Trip to Iowa--Time in Cedar Falls

My mom and I spent one day checking out Cedar Falls which is where I went to college. We drove past my old house which has lost its great front porch! Sad. That was a great porch, but I guess the landlord didn't like all the traffic from "The Hill" that it attracted.

We also visited the WRC to see the pool that I spent many hours in during some of my swimming years. I really wanted to get into the East Gym and see that old pool, but didn't feel like trekking my kids through campus especially when it was probably locked up.

Cash and Riley were really wanting to so swimming.

Actually, Riley was a little freaked out by the glass panels you see here. I guess she didn't see them and when Tripp came walking down the stairs, she got really nervous and didn't want him to go any further. She was just protecting him from what looked like could result into a fall into the pool from very high up. It was pretty cute.

Playing outside The Dome. We tried to get in, but couldn't find any open doors.

Leaving a note under the door for my college swim coach.

After our tour of Cedar Falls, we went to my sister in law's parent's house for dinner and some playtime.

Here are our corn shuckers!

After dinner and some yummy peach pie, Rachel's dad broke out Dance Party on their Wii.

Becca was really good. The kids all liked to dance to the music. It was fun to watch them.

So we had fun in Cedar Falls and it made me miss college! Not really classes, but I had a lot of fun in college and really miss all my friends. I called Darin while I was driving around CF, visiting all the places I used to go so often while I was there 10 years ago. I told him that it was weird driving around here...in my minivan...with 3 kids...pregnant with a 4th.

He told me that it probably was weird, but that I should feel proud!

And I do!

Trip to Iowa--Time in Charles City for RAGBRAI

My Dad and my brother ride in RAGBRAI (Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa) every summer. Their team is called "The Moonshine Gang" and usually consists of those two along with my brother's wife and her dad and brother.

They usually ride the entire week and come up with a theme for their team. Last year they were cowboys and this year they were pirates. Biking 50-80 miles a day in those get ups sounds nice and cool to me.

Anyway, I usually try to take my kids up to Iowa for the week and we stay with my mom while the team rides. We visit them in the different towns when we can. It is a pretty fun deal. Probably more fun if you can partake in some of the activities without kids in tow, but they had fun too.

This year they only rode two days and my sister-in-law didn't ride since she is due with their 3rd baby in a few weeks.

We visited the Pirate Moonshine Gang while they were in Charles City.

We came with our pirate flag and all...

My brother, Adam instructing us where to go amidst all the bikers!
The Pirate Moonshine Gang...
Rachel's brother, Steve
Rachel's dad, Joe
My dad, Mike
My brother, Adam
They had another team member who was a coworker of Adam's who is pictured in the next photo so there were a total of 5 pirates and they were quite the hit!
As we walked around with them, they were stopped many times so people could take their pictures with them. They heard a lot of pirate jokes too!
A little worn out after many miles and many photos!

My friend, Nadine rode RAGBRAI with another team which was riding for Parkinson's Disease. We met through our college swim team. She now lives in Colorado and this was the first time we had seen each other since my wedding in March of 2006! It was great to see her and meet her daughter, Reese. Can't believe it has been that long because it didn't seem like that at all, but we try to keep in touch over the phone and good old facebook which helps.

Next time we will have to do better planning and spend a little more time catching up in person!!!

Grandpa passing out his booty to the grand kids.

Grandpa with 4 of his 5 grand kids...Libby wasn't feeling well and stayed home with Grandma Mary Ann.

My brother and his wife, Rachel.

Cash enjoying some of the expensive RAGBRAI cuisine...yellow watermelon.

Fun times! Can't wait to see what the gang will be next year!!!

More from our trip to Iowa to come!!!

Trip to Iowa--Time in Des Moines with The Oertli's

With our close family friend, Thomas leaving for Afghanistan, we took one night to meet up with him, his parents and his fiancee. We went to Incredible Pizza which couldn't have been more perfect for my kids. Actually, we all had fun playing the games and collecting all our tickets! We all took turns chasing after the little ones. Laverne pretty much chased around after Tripp the whole night. They really liked this little car ride.

This was the cutest. It was a bowling alley that was the perfect size for little kids. Cash loved it and I wished they had one of these near our house!!!
Sarah took Cash for a ride in the go carts. He was loving it!
Sarah and Thomas playing a little air hockey.

Thomas and Hailey collected all the tickets and picked out all the kids prizes. They picked out the perfect things for each of them. Cash got a Buzz Lightyear, Riley got bracelets and Tripp got a big, inflatable camo bat. Really cute. They also got them some candy which is always a big hit!

Here is a group pic of all of us at the end of the night!

Me, Thomas with Tripp, Mom, Joe & Laverne (Thomas's parents), Hailey (Thomas fiancee), Dad with Riley, Sarah & Cash.

So I wanted to get this post up today. Today was the send off party for Thomas. He will be in Mississippi for a month (I think that is right) and then he leaves for Afghanistan. He has told me twice exactly where he will be, but I can never remember the name of the place. Wherever it is, it is too far away from all of us who love him.

He is a good kid and we will pray for his safe return back to Iowa.

Be safe Thomas!!!

And We Are Off...

