Iowa!

We had a great time in Iowa. Ellie, mom and I left on Sunday May 24th for a week and Jason met us there on Thursday. Ellie is a super flying baby! She loved the hum and vibration of the plane and slept for each of the four legs of our travels. I was worried about her ears but she didn't seem bothered at all. We ended up bringing the big stroller with the carseat carrier which is GIANT but the airline was great and let us gate check both the stroller and carseat. It was really nice to have the big stroller in the airport but not so nice in the rental car!


We flew into Moline, Illinois because it is the cheap airport. We had to drive a few hours to Cedar Falls, Iowa where my grandparents live. Unfortunately our plane left Raleigh super super early which was good for Ellie's sleep schedule but meant that I stayed up most of the night packing and was really tired. We went the cheap route and didn't want to pay the extra $100 to have mom added as a driver of the rental car which looking back was maybe kind of dumb. So I was really tired and had to drive through the very not exciting Iowa countryside. We made lots of stops (including Ellie's first Maid-Rite...yum!) and got to Cedar Falls Sunday night. It was the first time Ellie got to meet her Great Grandma Hansen and the second visit with the Flemings.
We had a really nice time. We checked out the community theatre where my Grandpa volunteers on set construction, visited the new Goodwill, checked out the new very cool baby store, went to the yummy yummy Brown Bottle restaurant (a Cedar Falls classic), the new casino and visited Joensies for the famous Iowa tenderloin sandwich. My dad, Zoe and Logan came up for a couple of days before the big Odyssey of the Mind tournament which was in Ames, Iowa.

Wednesday afternoon we drove down to Washington, Iowa to my Aunt Lori and Uncle Bob's house. We stopped at Joensies again and had tenderloins and the yummiest rhubarb custard dessert. So good...I need to learn how to make that! We took a very long time to make the trip because Ellie for some reason was not real happy about being in the car. Riding in the car with a screaming baby is pretty much brutal. We did make it finally and then Thursday morning drove back to Moline to pick up Jason and Carissa from the airport. Jesse, Mike, Vera and Alex arrived just before we left the house. We ended up staying at some little cabins not to far away from Washington at the state park. The only downside was they didn't have individual bathrooms but it ended up being just fine.

Saturday morning we went up to Kalona, Iowa which has the largest Amish settlement west of the Mississippi. We had a yummy giant cinnamon role at the bakery, visited the cheese facorty and bought "squeaky cheese", went to an Amish yardsale, and then stopped by the Stringtown Grocery Store.

The main reason for the trip was Matt (my cousin) and Bethany's wedding which was Saturday night. We had a lot of fun spending time with family and preparing for the wedding. Ellie and Vera wore matching outfits that mom and I found on one of our roadstops. Too cute. Jason had a great time taking pictures for the wedding and got some really nice shots. He is becoming quite the talented photographer.


We had a really nice trip and enjoyed seeing so much family. Travelling with a baby is tiring and you have to take way too much stuff. Unfortunately I feel like I need a "vacation from my vacation" but we are super glad we went.