The traditional photo by the pool

On Tuesday we made the long drive to Iowa. We left at 8:40am Denver time and arrived around 7:30pm Central time, so we took less than 10 hours which is pretty good. The weather has been warm and we haven’t had a drop of rain yet so the kids spent plenty of time in the pool.

Getting ice cream at Adventureland

The first day the kids were off to Adventureland, all except Chloe who had a dance class. They did a ton of rides, went to the water park and, of course, had ice cream. It was a great start to the trip. They also went bowling one day and had plenty of time by the pool.

Anna with the drill helping with the kitchen demolition

The Dahlens are getting their kitchen redone and before the contractors can start they need to have demolished the old kitchen. So, we all went down to help, removing the carpet and padding, taking out the door frames and anything that was attached to the walls. We managed to get quite a bit done, almost filling their dumpster with all eleven of us working for several hours. In the evening there was the annual July 4 parade with Ella and Chloe throwing candy from the first float.

Trying to guess what they are eating

As always when we come to Iowa there are plenty of games. Today, while Nathan and I were out golfing they played this game where they are blindfolded and have to guess what they are eating. They also played a game called Danger Word where you had to guess a word and if you got it wrong you got drenched with a water pistol. And of course we had the usual favorites like Codenames and cards and a round of Family Feud.

Playing with sparklers on July 4

Today, being the fourth there was sparklers out and there are plans to go and watch the fireworks later. But it doesn’t dark here until after 9pm so they don’t start until late.

Jumping into the inflatable rings