Iowa trip & our vow to never roadtrip ever again.

We came home late last night from our ten day trip to Iowa, I can't really put into words the amount of chaos that went on & how happy we are to be in our own beds. We had planned to head back for my brothers wedding and just stay for a few days, but in recent news of both of grandparents having some health issues, we decided to make it a longer trip so we could spend more time with them. We are SO glad that we did, and know that all of us will cherish that extra time together. On the other side of things, it feels like we have been gone for six weeks & I feel like it will take me just as long to recover from it.
Fourteen hours in the car is WAY too long for three kids. We left Saturday afternoon, and were going to attempt to make it to St. Louis, but our wheels were falling off the bus by Nashville so we just stopped there. Word to the wise, never do the short part of the trip first, because by the time we were strapping the girls back in their car seats in the morning, they were screaming before we even left town, and we had 8 hours to go. We somehow made it to Iowa in one piece, but the same can not be said about the return trip. Harper got bored and stuck her gum in her hair, Eloise painted her entire car seat with an ice cream sundae & Claire shattered my iphone. At one point Claire & Eloise were screaming as loud as they could, while Harper was laughing hysterically with wide eyes. It was fucking bananas.
Did I mention how happy we are to be home? :)

We started the trip staying with Brandon's parents so we could visit all of our family, the girls had so much fun seeing their cousins & we had fun doing a little food tour of the midwest eating all of our favorite foods. Happy Joes, Maid Rites & sweet corn are some of the best things about the midwest! We did slip-n-slides, sparklers, pools, sandboxes, sidewalk chalk & shucked dozens of ears of corn. Relaxed for movie nights & woke up extra early for good pancake breakfasts. We always wish we could be closer to our family there because they are so much fun & such good hosts, we love them all to pieces!!

We took the girls to Adventureland, our favorite childhood amusement park in Iowa, and ended up having a ton of fun! The park is so kid friendly, the weather was beautiful & there was tons of shade.  And only two rides had to be stopped to let Eloise off because she was crying & screaming her head off, so we considered that a huge success.

There's something so special about getting to show your kids places that mean so much to you, especially by the time they get old enough to appreciate it. We loved showing Harper places we used to work or spend time together when we were dating.
We stayed with some of our best friends in Des Moines who have kids close in age to ours, got some good bagels for breakfast (love this little coffee klatch reading the auto trader) & visited a few more college friends before heading to southern Iowa for my Brother's wedding. I will share lots of beautiful pictures & details from their day, which so stunning it needs its own post! ;)
It was a much needed break from blogging & most social media (I just can't quit you snapchat) but hoping to return to regularly scheduled programming very soon! But first, coffee.
Have a great week, friends!!