To Texas And Back...Part 2

On the 18th, all 9 of us loaded up in my parent's motor home and started our drive back to Iowa. We again stayed in Oklahoma the first night and arrived at our house early evening on Saturday. Though we'd had relatively nice weather this summer, it chose to rain probably 7 of the 10 days my parents were in town! However, we did get to show them around Iowa and visit some of the attractions we hadn't even seen yet, like the Bridges of Madison County and the Living History Farm.

The Living History Farm is an outdoor museum where you walk through the different ages of farming, from the Ioway Indians to a 1900s farm. There are activities for the kids to participate in at each of the farms, if they are interested, and the staff at the farms are dressed in period costumes. You begin by riding on a tractor pulled cart to the furthest farm (in history and in distance!) and then you walk the 3/4 mile trail through the farms and catch the tractor back to the historic town -


Brody loved the tractor and wore his John Deere shirt for the occasion!






My favorite moment (which happened too fast for me to capture on camera) was when we visited the 1900s farm and one of the women asked Haylee and Alexa if they'd like to help her slop the pigs. The girls each grabbed a side of the bucket handle and walked up the hill toward the empty pen attached to the barn. Just as the girls were reaching the pen, the pigs must have seen them because suddenly the air was filled with squeals as 5-6 large pigs came bustling out of the barn, sloshing full speed ahead through the chest high mud! Their excited squeals were matched by the girls concerned ones as they dropped the bucket and ran away from the splashing mud! They chose not to help the woman at the farm empty the bucket over the side of the fence.

After touring the farms, we visited the historic 'town' where again there were activities for the kids to help with. At the broom shop, they swept up the loose hay from the floor. At the blacksmith's shop, they stoked the fire with an air blower. We were there for about three hours and still didn't see everything - it's not far from our house so we'll have to plan another visit with the kids while we live here.

On Saturday the 24th, we visited Madison County to see the John Wayne birthplace and museum and the infamous bridges. The weather was perfect that day!! John Wayne was born in the small house in Winterset, Iowa which now houses the museum. There were props from his movies, letters about his career from other movie stars of the era, and tons of photos from his childhood. I grew up watching John Wayne movies with my dad, and it was cool to learn his birthplace was only thirty minutes from where we live.

Winterset is definitely a place we will be visiting again! It's a beautiful farming community set in Iowa's rolling hills. Of the six remaining bridges, we just had time to see three that day.



Leave it to my kids to find a "pet" where ever we go! This was Tiger and he had chosen the Roseman Bridge souvenir shop as his new home...the man working there offered to let us take him home with us, but we declined.



The Roseman Bridge is the most famous for its role in the movie, and, it's also the only bridge still in its original location. The others have been moved, which could not have been an easy feat based on the size of those things! The settings were beautiful, and this is definitely another place we will visit.

The last bridge we saw, the Cutler-Donahoe bridge had been placed in the city park. We didn't have time to explore the park, but there is so much more to see. It has a three story limestone observation tower that you can climb to the top of, a beautiful stone bridge, and, what I want to see most, an English style hedge maze that you can run through!! The kids loved our outing and, as you can see, my mom and husband got some great photos (I don't even bother bringing a camera if the two of them are around.)



Despite the fun outings, it was a whirlwind visit that passed all too quickly and we did not see and do nearly as much around Iowa as I had originally thought. We did take them to the zoo, and to see our gold-domed state capitol, but we also did a lot of work! I got an early birthday/Christmas present (a sewing machine) while my mom was in town so she could teach me how to use it. My first project (which my mom did most of) was making a custom black table cover which fits over my table like a box top and covers the numerous scratches (this keep the cats from thinking its a toy and jumping up to slide across it like they do with table cloths). Two moves haven't been kind to my poor table, but at this point, covering the table is much easier than refinishing it! The next project will be making a new dog bed for Chance...I bought some heavy duty foam and hope to reuse as much of his old bed cover as possible since he's familiar with the fabric and feel.

My dad and I tackled a few of our outdoor projects. We built new, larger shed doors so our lawn tractor can fit in the shed (and Brody's lawnmower!), built shutters for the playhouse to keep the rain from rotting the wood inside, and put the entire perimeter of the playhouse on cement pavers to keep the moisture away (I really thought my dad was crazy when he told me we could do this by lifting the house, but, as always, his plan worked!). We bought wood and paint to finish the inside of the playhouse as well, but ran out of time...especially since mother nature gave us an unexpected project. The second night after returning home, Iowa gave us one of their signature rain/hail storms which woke Billy and I up. Because of the way the house faces, the master bedroom window takes the brunt of the storm. This time, however, we heard the disconcerting sound of rain splattering off of our window sill! We did the best we could with towels until the storm subsided, and the next day while Billy was at work, my dad investigated and discovered rotten wood. Of course another storm was expected that evening, so with my dad hanging precariously out of the second story window (half the step ladder in my bedroom, half on the small roof ledge!) he replaced the board, only to discover the one under it also had damage. The fix is temporary but it has withstood several more pounding thunderstorms while we get quotes to replace whatever has to be replaced. Upon crawling back through the window, soaked (because of course it started raining while he was fixing the window), my dad informed me this was one of those "Do as I say, not as I do" situations and that I was not to stand on a ladder the way he had just done, using only the rotten window seal as support! I don't think that's a rule I'll have a hard time following!

We also discovered while my parents were in town that Brody LOVES this little motorized four wheeler! It's parked in our garage and now, every day he puts his shoes on and points to the garage door, wanting someone to let him ride the 4-wheeler. With the grandparents in town, he typically did not have a problem getting his way!





It was great to have my grandparents in town as well, and they enjoyed the milder Iowa on our back deck just about every day, weather permitting. We had a mini birthday celebration with Alexa, and she was very excited to see Grandma and Pawpaw had given her a PINK camera!! Within the first two days she had it, she'd taken about 200 photos, including ones of her feet, the car interior, her breakfast plate, the curtains...you get the picture! (pardon the pun)














While it's always hard to see company leave, it has helped that this week has been so busy! Alexa's fifth birthday party is at our house TOMORROW and I have been running around town picking up items for our Tinkerbell-themed boy/girl party. Photos of the celebration will be posted next!