As I write this, we’re on 74W heading to West Bend, IA, to spend the night with Uncle Cloyce and Aunt Carol. This morning’s packing went smoothly, as smoothly as things can go when planning for a 10 day trip for 11 people. Grandma Kaiser brought out a wonderful travel kit for us, complete with a game she made, starburst for prizes, a few dvds, some puzzle books, and comics. Aunt Sarah came out and helped us with last minute apple-picking and other chores – I had kind of suspected the apples would need to be picked before we left or they would fall while we’re gone. Ideally they could have been on the tree for a little while yet, but since we won’t be here to check and they were falling frequently, I’m glad we got them picked before we left. We brought quite a few with us and left another bushel and a half in the basement to sweeten a bit more. Levi and Jesse milked and were home around 11:00 to finish up and check on chores, and Dad got home around then too. A little lunch, hung up some laundry in the basement, and we were on the road by 12:10. And here we’ll be for the next 6 or so hours.
Dad drove, I drove, Dad drove. Went through some rain, some wind, and some beautiful stormy sky views which I didn’t get to practice photographing because I was driving. Had McDonald’s for supper at Fort Dodge and got to Uncle Cloyce’s at EXACTLY 7:00. Pretty impressive planning, especially because we weren’t there 10 minutes and it started to rain – and it rained hard. We enjoyed the rain from their garage with Wendell and Karen, who got there about 10 minutes before we did and were pulling out Uncle Cloyce’s camper (Wendell’s are going to use it this weekend). After we appreciated the beautiful full double rainbow (first time I’ve ever seen that), we went inside and settled in. Uncle Cloyce & Aunt Carol got home right around 8:00, and we enjoyed a wonderful evening of fellowship with family that we just don’t get to see enough. We so appreciate their loving hospitality. After a delicious snack, Wendell & Karen & family headed home, we got our kids settled in beds (it got quiet right away), and Dad and I visited with Uncle Cloyce & Aunt Carol for awhile before heading for bed ourselves.
Thank You, Lord, for a safe beginning to our trip.
*****
After our HOT HOT trip home from St. Louis, our brilliant kids came up with the highly successful idea of fans for the back of the van.
The Fort Dodge McDonalds was the smallest we had ever seen, so we took our food and found a grassy spot to eat and run around awhile.
At Uncle Cloyce’s, Joshua immediately made himself at home in the puddles.
Don’t know why I didn’t try this using the panorama setting, but these 3 shots show the whole thing anyway. The double at the top center was pretty faint, but it’s there if you look close. It was really beautiful.
Wonderful visiting!
Austin and Jewel had a good time together.
Aunt Carol and Trissa.
The Best Dad In The World.
Tori and Brooke.
Jared has a fun spot to listen!
The boys didn’t know they were going to get to camp!
Visiting after lights out for kids.
That’s it.
Who is in the far back bed in the camper?
ReplyDeleteASK
Glad your boys had fun in the camper.
ReplyDeleteTyler
Ben and Jesse.
ReplyDelete