On the Road Again!

Maybe its senility, but its getting to where we are doing our big traveling trips in the dead of winter these last few years. Used to be we would never do that, the weather was too unpredictable and a traffic stopping storm could really mess up our travel plans.  We've been blessed, though, and only had to stop because of the weather once in all our trips out west.  So this year, as soon as our departure date got on the long range forecast we began watching the weather, hoping and praying it would cooperate.  You don't have to worry about that in the summer.  When I first looked, our travel days looked clear and dry, that's a good thing. Unfortunately, the closer the departure day got the worse the weather prediction became, until the day we left it was two hours into a snow storm that was supposed to drop up to 6 inches of snow at our house.

So we figured out the route that would take us through the storm the quickest since a trip this far would take us through all but the biggest storms.  We went south a ways and then began angling southwest, aiming for I-80 instead of going straight west on I-90 before dropping down.  That added a few miles and minutes to the trip but we didn't expect to get all the way to Moosebeere's house in one day anyway.  Not this time, because we weren't able to leave until in the afternoon.  Our hope was to get all the way across Iowa before we had to stop but as it turned out we had to scale back our plans a little.  We went south and west, through Dubuque.  We came out the back end of the storm as we got to Cedar Rapids but the roads were still wet and slick enough that we still weren't able to go full speed.  So where we had hoped to get to Council Bluffs, we only made it to Des Moines.  Still, for the time of day we left, that was a good day's travel.

We got up bright and early the next morning and hit the road.  By now we were on interstate, which they always keep clear, so it was dry and we were finally able to go full speed.

There had been a little fog during the night so the trees and everything was coated with frost as we got on the road - very pretty.

We arrived at Moosebeere's house on Christmas Eve, in the early afternoon.  That night it snowed so we got to have a white Christmas.  That was nice.

Christmas day was a Sunday this year so the kids got to open a present on Christmas Eve.  Jammies, of course.  We also spent some time talking about the real meaning of Christmas and reading the Christmas story from the scriptures. Sunday morning we went to church before any more presents were opened. They had a nice Christmas program at church, after which they let out, skipping the other two hours of the normal block.  So we came home and opened presents.  The kids really liked that.

Christmas morning is best with little kids - they get so excited to open stuff and then as they see what's inside the presents.

Sometimes its hard to keep it moving - they want to stop and play with each thing as they open it.

They're so fun to watch!  We spent the rest of the day just playing with gifts, snacking on goodies (oh, so many goodies!), and visiting.  It was such a good day.

Monday Moosebeere had the day off for the holiday so we packed up the kids and went to a "play land" there in town.  All kinds of stuff for the kids to climb, jump, slide, and swing on.  They loved it.  When you first let them loose in a place like that they have to run from thing to thing, from place to place, to see what's there and give it all a try. Then they come back to the stuff that interests them and play some more.

This place had an upper level, stuff up there mostly for the littlest kids.

But there was stuff all over for all ages.  The rule at our house, as our own kids were growing up, was that if you weren't big enough to get on and make it go by yourself you were too small to play on it.  I think that encourages kids to stretch and try hard things.  So the kids were all over the place, with an adult nearby to "spot" them as they played.

We let them play for a couple of hours.

Lots of different things for them to play on - they tried it all!

Of course, even the littlest one had to keep right up with the older ones.

One of the funniest things was when he got in the little car by himself.  Who needs to use the door?  Just take the "overland" route and get in any way you can.  Whatever works.

They had a couple of little cars so even though there were lots of little kids running all over the place, each of our kids got to have a turn.

It was fun to watch them play.

They also had an area where the kids could paint.  Lots of paper to let your imagination loose on.

They also had a drying rack so once you decided your art work was done you could put it on the drying rack and do another one if you wanted.  They each did a couple.

Sweet Violet was of the opinion that the paint should go right to the very edge of the paper on all her work.  She did a good job.  It was fun to watch her.  You might not think so to look at it, but she was very careful in applying her paint to the paper.  Every stroke was applied with care and consideration.

Later there was a rousing game of Ring-Around-the-Rosey.

Followed by some London Bridges.  They laughed so hard!

There were also quieter moments.  Brombeere always makes it a goal to get the little kids to warm up to her.  Its a challenge with the littlest kids - they usually don't remember you when you first arrive so she works to get them be willing to go to her.

Because we were on the road this year, getting ready to go and closing out the school year, Brombeere didn't get her usual candy cane bread made before we left so she decided to make it at Moosebeere's house, with the grandkids.  That's always an interesting proposition.

They did really well, though, taking turns and following instructions.  That's nice because the better they are at following instructions the more you can let them help, which they really liked.

So they each got to take turns rolling out the dough.

And putting on the filling.

Violet even did a really good job of weaving the braiding on her's.  They made four of them so they each got to take turns working on two each.  Lots of fun.

The finished product - yummy as always!

We also spent a day at the local library, playing and watching a free movie they hosted.

They let the kids sit down front and set up chairs for all the parents that had come.  They even provided popcorn.  It was a fun time.

All too soon it was time to go.  The plan was to go as far as Heidlebeere's house and spend a day or two there.  Since that route took us passed Nauvoo, from the west side of the Mississippi River, we stopped to take a picture.  That was kind of nice, it was a pretty sight to see the temple.  You read in the church history about how prominent the temple was on the river and seeing it this way really brought that out - you could see the temple from a long ways away.

It was close enough that I took part of the next day and went back during the daylight for some more pictures.

Across the river from Nauvoo they have set up a little park, near the area where the Saints came ashore when they were crossing the river as they left Nauvoo.  Its not a big park, its more a small memorial with a couple of murals telling the story of how they built Nauvoo and then had to leave under such harsh conditions.  It was interesting.

Seeing just how wide the river was at that point brought out even more what a miracle it was that the river froze over enough to take wagons across.  On this particular day, where the temperature was just above freezing, the water was only frozen out 20 or 30 feet into the river.  In the picture above you can see the temple just to the left of the far left pole of the shelter.  That's a wide, old river.

At Heidlebeere's house it was New Years Eve.  She decided to make cookies for the celebration and Mr Z wanted to help.

Counting out eggs, he's getting pretty good at counting, that young man is.

Running the mixer is always a fun thing for little kids.

The finished cookies looked pretty darn good.  And they were really yummy, too!

As the evening progressed, little Miss R figured out how to take her jammies off.  She wasn't as good at getting them back on so she needed help with that part.

I know during the course of the evening I helped her get them back on three or four times.  I'm not sure how many times she got help from others.  But she was having a great time.

Eventually the night arrived and the party decorations came out!

We didn't actually stay up until midnight - maybe that's cheating but with the Internet now its real easy to find a video of the ball at Times Square in New York dropping and play that for the kids and then send them to bed at a decent hour, happy nonetheless.  Then the grown ups stayed up a little longer and visited.  But not too late.  After all, the next day was another Sunday and it would be up for church at the regular hour.  We must be getting old.

After church we hung around for a little while and then it was time to get on the road and head for home.  While its always a little sad when its time to leave when we go visit kids and grandkids, it is also nice to get back home after a road trip.  This was a good visit with both Moosebeere and Heidlebeere and their families and it was a good trip for the most part, as well.  The weather and the roads were clear and dry all the way home so we were able to make good time.  It was a good thing we weren't planning on staying any longer - there was a nasty storm predicted to move into the area the next day.  Its so nice to be able to go visit our kids so often!