Time in Waukee!

July 22, 2023 – March 31, 2024

Goodness, it has been a long time since I’ve written anything up!  We have been busy for the better part of the past year re-establishing a bit more of what many would call a “traditional” style of living!  While we still plan to travel, we decided it was a good opportunity to transition back to living in a sticks-and-bricks home and do a little more seasonal traveling in the future. 

Homeowners once again!

All of our "stuff" is in this trailer!

A big factor in this decision was when Maggie and Luke added Owen and Elliot to their family.  We couldn’t resist the opportunity to keep the kids out of daycare for most of their first year – and what the heck, as long as we were with the boys, it worked out for Norah to spend time with us too!  Maggie was contracting with a company that she worked part-time (on-line) with, so it was often the three of us with the three kiddos!  What a blessing to be so richly involved with these young lives!

Bottle time!

In addition to snuggling littles, we found ourselves shopping for furniture and all of the other household items “needed” in a home.  It really is amazing the number of things you easily live without in a camper!

We need furniture, but first new flooring and paint!

A highlight of our “free time” included getting to enjoy both the Iowa State Fair and the Great Minnesota Get-Together.  Going down the giant slide with the grandkids has become quite the tradition!  I’m also ready to declare Minnesota’s cheese curds as the best there is!

Iowa State Fair

Minnesota State Fair

Believe it or not, Minnesota's sweet corn is actually as good as Iowa's!

Another HUGE highlight was spending holidays with family.  Thanksgiving was exclusively spent with Lauren’s family, as Maggie’s family was hit with a virus and spent the time isolating, and Brandon’s family lives so very far away.   Upside: quality time with one family at a time was wonderful!  

Turkey Day!

Time with family included being able to help host a bridal shower for my niece, Amanda, as well as attend Amanda and Dustin’s wedding!  It seems love is in the air, as this wedding was no sooner past when another niece, Paige, announced her engagement to Sam!  Yep, I even managed to be around to help host that bridal shower!

Amanda's Bridal Shower

Amanda and Dustin's special day!

Paige's Bridal Shower

Christmas was AMAZING, as Brandon’s family flew in from Salt Lake City, Lauren’s family drove down from Minneapolis and Maggie’s family is only a couple of miles from us!  It was such a treat to be able to celebrate Jesus’ birth with all of us together!

Maybe not such a highlight, but we did get to do quite a bit of snow shoveling (actual shoveling as we hadn’t bought a snow thrower yet)!  It didn’t actually snow very many times, but when it did – it snowed a lot!  Between the two snowfalls, we had over 20” of snow to clear.  

I'd really rather be on a beach!

OK, so making snow angels really is fun!

Having access to Iowa State football and basketball games has to be included in our list of highlights!  We had a ton of fun getting back on campus and reminiscing the “good old days”!  We made it to two football games, two women’s basketball games, and one men’s basketball game!  Go Cyclones!

It was fun to cheer on the Cyclones with friends Linda and Steve!

Look who we ran into!  Dan McCarney was at the game!

Training these boys up to be Cyclones fans!

Easter was another fun time with family!  This time, we were able to have quality time with Maggie’s family.  The celebration included the requisite egg hunt along with the ham dinner.  Luke’s parents (Mike and Julie) were able to join us in celebrating the risen Christ and all of the joy Easter brings.

Elliot found an egg!

Norah found lots of eggs!

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention going to see “The Lion King” at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis!  What a tremendous production!  Believe it or not, we had purchased four tickets in 2019 to a production of “The Color Purple” and then COVID hit and the world shut down! Believe it or not, a very kind gentleman from the theatre kept in contact with us all of these years!  Brad happily substituted our tickets from 2019 for the out-of-this-world performance!  Bonus: being able to spend great quality time with Lauren’s family in addition to quality time with our dear friends Ken and Rhonda!  Thank you, Rhonda and Ken, for hosting us during our time in the Twin Cities!

Lion King with Ken and Rhonda

When we decided to settle back in Iowa, we knew we would be back on the road in April 2024 for a trip south to take in the total solar eclipse somewhere along the path of totality.  At the time, it seemed like a long way off, but before we knew it, the kiddos were all enrolled at a daycare center and we found ourselves out of a job and loading up the camper!  It’s been quite a year, filled with more blessings than we could ever have expected!

Look how much they've grown!

Next up:  Headed back to Texas!