Just returned from visiting Grandmom and Granddad Hamill in Iowa

Don't try this at home kids, Owen is a trained professional.

Only the clean-up afterward is difficult.

Hello!
We are back from our week long journey to Cedar Rapids, Iowa and beyond. We had a great time visiting Granddad Bob and Grandmom Lee, and their sidekicks, Coco and Pierre! Owen had the opportunity to sample the public parks of Cedar Rapids, and gave resounding approval for their numerous slides. You heard it hear first, folks...Owen is a dare-devil!





We also went to "Old MacDonald's Farm" in Beaver Park, near my parent's house. They have goats, prairie dogs, cows, ponies, ducks, and Owen's hands-down favorite: chickens!

He followed that same chicken all around...


Just as we were introducing the cows to Owen, this brown one let out a loud MOO, and Owen ran behind Dad for safety!


On Saturday we took a day trip to Decorah, Iowa to visit my college friends, Xiao and Du. They are on faculty at Luther College. We went to a lovely tea house for lunch, then strolled along the town walks, looking in cute shops. Owen and I were the lucky ones; I bought a skirt, and Granddad Bob bought Owen some awesome new puzzles at a local toy store. Du gave Chris and I a tour of the Fine Arts facilities at the school, and everyone else played at the park just down the street from Xiao and Du's home. This was the first time Chris met Xiao and Du.

It was a hot day, but a good time was had by all. Everyone was completely pooped on the drive back to Hamill's house.

The next day, Chris, Owen and I went to visit my childhood friend, Shannon Miller. She is Shannon Duval now, and we had not seen one another since long long before husbands and children. We got to meet her two sons, Miller and Kiefer, who were just adorable, as well as her husband, Delane. I had such a good time reconnecting with her. We got some great pictures of her family too.

Shannon and Kiefer

Delane, Miller, Shannon and Kiefer

Here are various pictures of us over the last week.

Owen has a new teapot. He plays with it a lot.

Owen's first open-air train ride at the Labor Day Freedom Festival; very exciting!

Owen was taking that whole "freedom" thing literally by squirming out of everyone's grasp!



One last snuggle before we leave.



Kissing Granddad through the window

We returned yesterday afternoon, and this morning, Chris flew to Atlanta for a PDG load-in. I think he must be exhausted, because I'm rather tired myself. Owen is somewhere between Central Time and Eastern Time, and so he had a difficult time getting to sleep last night. Then this morning, Chris got up early in preparation for his early flight, and discovered that Owen's bedroom light had come on sometime in the night! (We were having problems with the pull switch not working...) and at 5:45am, poor Owen let out such a wail of unhappiness! Fortunately, with our trip to the airport, he was going to have to get up very soon anyway, and he ended up dozing in the car on the way to and from taking Chris.

In other news, Grammy Retta is having her gallbladder removed today. Don't worry; a surgeon is doing it! I haven't heard an update yet, but am assuming that no news is good news, unless I hear otherwise.