An Iowan Summer

...and we are back from the most wonderful and amazing trip to Iowa.  It was so full of fun, friends and family I am actually welling up just writing about it.

Wedding and family aside, one of the things that made it most special was the opportunity to share with my children so many of the wonders of my own childhood and my "home" state. 

We ate s'mores made with Hershey's chocolate and watched Seseme Street in our jammies. 

We ate more Mexican food than any previous trip, clocking up 5 Mexican meals in 15 days.  

We enjoyed the beautiful sunny weather.

We laughed and played with old friends and visited one of the world's largest Lionel toy train lines(that happens to be housed in some guy's basement)

We went to the zoo and rode a train and a camel, fed goats and giraffes and stood in wonder that the town of Des Moines, Iowa had a much better zoo than Edinburgh, Scotland.

We went swimming in Big Creek Lake, where "wild swimming" isn't wild at all, but really quite normal.

 We fed the fish at the State Trout Fishery

And man, did we spend a lot of time at Target...mostly because American Airlines lost the bag with the childrens' and my clothes in it.  

The memories and the  pictures will do a lot to keep me going over the next few weeks of hurricanes, laundry, jet lag, a broken car and reality.