Iowa [mama & noah trip]

Camille (my cousin) had asked months ago if I would be interested in making a trip to Iowa with her, and her 2 kids. Her husband would be finishing the Hesston College choir tour there and he would ride home with us. Quick connection explanation: Camille & Russell (now live in KS)...sibling to Kyle, who is married to Julie..live in Iowa. Julie's sister, Ranee..was my roommate at HC..and very dear friend, lives just down the road from Kyle & Julie. I haven't seen Ranee since Noah's 1st birthday..and they have added another baby, Ezra since then. 

I ended up just taking Noah with me, and it was a pleasant surprise treating him as an "only child" for the weekend. It was so fun to see him in his own little element.

We had a smooth trip, and arrived mid afternoon on Friday. It was a nice day, and we got to check out the Brokaw's forts. And it was easy to see that Hudson and Noah were going to get along just fine. They are 8 months apart...and it was so entertaining to watch them interact.

That evening we went to an event hosted at the YMCA, that involved a meal, crafts for the kids, a free t-shirt (thanks Ranee!), and playing in the gym. It was a good time.

Saturday, Ranee and I (with all but baby Ezra) went to the Iowa City Children's Museum. Oh, it had some fun little stations and exhibits to play in. The pizza making station was a hit.

Tessa and Noah were taking orders and preparing the pizza AND drink choice.

The airplane room...

awesome aviator googles and jacket. And that pingpong ball was floating in the air!

 Luke was showing them how to fly the plane.

Hudson was the doctor in the ambulance, Noah was the patient. And all the kids were very busy checking out in the grocery store.

Just so much to look at and play with! A few other families thought it was a good day to visit the museum as well. We finished our outing by eating at Chic-fil-a in the mall. 

 It was pretty rainy and cool, so the rest of the afternoon was spent inside building with Legos and watching a couple shows.

 

And this is baby Ezra with his mama...he is quite a happy, smiley guy.

At about 8:00 an executive decision was made to go to get icecream and whooo--eee, it was a lot of icecream and it was tasty.

Good times...

Sunday morning we went to church..and Ranee's parents came over for lunch...I enjoy visiting with them.

These two...aren't they just too cute?!?

Sunday afternoon, I went with Ranee and Tessa to a recital for one of the senior's at the school Ranee teaches. I enjoyed listening, piano, violin and singing. And they had homemade raspberry icecream afterwards...it was VERY good.

That evening, we went over to Kyle and Julie's for supper. I told Kyle it would really just make my visit complete if I could see a baby calf be born. We were discussing labor and delivery, both the cow and human kinds. Following supper, he took Noah over to see the animals at the farm...and called shortly after leaving to tell me a calf was going to be born!!!! Oh man, I was pretty excited about that. This was the little calf right after delivery...nice and toasty out of its mama!

In our labor and delivery world, this would be the hour of skin-to-skin that is "baby friendly". Cows have their own version..licking them off and giving them their kick start. The bond between and mama and baby is just something special.

There's the calf delivery doctor for the evening....

thanks Kyle for the experience of watching!! You really pulled through to make the weekend complete.

The kids in their matching jammies from Ranee...

and how crazy is it that Hudson and Noah sleep with the same dog stuffed animal. So funny.

Monday morning, we were treated to homemade donuts in Kalona. Then, we stopped by Justin's parents business JK Creative. I like to look at all the different things they make and sell. We ate lunch at their house, and then headed home to get ready to leave.

Thanks for letting us visit, Ranee and family!! I am glad we could come and see, and play, and just hang out in person. I wish it was a little closer so we could do this more often!

RMV {roommate visit}

Christian and I made a long over due visit to Iowa this week, to visit my dear friend Ranee and her family. He traveled really good both there and back..that's always a blessing.

The first evening we got there, Kyle (my cousin..who just so happens to be Ranee's brother in law as well), was combining in the field in their back yard. He was nice enough to let Christian and I join him for the last little bit. OH boy, Christian loved it. He talked about Kyle for the rest of the time there!

Ranee and Justin have two cute kids..Luke (3) and Tessa (1 1/2). Pictures are good when you can't visit..but it sure is nice to see the real deal in person. Its fun to see them grow up!

 This trip Ranee and I had made a relatively long list of craft things to do together, since we both enjoy doing them..and doing them together is double the enjoyment! Of course we included a shopping outing in the agenda as well..a visit is not complete without that!

After we'd lay the kids down for the night...the crafting came out! The Brokaws have recently built a nice addition to their house..a laundry space/bathroom, two car garage, and basement (where Christian and I slept). We set up our craft shop in the laundry area.

We had a few extra helpers...

I can't remember if I told Justin I wouldn't put this on here or not..but for the record I'm only trying to depict the awesome participant he was in contributing to the crafting. He will have to be nominated for best supportive husband or something. I actually took it to prove to Ben that Justin did this for Ranee..to see if I could boost Ben's excitement in helping me! I don't think I'll hold my breath..which is probably okay for the both of us :) 

More photos of the days together...

Christian was a fan of Ranee's cinnamon rolls..we all were for that matter.

The last evening we were there, the Gingerich's (Ranee's parents), and the Birky's (Kyle & Julie's family) joined us for supper.

And due to the fact that we were so busy chatting, shopping, crafting, and watching our children..this is the only picture we managed to take of the two of us literally seconds before we had to say goodbye. 

We should really learn to do better at this!

 I'm glad we were able to visit. We had fun together as usual. I value Ranee's friendship, even if 98% of it is over the phone or through emails/letters. The extra 2% in person is like icing on the cake! We didn't exactly get all of our crafting endeavors completed..but I'd say that's fine, maybe that means we need to do this more often...(or maybe it means we need to have a more realistic list), regardless I had fun and I"m glad I got to hang out with the Brokaw's for a few days!