Hometown

We've had another great visit to Iowa City this summer! Glancing back through photos, I'm kind of stunned with all we managed to cram into our days, but it was well worth it. 

The girls went to swimming lessons and Liesel saw a dramatic improvement. I'm guessing all the running she did for Girls on the Run helped increase her lung capacity, because there was a marked difference.

This was Sydney's first year of swimming lessons without Mom in the water and she just loved her classes. While the girls swam, I went outside and ran around the neighborhood and enjoyed a little time to myself.

Before heading to Utah to watch Matthew and Katrina's kids while they vacationed abroad, Mom and Dad were working on their Model A. They'd come across some glitches but were able to iron some of them out, so the girls got to have a little ride.

We visited the Iowa Children's Museum, where the girls tried their hand at working in the field of medicine.

This video cracks me up. Ireland would probably make an effective doctor, but I'm betting she'd get sued a lot.

For the record, I was trying to use some reverse psychology there because the girls always make a BIG to do about their shots. I was surprised to find Ireland had such little empathy about the whole thing when she was on the doctor side of it! Fail.

Then the girls tried their hand in the field of aeronautics. Brigitta crashed her flight simulator half a dozen times. She really kamikazed it too- diving straight for the ground like that was her goal in life!

Mom and Dad had raved about a restaurant called Cheddars and their salmon so we finally tried it.

We are big fans of salmon in this family... too bad it's so expensive!

We were able to stop by and visit with some cousins. Harley Belle is pretty much the sweetest girl on the planet and the girls adore her.

She's at an age where she could easily be too independent or too cool for these younger cousins but she's always right there with them.

 Harley is a doll, I tell you. My brother's property is such a cool place too. Sadly we missed him, but I'm so glad I could visit with my sister-in-law.

We found ourselves downtown a lot where we went to the library, bought caramel apples, played at the play land and ate at our favorite noodle place- Z'mariks. Even though we return to Iowa City regularly, there's always something new like this sweet bike rack:

Another newish place Brent and I tried a few visits back is Zombie Burger. I just had to go one more time before the girls and I headed back to Chicago.

 I opted for The Walking Ched which is a burger with deep fried mac n cheese as the buns. It was crazy good but is meant to be eaten by a small village, not one person. There's also a Centipeach shake I really love... and the girls did too. They saved me a lot of calories by drinking most of mine. Ha!

One afternoon during the witching hours when the girls were driving me crazy, I threw them in a car and went for a drive through Sharon Center. When Brent and I were apart while my parents served their mission, I used to do that a lot. Those lush, rolling hills always help me clear my head and give me strength somehow.

The girls had long overdue haircuts (Sydney's first!)...

...and just for fun, manicures too since they worked so hard during swimming.

The big reason we visited Iowa City was Ireland's annual check-in with her specialist. She's had some reprieve this past year with her asthma. There have actually been some attacks that only needed puffs of her inhaler rather than a regular course of her medicine as well.

She's getting better and better at managing her asthma by notifying me when she's starting to wheeze and avoiding allergens that trigger an attack. This visit was the quickest we've had yet, and I'm hoping that trend continues.

At the end of 2 weeks I was anxious to get home to Brent but I'm grateful for our time in my hometown! See you next summer Iowa City!

City Beautiful

While I was making plans for my annual trip to Iowa City with the girls, I struck up a bargain with Brent. Instead of coming home on the weekend, I'd take the girls to Nauvoo and then attend my home town ward for church on Sunday if he would go through his boxes of crap. With no kids around to mess up his system, and oodles of time, he'd have no excuse NOT to go through it all, right?

Actually, making sure the girls have a connection with Nauvoo is kind of important to me. I went a lot as a kid and of course, Brent and I were married there. I have ancestors who lived, and some who died, there. Getting Brent to cull through his boxes was just a side benefit for me.

We started out in the Visitor's Center to find out what was happening and to grab some free tickets. There are very few sunstones from the original Nauvoo temple that survived intact. Here is one:

There's another one in a Smithsonian in Washington, DC.

I loved watching the girls with the Christus.

 Have I mentioned my dad has seen the original in Denmark? Makes it just a bit extra special to me.

We stopped in the Monument to Women Garden and the girls had fun recreating some of the statues like Woman and Her Talents:

My personal favorite is this one of Joyful Moment:

 I'm obsessed with how those pigtails are flying!

 We took in a few tours like Scovil's Bakery where the girls got a gingerbread girl. 

Brigitta was really intent on that little cookie! When the arm broke off, she'd just lick it and smoosh it back on. Then the head came off and she did the same thing. She tucked it just inside the bodice of her dress to protect it and a couple hours later, finally gave in and ate the darn thing. 

We went to a play called Just Plain Anna Amanda which the girls loved.

See the gingerbread girl on Brigitta's lap? Ha!

The girls learned how to make rope:

Lost of twisting in that process!

We went on a wagon ride where we discovered Ireland, like me, is also allergic to horses.

Afterwards, Liesel begged me to take this picture of her petting one of the horses. We went into the car and I just about scratched my eyes out. Ireland was a little miserable there for a while too.

At the blacksmith shop, each of the girls picked out a "prairie diamond" which is basically a nail pounded into a ring. 

Oh man, Gita was kind of obsessed with that thing too. She loves jewelry and was SO happy to have a ring on her finger at the end of the day!

All the things I've mentioned so far are things I visited when I was a kid. There's something new called Pioneer Pastimes where the girls could dress up and play. This was hands down their favorite part of our trip to Nauvoo. They loved the costumes:

Getting to play house:

Playing with pioneer era tools like this milkmaid's yoke:

On the drive home they talked about Pioneer Pastimes more than anything else we'd seen. We are definitely going to have to do that one again.

Before heading out of town, we stopped by the temple grounds.

We headed back to Iowa City pretty exhausted from a very full day. Brent told me that night he'd thrown away a huge trash bag of old papers. Win-win!