2 Week Trip

I know I have not posted for a few weeks.  We have spent the majority of the last two travelling to the midwest and then I started work again.  Look for a few of these in quick order.  

We headed out on March 17th, St Patty’s Day.  Here is a picture of Ian wearing his green in the car seat during our frist day.  

McCutie enjoying the ride

 

 We made it as far as Cleveland.  We are pretty sure that Ian was going through a growth spurt at this time since he slept the whole way.  I was concerned that he wouldn’t sleep in the hotels, but he did well, as you can see in the next picture.  He did get us up most days around 5 am, but it made for an early start beating the traffic.  The second day we we decided to go farther and made it to Iowa City, Iowa.  

Hanging out in Cleveland

 

The third day we made it all the way to Sioux City, Iowa.  My Grandma has moved into the assisted living portion of her community, but still has her condo as well.  We ended up staying in the condo which was nice since we didn’t have to worry about waking up hotel neighbors.  We also had access to a fridge, microwave, tv, etc.  We went to see my Grandma that day and she thought we were coming the following day, so she was very happy to see us and of course meet Ian.  Overall for 96 she is doing well.  We spent a lot of time talking about my Dad and Grandpa Andy.  She seems happy in her new digs and has numerous friends coming to visit.  My uncle and aunt are working on getting the condo ready to sell which hopefully will be soon.  Here are a few pictures of Ian with Great Grandma Ad… 

Hi Great Grandma

 

3 generations of Anderls

 

We did do a few other things in Sioux City while we were there.  Sioux City has a museum dedicated to Lewis and Clark that was built for the anniversary of the expeditions a few years back.  I had been there before, but thought Shaun would enjoy visiting.  They have a number of exhibits about what life was like on the expedition and how they handle medicine and the death of the only member of the party during the trip which occurred in Sioux City.  The other big thing we did was go to my Dad’s favorite tavern… Miles Tavern for some charlie boys.  Charlie boys are the best loosemeat sandwich you could get.  Although we did have a schooner of beer in honor of my dad, Ian is a little young, we did get 8 sandwiches each that we took back with us to eat over the next few days.  Below is a picture taken at the museum in front of the statue of Lewis, Clark and their dog Seaman and a picture of Ian next to his first charlie boy. 

Lewis, Clark and Seaman with Shaun and Ian

 

Ian's first Charlie Boy

 

I did forget to mention that Ian slept through the museum and as you can see the trip to get and eat the Charlie Boys.  He was a tired boy at the start of the trip.  

After a few days in Iowa we headed north to Minnesota.  On the way up though we saw a lot of swollen rivers.  It seems that the snow melt in Iowa and Minnesota was fast this year and thus all the rivers are flooding.  At one point there were sandbags on the road so that the river would not come onto the road.  It was crazy.  Hopefully they have gone down by now. 

We stayed with our family friend Susan and her kids for the week that we were in the twin cities.  It was nice to have a place to stay for multiple nights and Ian was entertained by her kids, Katie, Cara and Cameron.  They helped us alot!  We also got to see other family friends – Donnie, Jolyn for lunch one day and then my Aunt and Uncle Jim and Jean for dinner another night.  Susan’s parents, Don and Judy came down on Thursday.  Judy helped with Ian while Shaun and Don put together a trampoline for the kids.  It was a nice break and Ian got to meet a lot of new people.  Here are a few pictures of Ian with Susan’s girls, Ian with Judy and then with my Aunt Jean and special introduction. 

Cara, Katie and Ian

Judy with a happy Ian!

Jean helping Ian to meet Annie Hall

After spending a number of days in Minnesota, we decided to head south again to Northwood, IA where my Mom grew up.  My Aunt Jan was nice enough to be the home base.  My cousin Cindy came up from Fort Dodge and then my cousin Chris, Patti and their kids Rachael and Derek came down from Minnesota.  We had a great time catching up while unfortunately watching Northern Iowa lose.  The next day Chris was nice enough to drive us around the area to point out old family farms and places of interest.  We also were able to see my Great Aunt Nora whom I had not seen in many years.  That night we went to what most people in my family believe is the best steakhouse in the world, the Northwestern Steakhouse in Mason City, IA!  They have an amazing steak with greek seasoning that melts in your mouth.  If you are ever in Iowa, make a stop here!  Here is a picture of our dinner… 

Best Steak - Northwestern Steak House!

We then started our trip home.  We left Iowa around 7 am and made it to South Bend by early evening.  We then headed out the next morning and made it to the cabin for the night.  Shaun was able to get his new brush cutter put together and we were able to play scrabble before heading home the next day.  It was a great trip and I can’t believe it was only 2 weeks ago we got home.  Here is one last picture from the cabin of Ian taking his first swing ride… 

Ian on the swing!

Thank you for everyone who came to visit us or hosted us!  We had a great time!!!

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