The boys and I are back home after a nice, relaxing trip to Iowa to visit my parents. I was born and raised in Iowa and I have many, many happy memories of my childhood there. We go back to visit every Christmas, but we usually don’t have the money to fly there in the summers so this trip was a special treat for us.
Christmas is great and all, but Iowa’s most captivating charms spring forth in the summer months. It can be oppressively hot and humid there, but I don’t mind — in my mind that is what summer is supposed to feel like. In the Bay Area, we shiver through the summers, which just feels wrong to me. I like sitting outside in the evenings wearing shorts and a t-shirt and I love the warm weather activities: trips to the pool and the park, walking up to the Dairy Queen for ice cream, watching lightning bugs. I know that memory has a tendency to cast a golden hue on our childhood memories — I know that — but sometimes am overwhelmingly sad that my children are missing out on these things I hold so dear. So this year we went there in the high summer!
And I tried to relive every positive memory I have of the place via those kids!
There were cuddles with Grandpa:
And lots with Grandma too:
Old toys (my brother’s 35 year old Matchbox cars):
And new toys (Grandma knows that Batman is the way to this kid’s heart):
Lots of 3D-related activities with my 3D enthusiast Dad:
There was corn on the cob, lots of sweet, fresh, delicious Iowa corn:
And a hand full of s’mores:
We spent time with the cousins:
Took four trips to the splash pad:
We blew ginormous bubbles out on the deck:
And we listened to the droning of the cicadas at night (Augie got fed up after a while):
Wyatt and grandpa made a homemade periscope which was just awesomely cool:
We went to the park that was my home away from home as a kid. When I was playing there, this was a real firetruck. This replacement doesn’t quite cut it but it’s still pretty cool.
We scrambled across the big rock by the creek, too.
And I spent some time with my besties from high school. Did I mention it was my 20th high school reunion weekend? It was fantastic to see these beautiful faces again!
So we didn’t do much of anything, but we did a little bit of everything.
