humidity.

They drank their 20oz bottles of Gatorade and a few bottles of water, but no one asked to pee for the next three days (just kidding).

Everyone was exhausted, which made the car ride back to Davenport pretty quiet.

We ate lunch at one of our favorites, Grinders!

The kids were a little leery and tired. They thought the place looked a little old.

Well, our kids were leery.

Carter was pretty excited.

All doubts disappeared when the foot arrived. It was delicious!

By the way, I think we stopped at Whitey's every day but Sunday.

Carter invited all the kids to stay over at his house, and DeA and I reluctantly agreed to spend the evening without them. We took that time to find her the old location of her day spa.

The next day we visited her old Chick-fil-A. It was here that she ate pretty much every meal and snack on her work days.

We enjoyed a warm 4th of July in Muscatine. They had a parade at 5pm on the hottest and most humid day of the year. The kids looked like they were melting.

The kids kept trying to cuddle, but they all felt like sweaty little heaters.

We zoomed out of Muscatine and went straight to the QC River Bandits baseball game. Going to this stadium is one of the many things that I miss from our time there.

The heat index was up to 120 while we were there. Even in the shade it was uncomfortable.

Rock caught a frisbee from the between innings games.

Ryker was mad that I wouldn't let him get nachos, popcorn, cotton candy, and a hamburger in the first inning.

DeA never lets the heat get to her. She always looks pretty.

Look how sticky everyone looks. It smelled about how it looks.

Did I mention that it was hot?

The ice cream did cool them off a little, and they started to seem less cranky.

The kids wanted to go on the little roller coaster, and surprisingly, DeA wanted to go, too.

There was a great fireworks show after the game. That was the best part for the kids.

USA!! USA!! USA!!

Eventually we took Rock to the hospital where he was born. It's the only building he left but never entered.

The river is pretty at night.

No night is complete without another round of Whitey's

One of the things I loved about Iowa was the cheap and abundant golf. I took the kids to one of the nine hole courses that I used to learn the game.

We had a pretty fun round, even if one of the kids tried to throw his clubs in the water after shanking a shot.

Jensley and DeA didn't want to golf, they wanted to get their nails done at DeA's old spa.

Palmer's Campus was initial closed because of the holiday, but by Thursday was open. It brought back a lot of memories to walk through the halls and remember the good memories along with the stressful ones.

I really dressed up for the occasion.

This is the spot outside the library where I studied between classes. Or talked to my buddies about football. They are pretty much the same thing. 

Here I would sit and eat lunch and people watch, both in the skywalk and on the street.

We couldn't leave the Quad Cities without visiting the John Deere Pavilion. 

The kids loved climbing on the giant tractors and playing the educational and promotional games.

Our flight was in the afternoon, that gave us time to say goodbye to Sydney and Carter and play at Charlie Cheeze's restaurant. 

 The Moline to Chicago leg went better going back, no seizures this time.

Things got a little sideways in Chicago. The flight kept getting bumped back in ten minute increments, with the promise that everything was okay. 

Ten minutes became two hours, then they announced that we would for sure be leaving in 45 minutes. The kids were weary and anxious.

Our 10pm arrival time in Seattle eventually became 3:30am. I called our hotel in Seattle to let them know our situation, and I'm thankful we did. The kids were cooked, and standing in the chilly, windy parking garage at SeaTac didn't help anyone's mood. 

The hotel sent the shuttle quickly, and when we walked in the lobby they had the room key ready to go. We hit the sack around 4:40am, but thankfully didn't have to check out until noon. Guess who woke up at 7:30 ready to go crazy? That's right, ^^^ those guys did.