Sunday, Monday, Happy Days

We're having another down day here in Fairfield after two days of driving to and fro. Brandon and Kate are on the couch reading, the four younger kids are in the millionth hour of playing their imaginary game of Avatar/zombie/robot. I am never happier than when my kids get into a groove like this. They spent about 3 hours the other day playing this game with nothing more than two hairbrushes as props--"zombie weapons."  

On to the family reunion report. 

After church on Sunday, my parents drove Christina down here to Fairfield and we all spent the afternoon and evening together. I made my cajun shrimp pasta dish, my mom brought cheesecake, and then we settled into several hours of wonderfully slow visiting. 

Right before they arrived, Jason had the idea to quickly cover the piano for a grand unveiling. My mom got this piano for her 16th birthday, and it's the same piano we all learned to play on. Jason and Liz inherited it when they moved to Fairfield six years ago and recently restored it since it had fallen into some serious disrepair over the years--hence, the "grand" unveiling under an old sheet and leftover Christmas bows:

Eventually, I got in there and broke out this really old book I hadn't seen in years. We sang old gospels and stuff like "What The World Needs Now Is Love", "Put A Little Love In Your Heart", and "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing" for about an hour. We were being mocked all along, Elizabeth eventually resorting to calling us "The Traveling DoDo Birds." (I don't know what that is supposed to mean.)

 Avatar/Robot/Zombie main characters--Rebecca, Brynn, Alexander, and Spencer:

Bananagrams:

 

"Look, Mom. I'm Mary!"

More marshmallow roasting at the end of the day:

On Monday, we drove up to Iowa City again to get together with all three of my sisters, some of our combined 12 children, and my parents. Here are the kids at a chinese buffet:

Afterward we went to one of the places we always have to visit in Iowa City--the ped mall downtown. We have so many fun memories from the library/park/fountain area:

 

 

Trees, glorious trees:

There's another Whitey's at the ped mall in Iowa City. This was our third trip so far: 

My oldest sister Joanna has stuff going on for the rest of the week, so this was our last get together with them. Here's Olivia and Kate:

Will and Hannah:

 Elizabeth and Hannah:

Only two days of reunion left--waaaah!

More Iowa Reunion

This is a blog post only a grandmother could love. Just a bunch of pictures of the family visiting and playing around together in Iowa. 

The nightly slumber party. (Does Rachael seriously have not one, but TWO binkies in this picture? Isn't she like three and a half or something?)

An old, pretty church in Ottumwa where we went to see Kung Fu Panda II and eat some tasty Mexican. (Food, that is.)

I have pictures of Kate pushing these same carts around the Iowa Children's Museum when she was three-years-old. My kids never tire of going back to this place:

If you can get your behind in a bilibo and spin around, you've still got it:

We have to run the whole gamut of favorite activities at the mall every time we come to visit, so after the museum we headed over to the carousel:

My mom and Kate were just going to watch the younger kids, but I shoved them both on at the last minute. My mom said she couldn't remember the last time she had been on a carousel so I thought it was high time:

Elizabeth and Will have a funny little bond with Bob the Builder. They joke about it all the time so we had to get this picture. Right after Elizabeth was born and the two older kids came into the hospital room to see her for the first time, Will spontaneously started singing the Bob the Builder theme song to Elizabeth to welcome her into the world. I guess there are worse ways to start your life:

How is this instinctive?

Out in the rain:

Liz and Jason are now the proud owners of a stray, outdoor cat. Will spent HOURS with it outside when it came around one day, eventually begging us to let him feed it. (It is scrawny.) I offered tuna, Jason adamantly refused (until he relented) because he knew what would happen, and he was right: 

Friday night dinner--they had some yummy pizza concoctions at this all organic restaurant:

There are shelves and shelves of books you can read while you wait. Not to purchase or borrow like a store or library, just to read while you're there:

A big part of the Maharishi movement involves wholistic health practices, organic cooking, etc. so I got a kick out of the books on this shelf by our table. Elizabeth told me it's Fairfield in a nutshell:

All the dinner plates were different and "vintage." What a blast from the past! This is what I got:

Most smaller towns in Iowa have very similar looking town squares, and Fairfield is no different. It's so Music Man. (Incidentally, Brandon did a four month rotation in Mason City, the setting for The Music Man. Elizabeth was just a baby at the time, and we'd go up every other weekend to stay with him in the nasty bachelor pad they provided for the residents. Of course there is a Music Man museum there, so you know we went.)

Water towers! So mid-west:

After dinner we walked across the town square over to the Chocolate Cafe where Uncle Jason had everyone choose a chocolate:

 Fairfield is the county seat of Jefferson county, and this is the courthouse:

Dinner, chocolate, and an after dinner stroll over to the Sondheim Center to see the BYU International Folk Dancers. How weird is that? I've never even seen them in Utah!

Homemade waffles and bacon on a Saturday morning:

In the afternoon we drove two hours to the Quad City airport to pick up Brandon, and then met up at Cracker Barrel in Davenport with my parents, Aunt Jan and Uncle Les (my dad's sister and husband), and my oldest sister Joanna's family:

These rocking chairs always make we want a house with a big front porch:

Tired yet? I am, but we're getting in bed early tonight to prep for another day of fun and frivolity tomorrow . . .