Iowa: Fields of Opportunities

That's what the sign says, anyway.  I didn't come up with that one on my own.

Earlier this month, Jackson and I loaded up the car and hit the highway (71 to be exact) for a mommy/son road trip to visit family in Carroll, Iowa and connect with my sister who was also passing through town.

Now that I'm finally sitting down to write about our trip I am absolutely furious with myself.  I remembered to pack my fancy camera, but didn't pull it out a single time.  Not one.  What was I thinking?!  The bad news is other than some random iPhone pictures I didn't capture our visit on camera.  But the good news is that means we were having such a wonderful time, stopping to play photographer never even occurred to me.

And boy did we have a wonderful time!

Despite a somewhat rocky start.

We got on the road at 8 am just as planned and decided to make a quick stop for donuts and apple juice.  It was vacation, after all!  I only thought twice about that plan exactly 1 hour later when Jack declared, "Mom!  I need to go poop!  Real bad!"  Thankfully we were just 2 miles outside of St. Joseph, MO and the golden arches of McDonalds were in our view.  Crisis 1 averted.

Crisis 2 came about 30 minutes later when Jack requested a DVD only to discover the power adapter in our car (they're not cigarette lighters anymore - at least not in our car - who knew?) didn't work.  Never mind that the car is only 6 months old.  We had no power.  And since the portable DVD player has taken a beating over the past 3 years it no longer holds a charge.  We were 1.5 hours into a 5 hour drive and had no DVD player.  Fortunately, Jack rallied from his disappointment and books, colors, lots of chatter and a little snooze got us the rest of the way with no drama.  Crisis 2 averted.

The final hiccup involved the Iowa Highway Patrolman who greeted me at my window with, "Well, you're not in Kansas anymore."  For real - he really said that.  Turns out I missed a speed limit sign somewhere along the way and while I thought I was in a 65 mph zone (and had my cruise control set at 72 as a result), I was actually in a 55 mph zone.  The helicopter that apparently clocked me a few miles back also said I was going 72.  So, despite the power adapters not working the car, the speedometer is accurate.  So there's that.  Fortunately, he knocked the ticket back to 10 over so my insurance wasn't affected and the fine was slightly less hideous.  Jack thought the entire process was pretty cool.  "Mom, is that police man coming to talk to us?!"  I was annoyed, but considering I haven't had a ticket of any sort in over 15 years I didn't beat myself up over it.  I was a legal beagle the rest of the way and set my cruise at 59 mph.  Painful.  But we still made decent time and arrived safely which is all that really matters.

Then the bad luck disappeared because the rest of the weekend was absolutely fabulous!

In addition to getting some quality time to catch up with my grandparents, aunts, cousins and sister, we had something awesome planned for each and every day.

Like the circus!  We totally lucked out and happened to be in town the very day the circus was there. 

Elephant ride!

Aunt Mary on her cell phone.  What?  You've never talked on the phone on top of an elephant?

Riding the pony.  "Actually Mom, it was a horse."

Aunt Mary spoiling Jack with a light saber!

Nana/Grandma Diers and Jack sharing popcorn.

Getting spoiled some more with a Spider Man from his Grandma Diers.

And the swimming pool!  This was the first time Jack really got into swimming.  Until this point he's been less than impressed with the water, but the super awesome aquatic center in Carroll and his super awesome cousin Morgan helping him across the lilly pads have cured his fear of the water.

By the end of the day he was going down the slide, jumping to me in the deep end and going under water.

Sadly, this is where my photos end.  But we did so much more.  There were bike rides, park trips and baseball games with Aunt Nikki and her dog Lilly.  There was pizza, Nana's homemade cinnamon rolls and cucumbers that no one else can make quite right, Papa's popcorn that is legendary in our family, delicious Iowa sweet corn, A&W ice cream cones and a trip "uptown" for dinner that included funnel cake fries (yes, they're brilliant and every bit as delicious as you imagine).  There was a rainy afternoon at Aunt Mary's where Jack played with a remote control car, motorcycle and whole box of matchbox cars - that somehow ended up coming home with us.  There were late nights of girl talk with my sister, aunt and grandmother.  There were lots of laughs.  Particularly when Jackson, who for some reason started calling my Grandpa by his first name, jumped off the couch mid-conversation and declared, "Hey Don!  You should go make us some popcorn!"  It was a had to be there moment for sure, but one that to this day makes me laugh out loud when I think about.  In 35 years I'm not sure I've ever seen my Grandpa pop out of his chair so fast.  So yeah, it was perfect.

Going to Nana & Papa's is exactly like I remember it from my own childhood.  All the way down to the toy closet in the hall and the town whistle that still blows at high noon.  Being able to share those memories, and create new ones, with my son is absolutely priceless to me.  Jack missed his Daddy (thanks to facetime we could still see him every night) and he was very concerned that his "best friend Ruby" was missing him, so we were ready to head home when the time came.  But I was sad to say goodbye and vowed we would come again.  And we will.

We made a couple stops on the trip home.  First in Omaha to see a dear friend from High School and meet her little girl.  Then again about half-way home as we waited out a pretty hefty thunderstorm in yet another McDonalds.  We decided a potty break and some french fries was a much better alternative than battling the downpour.  Once again, even without the luxury of the DVD player, Jack was a champion traveler.  In fact, I was awfully proud of my little man the entire time we were gone. 

And so our mommy/son road trip was a success and Daddy and Ruby managed to hold down the fort at home.  Thanks so much Nana, Papa, Mary, Morgan, Cole & Nikki for an absolutely wonderful getaway. 

Let's do it again soon.