Iowa City

Iowa City :)

This blog post is extremely picture heavy...

So, if you like the pictures--here you go!

If not--sorry!

We got into Iowa City Saturday night.

We all stayed until Sunday at which point Pete left for Orange City.

The kids and I stayed until Wednesday (I think).

We had a FULL week and a great visit!

Our first visit with Gramma Markee at her new house.

(Last time we were in Iowa City (a year ago!) we saw the new place but it was the week before she moved in.)

At the Iowa Children's Museum.

It was my first visit and it was INCREDIBLE!

Cooling off with the new little pool and 'Hello Kitty' sprinkler :)

Riding the merry go round with Grandpa & Grandma at the mall while Mom and Dad did some shopping.

Em picked out these moustache sunglasses for Daddy!

Noah rode the tractor.

 We took Emily ice skating for the first time!

Pete was a great teacher for her :) 

Noah had fun with Grandma. 

Family photo at the ice rink.

Story time at the public library.

Picking out books with Grandma.

Puppet shows!

Telling secrets

More books

Another thing we got to do (but I don't have pictures from) is going to 'Open Gym' at the Iowa Gym-Nests.   Emma and Noah had a great time there too.

Meeting Hattie!!

Playing on the playground with Grandpa!

We walked to the park near Great Gramma Markee's home
We pushed Gramma in her wheelchair and despite her face in this photo, I think she enjoyed it.

Pete did :)

Noah LOVED Sasha.

LOVED her.

This next sequence of 10 photos are my favorite.

Noah did this OVER and OVER again!

Step 1.  Go to the counter and beg for dog treats.

Step 2. Get said dog treat from Grandma (she fell for it every time)  ;)

Step 3. RUN (on your baby feet that go pat-pat-pat-pat-pat when you run) through the dining room to Sasha (in the living room)

Step 4.  Feed treat to Sasha.

Step 5. Applaude for yourself and repeat.  :)

YAAAYAYAY!

Meeting up with great friends back at the library

We tried to get a group picture, but these (above and below) were the best we managed.

Sometimes* ;) visiting is more important than the photo.

After a week or two of terrible eating habits for this little guy, I cracked down and made him eat well.

He was NOT happy about it!

Out for a bike ride near Grandpa and Grandma's house.

Dandelion for good luck.

It was SO great to catch up with Jenny :)
She's on the east coast, I'm on the west... our parents are neighbors and thanks to her hounding me for our travel dates we finally got to see each other!
The last time we got together Russell and Em were babies!

I love you, Gramma.  

Baking cookies with Grandma!

Watching a deer in the backyard. . .
(It's down just past the treehouse to the left.)

. . .and playing in the water table with Grandpa.

Hi Noah!

At a University health clinic getting Noah's ear checked out.
He had an ear infection right before we left and he started pulling at it again, but the doctor said he was fine.  Better safe than sorry!

Books before bed.

Playing with stickers at Great Gramma Markee's.

Our last visit with Gramma for this trip.

Noah enjoyed 'talking' with Gramma.
They seemed to understand each other and enjoy one another's company.  :)

Good bye Iowa City!

Thanks for a great visit!

The Road to Iowa

The Road to Iowa City

Friday, August 17-Saturday, August 18

Friday morning we packed up and hit the road.  We drove to Kearney, NE and it definitely felt like a long driving day!   (Partly because it was a long day, and partly because let's face it... the scenery in Nebraska can't quite compete with California, Utah and Colorado!  

 Lots of road work in Nebraska...

We didn't get to our hotel in Kearney until 11pm at which point the kids woke up, we played in the hotel room until midnight, slept until 4 and then got back on the road.

*yawn!* 

 Saturday's sunrise over I-80.

There may not be much to look at on the ground, but I sure do love those clouds!!

 Saturday morning we got to Omaha around 8 (I think... I honestly don't remember anymore!)

We found a McDonald's for breakfast and then met Tamra, Nathan and Daniel at a nearby park.  :)

It was so great to see them again--especially since they're moving to Germany right after their baby #2 arrives later this year!

After playing for awhile, they introduced us to Jones Bros' Cupcakes which were delicious!

 After our snack we continued on to Adel, Iowa.

Where's Adel?  I didn't know either until our good friends the Schrocks moved (back) there a couple weeks ago.  It's right off of I-80 near Des Moines... apparently I've been driving right past all these years, but now we have friends there so we'll have to stop--plus they have the most delicious sweet corn ever.  EVER.  :)

This isn't my favorite picture (why aren't my children and I looking at the camera??) but it's all I've got.  

The Schrocks were super sweet and made an incredible lunch for us--even on short notice.

We definitely miss our friends, but it was great to see them briefly (Schrocks and Healds!) on our road trip.

On the road again...

Proof that I did at least a little of the driving. 

Iowa City... the view as we approach Hickory Trail.  :)

I love seeing all those trees.

Keystone, CO

Keystone, Colorado

Monday-Friday

Downtown Keystone for a family day. (Tuesday)

Emily got a free My Little Pony 'tattoo' and had a lot of fun jumping in one of the bounce houses.

 Cousins Austin, Emily & Tater Tot

Look who's behind bars! 

The cousins in the hot tub (almost!) lined up by age.

I tried to switch Em and Tate, but he insisted on sitting next to his brother.  :) 

Super cute though, right?  :) 

They're even: 3 boys, 3 girls

 Family photo time back at the rental house.

This one (above) belongs on a blooper reel... do you see why?

(Wednesday)

Much better  :) I think this one's my favorite with the sun glare!

 And another.... do you see the mountain reflection in the windows?  (The earlier photos were better for that... it was Peter's idea!)

 Out for a walk near our house.

(Same walk) 

Well, walk/bike ride for Emily.

We stopped for a snack by the stream.  Joey wasn't super happy this morning but the snacks cheered her up a bit.

Three generations of Connell men.

 Peter and I took a ski lift up the mountain Thursday morning.

 It was beautiful but chilly!

11,000+ feet.

I thought it was maybe silly to use the self timer and even more silly to turn and look away from the camera, but I actually love how this photo of us turned out!

 Gpa & Gma Patches played with the kids while we were up in the mountains.

When we came back down Emily begged for us to let her go on the 'jumpoline'.

We asked if she was sure she really wanted to go because it might be a little scary.

She of course said YES!

There was a discrepancy between the 2 employees about the minimum weight requirement... it was either 35 or 40 pounds.  Problem is she weighs 36 pounds!

They assured us that it was safe either way, but that if she didn't weigh enough the bungee cables would weigh more than her and she wouldn't really be able to bounce because her weight wouldn't pull her back down to the trampoline.

Yeah... I think the cables weighed more.  ;)

Solution: the employee pulled her down, helped her bounce a bit and then LAUNCHED her up into the air!

 She shrieked and I asked if it was scary or fun.  

She yelled: "BOTH!  Scary AND fun, but mostly FUN!" :)

Wow, little girl. . .

 !!!?!

 It was a FUN morning!

That evening after dinner we went back up with the whole extended family.

(The only unfortunate part was that it was a last second thing, so I didn't have a chance to charge my camera battery so I only got these three pictures.)

 Take my word for it though... it was beautiful.  :)

Here's a picture of the house we rented for the week.  It was a lot of work, and there were some minor frustrations with the rental process, but I think we all had a great time so it was totally worth it.  :)