Dinner By Design

As a girls' night out, we went to Dinner by Design to make meals to freeze. So far, the food has been great!

A Quick Visit with the Austins

The town the Austins live in just so happens to be right off the highway on th way to my grandma's house. So, we made a quick stop at Culvers to see them! It was quite a time. I think Drew was a little overwhelemed at first. He's used to being the only one! It was fun to see how everyone has changed and grown. We miss you, Austins!

GG's House

Here's a snapshot of our trip to the southwest corner of Iowa. Grandma lives in a town with less than 700 people, a train that passes through 27 times a day (even in the middle of the night), and not a whole lot ot do! Drew enjoyed his time with GG. He loved GG's cane and would carry it around the house and inevitably drop/bang/smash it on an unsuspecting foot.
For those of you that don't know, Drew is obsessed with anything truck or train related. We can thank his train obsession to our visit to GG's! Everytime the train would pass through, it would blow its whistle. Drew quickly leaned what the whistle meant. He would stop what he was doing, pause, listen, and then enthusiastically say, "Choo choo!" He would then get up, take your hand and lead you to the door. We would go out on the wrap-around porch and stand, watching the train go by. Then we would go sit on the porch swing. That lasted all of about 5 seconds. Then we would resume what we were doing until the next train passed through. Believe it or not, he even heard the whistles in the middle of the night. He would wake up crying, pointing to the stairs like he wanted to go see the train. It was not a very restful week! My dad took Drew down to playground, which is right next to the tracks (now that I think about it, it's really not a very safe concept...), where they would sit and wait for the train. Each time they would go, there would be no train. On the last night, they decided to try one more time. They had been gone for a while when I heard the whistle. I hoped they were still there so Drew could see a train close-up. Each time the whistle blows, it sends a series of six long whistles. As I listened, I heard one long whistle and then a series of short whistles as if the engineer were saying hi to Drew. Sure enough, when Drew and my dad got back, the engineer had seen them waving and waiting and had given them a little "shout out!" What a fun memory!

Sharpless Auctions

On the way to GG's house, we stopped at my cousin's husband's auction house. Talk about lots of stuff! After we looked around for a while, we headed over to the Sharpless house to visit the girls, Lauren and Grace. Drew made himself right at home. It was fun to see them with him this summer. I'll include a picture from last summer, so you can see how big they have gotten!

Then

Now

Then

Now

Goin' To Great Grandma's

On the way to Great Grandma's house we learned about manners, played with trucks (watched trucks out the window of course), beaded, colored, and watched more trucks at the truck stop.

Old Skool

This summer we got to spend some time with Beth and her adorable son, Hank. We all knew each other in Youth Group at church and now we all live within a mile of each other and all have boys!

Hot Summer Day

To pass the time in the heat, we set up Drew's kiddie pool in the yard for him to play in. It looks like someone else thought it was for them to play in, though. And I don't mean Samson!