I miss Iowa

I do believe I have jet lag, 

or van lag, 

or whatever you want to call it. 

What day is it anyways?

I'm tired.

I miss Iowa.

I miss the pretty.

 

I miss the places.

 

I miss the people.

I miss the fun.

This is where the Iowa magic began-- on my cousin's farm. 

 My gracious cousin, and her husband, 
made room for 5 extra adults in the house, plus Josie.  
(Better hospitality than a five star hotel anyday.)

By the way, we now know that Josie talks in her sleep, cries in her sleep,
sits up in her sleep, smacks her lips in her sleep,
and grinds her teeth in her sleep.  

(Not good for the sleeping.)

The other 13 cousins had a camp-o-rama in tents...

...where they stayed up late
and the boys sang songs for the girls.

We all helped with the chores.  

Okay, that's just not true. 

I'm sure we were a huge distraction for the chores--us and our cameras everywhere.  

But I did walk a calf for about two minutes! Does that count?

  Gabby walked him too, because we are brave like that. 

 "niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice cowie!"

And does kitten petting count for chores?  

Because the kids put in a lot of kitten petting hours.

  How about goat petting? 

Jacob in particular seems to have a way with goats.

Oh! What about running the dogs?  

Soccer with the dog?

Catch with the dog? 

  
Fetch with the dog?

"Goooooooooooooooood doggie!"

Now drop the pinecone.

We sat outside and ate Lynnette's farm fresh food:

 Strawberries, picked on the farm. 

Lettuce, fresh from the garden. 
Iowa corn, frozen from last years harvest. 

Eggs, from the hen house. 

 And the beef.  Nothing beats the beef.  

Except for maybe the homemade ice cream
made with the home grown strawberries
and the home grown eggs.
And let's not forget about this piece of almond bliss.

There is just so much more I could say, so many pictures to share.

I really don't know how to end.

I really don't want it to end.
 

Soooooooo........

there's one more fellow I will to tell you about.

"BRUNO"

No, not my brother,

the steer.

 You better believe it!

He's fo realz.

Well, he was real. 
Now he's stuffed and displayed in my Uncle's new barn/museum.

Bruno was a living breathing gigantic 7 foot tall, 15 foot long, 3440 lb.,
horned white steer that scared the ba-jee-bees out of me
when he was alive on the farm 

and I was only 4 feet tall.

But now we are all bigger and braver
and we take pictures of our children with him
like the fabulous tourist attraction that he is.

Good times, good times.
How I wish I could just pick up and go back any old time.
Seems I've been a little blue since we've been home.

I miss Iowa.

Looks like we all miss Iowa.

Hanna took 95% of these pictures.  If it's pretty, or cool, or perfect, it's hers.  Thank you, Hanna!