Daisy's favorite thing about our hotel stay has been the hotel room phone. We haven't had a land line for years, so my children are completely unfamiliar with any phones other than cell phones. My first step when we got into our room was to unplug the phone so that the kids could play with it.
Often, when she thought no one was looking, we caught Daisy doing this:
"Do you want to build a snowmaaaaannnn?
Or ride our bikes around the howwwwssssseee?
I think some *mumble mumble* overdue
I've started talking to the pictures on the waaaaallllll!
(hang in there, Joan!)
We used to be the sweaties, but now we're not
I wish you would tell me whyyyyyyyy..."
It was the funniest. Thing. Ever.
Especially her version of the lyrics - instead of "we used to be best buddies", she insisted on singing, "We used to be the sweaties." HA!
Meanwhile...
"No pictures!"
(Can you tell he just woke up?)
And Lily practiced her standing and mirror-gazing.
We loaded up our stuff and hopped in the car for a drive through my mom's hometown, which was mostly on our way out of town.
Clare, Iowa, is a rural farming town with a population of 146. I'm not even kidding.
It's also Lily Clare's namesake town, so I couldn't resist a few pictures, despite the rain.
Lily Clare, in front of the Clare public library, with day lilies in the background. Love it!
And the Clare fire station. Many, many years ago, my Grandpa worked for the fire station.
(And yes, it was still raining when I took this picture. I'm a terrible mom.)
Then we got back in the car and drove through the bean fields and corn fields and wind turbine fields until we finally reached Cedar Rapids, where we'd be seeing Tim and his family, and my other Grandma.
We arrived at the hotel with enough time to give the kids baths and veg out in front of the TV for a while.
What were they watching?
Caleb found the DVDs at the library, and though I thought they'd be a bust, I let him check them out for the trip. Amazingly, Caleb, Daisy, and Chris all love them! The cartoons came out in 1983, and are obviously dated and ridiculously campy, but they're perfect for sensitive children who love super heroes but aren't prepared for the violence of modern cartoons.
After they had rested for a while, we headed over to Tim and Carli's house for dinner.
My children made a mess of their living room,
and Naomi and I made a mess of the whipped cream, but it was a lovely, lovely evening.
Tim grilled for us, and Carli created a gluten-free feast fit for royalty. We talked, laughed, and stuffed our faces with gluten-free cookies and fresh whipped cream
I'm pretty sure it doesn't get any better than this!
Or maybe this. Daisy insisted on giving Isaac a giant goodbye hug, but still cried on the way back to our hotel because she didn't get to give him a kiss. Sweet girl.
We are blessed to have such wonderful newfound family!
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