Off to Iowa for RAGBRAI and to celebrate the Nosbisch Family Farm turning 100 years old! Hope my newly potty trained 3 year olds and the weather are good to me!!!

See you next week!!!

Almost Friday!!!

Don't ask me what is up with my blog design because I don't know. I was supposed to change my background and everything is all different so I am having a hard time figuring things out. I am tired so it is going to have to stay like this for a little while.

Just a few things I wanted to remember...

The other day I asked Cash if he wanted some more sausage and he looked at me with this kinda, could care less face, shrugged his shoulders and said "Nah, I always ask you for some more lemonade, but you never give me some."

Cash went #2 on the potty for the first time. He was sooooo excited! I had told him that he had to go poop on the potty if he wanted to go to school. Well, naturally he thought that as soon as he did so, he would go immediately to school. He got his backpack on and he was ready. I had to explain to him that school didn't start for a while and he was very upset. He said "awww mom, why did you do that?!" So I have been taking him to my neighbors who has her own home daycare and calling that "Liz's school" and I told him we could go to "Library school" too.

I feel bad, but I just can't take an entire month of him asking me to take him to school. That and he hasn't pooped on the potty since because he said he will do it when he goes to school.

Nice.

Riley is a girl of few words, but lately has been talking a lot. The other day she took the tv remote away from me and told me that it was "Riley's turn to watch."

She has also pooped on the potty twice, but neither time was with me. She told me today that she would not poop on the potty when I am with her. There is some good news.

Picture Pages...

Finally some photos!!! I got my new expansion hard drive so I have more room on my computer. My camera is thanking me for finally being able to unload all those pictures.

So here are some that would have went along with my previous posts.

Adam's triathlon in Des Moines...
I like the M&M's on his belt...

A little blurry...

Posing...

Happy to be done...

Adam with my mom and dad...

Adam and our sister, Sarah...

One of our attempts at a picture of all the grandkids...

Cash wanted his picture taken with Herkey while we were at Scheels in the mall... He made an angry face just like Herkey.

We had some fun in the hotel pool...

Well, most of us did anyway!

My uncle Wayne came to meet us for dinner. The kids obviously liked him a little!

And, on to my kids latest obsessions.

Riley loves My Little Ponies.

Cash likes baseball. He got this Herkey bat and ball while we were in Iowa. Kinda kills his dad a little inside each time he has to play with it.

Thomas is a close family friend of ours. I started babysitting for him when he was only a couple months old. He is now 21! Makes me feel a little old, but whatever. He was in town over July 4th with his girlfriend, Haley. We met up with them for dinner. Thomas leaves for Afghanistan on August 5th so keep him in your prayers!

I was cleaning out closets today and found Cash's tux that he wore when he was about 18 months. We put it on Tripp to see how it fit. Of course it was way too small, but it was pretty cute anyway!

Oh, and the potty training is going well. They hardly have any accidents. Well, they are good with the pee. The other is a little bit of an issue, but I have heard that is hard for all kids so hopefully they will get it down soon.

This picture makes me laugh. I have all these cute underwear for Riley, but she insists on wearing the Cars underwear. Sometimes she will spring for a pair of Thomas the Train undies, but mostly its all about Lightning McQueen. Oh well, whatever works I guess!

13 weeks!!!

13 weeks!!! I am finally done with my first trimester! Well, I am 13 weeks, going to be 14 weeks on Sunday so I guess I will be done on Sunday. Whatever, the whole morning sickness thing appears to be over which is all I care about! Ugh. That was bad and I couldn't be more happy to be done with that!

We had a good fourth. I took the kids to a parade on Saturday. Darin was flying back from Chicago so he didn't make it. They did really well though and ate a lot of candy! The parade was an hour and a half and could have had a little more "fun stuff" and a little less of the politicians riding around in their convertibles. A few is okay, but after the 16th car, my kids started to lose interest.

On Sunday we took them to Monkey Business to play since it was raining outside, along with just about every other family in KC. It was so crowded, but they had fun. We decided to keep them up to see fireworks, they took a late nap and it was looking good. Then right before 9 pm, it started raining. We were bummed. We drove home and saw a few fireworks from our front porch. It all probably worked out for the better though since Riley wouldn't even come outside once she heard all the racket. She was really scared. Cash loved it though. We ended up just turning on the tv and catching the end of the fireworks out of New York or somewhere. They liked that. We finally got them down at 10:30. I still don't know that they are caught up from that late night!!!

And today, I started potty training Cash and Riley. I know, they turned 3 in April and I am just getting around to it. I have been waiting. Waiting til they seemed ready, waiting til summer, waiting til I felt better...all out of excuses now so I started.

They did pretty well this morning. I mean if being in the bathroom with Cash every 5 minutes is doing well. He had a couple accidents, but he is trying. Riley went in the potty 3 times and had one accident which is a small miracle. She has never gone on the potty and I thought she was going to be impossible! So far, so good. They are napping now so we will see how this afternoon goes.

Tripp is funny. He knows that there are treats in the bathroom for their rewards. He just stands at the door and knocks constantly. For a brief second I thought about potty training him too. Then I gained back my sanity and decided to wait at least a year or two.

Oh, and still no progress on my photo storage issues. Hopefully soon as my camera is bursting with cute photos wanting to be shared!!!