As they have for the last 4 years, Bama and McKenna made their annual trip to the Midwest. And, as usual, we had a fun-filled 7 days. We only missed out on visiting one of the places on McKenna's list (Living History Farms) because it was SO DANG HOT the entire time they were here. So, a lot of time was spent finding fun ways to keep cool. The best part of the whole trip (in my opinion) was as McKenna and I were driving home from the ice cream shoppe on their last night here. McKenna turned to me and said, "Auntie, I really like Iowa. But don't you wish you lived closer to me?"
Who needs a water park when Uncle Ethan can set up the sprinkler at the top of the slide and the pool at the bottom? The girls played on their very own water slide for hours! Meanwhile, Bama, Ethan and I sat under the shade of the willow tree, beer/margaritas in hand. :)
One of McKenna's few requests this trip was for steak and corn. Well, she came to the right place! McKenna and Bama really wanted to buy corn out of the back of a truck, but Ethan made sure they knew "You can buy corn at the grocery store." Yeah, but only in Iowa can you buy corn out of the back of a truck. So, never one to disappoint my niece, we bought corn out of the back of the truck!
McKenna LOVED helping out and feeding Jeanie. She's such a good cousin (and made sure we all knew that too.)
What visit would be complete without a trip to the zoo? We got up early (to avoid the heat) and made our way. It took a while to get used to it ("Auntie, this is kind-of freaking me out."), but the girls loved feeding the birds.
Getting ready to ride the train!
McKenna riding a camel! I can't believe how big she's getting!
Evelyn's favorite thing about the zoo... the carousel. I can't believe she chose the zebra - usually she goes nuts over the dragon!
Spent after a long day. Fortunately, Ethan was out of town - he never would have approved of this. :) The best part was when, at 4:00 in the morning, I heard McKenna helping Evelyn on to the potty (she's nowhere near being potty trained!). Lots of coercing and telling Evelyn to climb up, scoot back, etc. Followed by McKenna's attempt at putting on a diaper. After about 5 minutes, Evelyn wandered in to my room, sans diaper and both legs in one leg of her PJs. When we returned to Evelyn's room, McKenna had crawled back in to bed. When asked about the diaper situation, she said sweetly "I tried." My words don't give the night justice. Comedy.
Sunday, we struggled to find an indoor activity, as everything in this town doesn't open until noon on Sundays! We ended up at Pump It Up and the bouncing started off great! However, after 2 trips up and down the slide, Evelyn was done. She climbed up one more time and a fit ensued. And I mean FIT! Kicking, screaming... the works. McKenna tried to help her down, but she was having none of it. So up I climbed and we slid down like nothing had happened. After some bouncing elsewhere, Evelyn decided she wanted to try the slide again. And again, a fit! So, up I went again. This time, though, the high school kids in charge noticed that I wasn't wearing my socks and I was scolded. I felt like asking them if they preferred I leave the screaming, kicking, hitting child at the top of the slide, but I didn't. Instead, I just smiled, nodded and walked away, screaming child in hand. Whatever.
Bama and the girls braved the heat and headed to the splash park. No good pictures of the girls splashing around together, but of course, pictures of Evelyn snacking (it's a common occurance for her at the splash park.)
Bama and her silly girls. Just hangin' out.
Can you find the 2-year-old in this picture? This was our attempt to get a picture of the girls for Bama in their matching PJs. It pretty much sums up the week.
We had such a great time. I was sad that the week had to come to an end, but McKenna and I are already planning her trip out next year. We've decided that she should come back next year to go to the Fair. It was wonderful to have the extra sets of hands while Ethan was off playing. And, yes McKenna, sometimes I do wish I lived closer to you.
