Our Trip to Iowa

We just returned from a week long trip to see family in Iowa. We were busy every day and had a ton of fun. Stinker Bear did really well on the drive there and back. We left on Sunday evening, around 5:00pm and arrived at 12:00am. Maya didn't fall asleep until 10:30pm! I couldn't believe it. She finally fell asleep while a Baby Einstein video played in the DVD player (thank goodness for those things!). She was VERY tired and restless, so we had temporarily turned the movie off, thinking that she was too stimulated to fall asleep. That just made her bawl her eyes out! We let her cry for about 10 minutes, before giving in and pressing play. Will thinks that the car headlights coming at us was keeping her awake, and the DVD gave her a constant light, rather than flashing. That rationale sounded reasonable to me! I just couldn't believe she had such a difficult time getting to sleep. Usually she falls asleep relatively quickly in the car, especially when she's tired (which is why I thought the DVD was to blame for keeping her up). The reason for driving during her bedtime was so she would sleep for most of the trip. Instead, she slept for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, then she stayed up until 2am (Iowa time) after we arrived at my mom's house! She did sleep in a little the following day and continued on that kind of schedule for the whole trip (staying up until 9-10pm, not 2am, getting up between 8-9am, and still taking 2 naps a day). This was the first trip that she adjusted so quickly and well to a special "Iowa schedule". Last time, she fought naps, was in bed by 6pm and up between 5-6am every day. Not so fun. This time around, the trip was awesome! Here are some of the highlights:

Monday night, we went to a Rain Forest exhibit at the elementary school. I sat on the floor with Maya, and she kind of ran around during the entire first half of the show. There was a man showing animals, one by one, and it was a little too slow paced to keep Maya's attention. She was intrigued with the huge beautiful birds that flew around the gym a few times, and she went crazy when the chimpanzee in a diaper came out. She actually made a bee-line toward the stage, with every intent to give the monkey a hug. She wanted to squeeze it so badly! (She did get her pic taken with the chimp, but she was looking at the ceiling and the camera wasn't focused on us. Sorry, I didn't scan it in to post it on here.) We left at intermission. It was getting late, and Maya had enough by that point.

Tuesday, Maya spent the day with her Daddy, while I drove to Des Moines to visit a college with my brother, Chase. We were gone for most of the day and had a good time. On Wednesday, Maya spent half of the day with Will while Chase and I went to Bettendorf to visit another school, and we both loved it! He's interested in going to a culinary arts school, and the one at Scott Community is more of an apprenticeship, with 3 years of hands-on training, which he'll be paid for. We were very impressed with the program. The last college Chase is planning on visiting is Baker College in Muskegon, and he'll be coming up here with my other brother, Alex, to see that campus next week! I can't wait!

Wednesday or Thursday (I can't remember), Dee and I walked down to a family friend's house, and Maya got to play with some kitty-cats. There were four of them running around in the yard, and Maya spent the better part of an hour chasing all of them. She wasn't quick or sneaky enough to actually catch any of them, but she gave it her best effort! There was one cat that was teasing Maya. She would run a few feet ahead of her and lay down. As soon as Maya got within a foot of the cat, it would take off again, and lay down a few feet from her. They played this game almost the entire length of the yard. It was really funny! Maya just wanted to hug and kiss those cats so bad! She LOVES animals. The following day, we returned to the same house, and Maya got to look at their fish tank. It was VERY exciting for her! As soon as she saw it, she squealing, put her hand over her mouth, and bent down to the floor, kind of laughing as if to say, "I cannot believe it!!" She's SO dramatic these days!

Friday, mom and I went to a couple of stores out in the country, near Kalona, IA. We hit the Amish "country store" and bakery (where we bought some awesome pies and ate the best glazed doughnut I've ever had in my life... mmmmm....) and visited a fancy Mennonite gift shop with all locally handmade crafts. It was a ton of fun, and the time flew by fast. We really needed an entire day! Maybe next time!

On Saturday, Will and my dad went to the Iowa Hawkeyes football game. It was my dad's first time going ever and Will's first time in the new stadium. Iowa lost, but they had a really great time.

We left for Michigan on Sunday afternoon and arrived at home at 7pm. Maya got fussy only one time, and she fell asleep shortly after we made a stop and fed her hungry belly. Overall, we had a really great trip. It was good to be back in Iowa and see family. Will hadn't been back since last December, so he was overdue for a visit. It was nice to go back all together, even though Will and I didn't see much of each other all week.

Anyway, here are some pics from the trip:
Maya is looking outside at Grandma Cindy's house, sporting her new froggy slippers and holding her new interactive puppy (both from Grandma Peg). Her froggy slippers really help her "hop, hop, hop!"
I didn't think anyone liked mom's fruit salad more than Alex or I, but clearly I was wrong! Maya licked her bowl clean!Maya's newest obsession at Grandma Cindy's... the computer. She loves the fish aquarium screen saver. She loves the desktop picture of herself. She loves to type on the keyboard, and she loves to talk on the phone, er, I mean, the mouse. Here, she is hard at work... apparently there were some issues with her Internet connection, but after a lengthy conversation with someone in India, the problem was fixed! Hahaha...Grandma Lee, Maya's Great-great Grandma, came over for a visit to see Maya, so we got a 5 generation picture (from left to right, top row: Dee, myself, Grandma Lee; bottom row: Grandma Sharon, Maya).Here's me, Maya, and mom... look at that belly! Oh my goodness... even I can't believe I'm only 28 weeks along! I can't begin to imagine what it's going to look like in 3 months! Yikes!!Peek-a-boo! Maya played for quite a while at this park, and she LOVED going down the slide. It was one of those tunnel slides, so every time she came down, her hair was standing on ends. So cute!
Yet another animal to play with! Maya was so excited to feed Chloe, and it's a good thing that Chloe didn't mind being force fed because she didn't seem all that hungry!
Helping Uncle Colton pick tomatoes out of Uncle Chance's garden. They were delicious! Maya didn't wait for dinner. She ate them straight from the bucket! It was so funny because she would chew it up, then somehow, spit the skin back out. I guess she didn't like that part!
I just LOVE this pic of Maya, running with the big bucket. She was at Grandma Peg's house, and this is what she used to feed the horses...Maya loved "feeding" and "riding" these horse statues! She would take the bucket and hold it up to the horses mouth, so they could eat. I'm thinking someday, she'll live on a farm! Here, she says, "CHEESE!" for her Daddy while I took the picture. What a ham!Another pic on the horse. She was obsessed with these horses. Before we left Grandma Peg's house, she ran over and gave one of them a big kiss and a hug! I think a trip to the zoo or my friend April's hobby farm is in order. Animals make her SO HAPPY!