Iowa Vacation Part II

Prior to leaving for Iowa I had got all the miles in that I needed to according to my training schedule . . . I actually was looking forward to the break of not running for a few days. The Monday after we arrived I was back at it and as they would say in Iowa I was hitting the blacktop. I knew that the humidity was going to make it more difficult to run, but OMG . . . it really sucked! My first run out and not only was I sucking air hard, I end up seeing two snakes, I thought what the hell . . . I didn't even realize Iowa had snakes! On another morning while I was running down a dirt road surrounded by nothing but corn fields, a doe and her fawn came out of the corn just 50 yards in front of me, bounced across the road right into the next corn field . . . exciting I tell ya . . . and that's as much excitement as you'll see in Iowa!

The kids spent alot of time at the community pool, if we didn't already have something else planned for the day this was where they were . . . only after just two days in the small town of Burt, Kaitie was already known as the HOT GIRL from Washington! We'd go on walks through town and the local kids would yell out, "Hey Washington" . . . funny huh?

A trip to Iowa is never complete without heading out to the farm. The old barn is obviously on it's last leg, it seems to be getting more rickety with every trip back. This is probably the last time we'll see the barn standing . . . it's slowly coming down board by board.
Roasting weiner's on the fire is always a favorite for the kids too . . . this trip I think we've eaten enough brats and hotdogs to last us a lifetime though. It may be a very long time before we eat another . . .
And of course after a dinner of weiners, nothing beats roasting marshmellows . . .
Just days after arriving, Jakob almost got his wish . . . a big storm came in, we had severe weather warnings, spotters were out and cells were sighted. The rain was crazy and nothing like we've ever seen. The tornado Jakob so wished to witness never came, but the storm was exciting enough for him, he took up residence in a new friend's basement and waited the storm out.