Ohio Road Trip - Day 2

We spent the second day of our road trip hanging out with my Iowa family. It was nice to not be on the road after such a long first day. The boys agreed and after breakfast did about 500 laps.
Aiden stacking blocks with my cousin Julie.
Julie reading a book with Reid.
The dimpled cousins. :)

With the rugrats. From Marita's camera:

Julie was working on weaving a rag rug. Very crafty!
For lunch we ate at the local favorite, Hickory Park in Ames. My family has gone there several times through the years and it was fun to introduce my college friends to their great food as well. There is a ton of hussle and bussle which was perfect for our little guys. So much to see and no need to worry about being too noisy. Reid even started high-fiving people as they walked by our table.
My college friend Bill came over from Iowa City too. So great to catch up with him. He also joined me, Eric, and the boys for a tour of campus. That's why you'll actually see pictures with all four of us. Thanks, Bill! My picture was too blurry, so the following was Marita's.
On the Iowa State University campus. This was taken in front of Barton Hall which is the dorm where I met my great freshmen year friends. Turned out to be my best college friends as well.
Me and Bill in front of Barton. It was miserably hot and humid, so the boys got a little fiesty. I kept saying I didn't know how I survived going to college in the midwest considering I'm such a wimp in the humidity.

Almost full shot of Barton.
This is Oak-Elm Hall which is right around the corner from Barton. I lived in Barton my freshman and sophomore years. I was a Resident Assistant in Oak-Elm during my junior year. I lived back in Barton during my senior year which was nice when I was away to New Zealand for a few months to student teach, Fall 1999.
Other end of Oak-Elm.

Back to Barton. I had forgotten about this name plate next to the front entrance.
My senior year dorm room was on the ground floor (partial basement) level just to the left of the front entrance stairs.
The ISU Memorial Union.

In front of the iconic Campanile bell tower on central campus. (One of my favorite performances was when Lady Gaga's Bad Romance was played by the carillonneur, Dr. Tin-Shi Tam. Click here for the youtube video.)

Carver Hall, aka the math building.
Another icon, the old water tower.
Back to the farm for supper. Cousin Paul grilled some tasty steaks.

From Marita's camera:

Some of the piggies.

And Red Angus.
Uncle Gene and Eric as we walked out to see one of the new hoop builidings. Gene was an Animal Science professor at Iowa State, including the years I was there. I always thought it would be really neat to take one of his classes. However, Math courses and Animal Science course don't tend to overlap, plus I'm more of what he would call a "city girl". A "city girl" (or sometimes a "Chicago girl") may be one who comes to Iowa State because she LOVES cute little animals and thinks it would be so FUN to be a vet. But she really has no idea what she's getting into. Enter Animal Science 114, Survey of the Animal Industry. During my last semester of college, Uncle Gene was teaching this survey course, so I signed up. I loved it! We met once a week and went on field trips and had animals brought into the classroom arena. It was perfect for this city girl and I really enjoyed having Gene as a professor. What I think is best about his teaching style is captured in the following photo. His lectures never felt like lectures. He was just sharing really interesting info and stories.
The newest hoop building.
A couple of barn kitties.

I love my minivan, but if I didn't need to be practical, I would drive a pick-up truck. With a stick shift.
After supper we drove over to their other farm property, where the majority of their Red Angus were being kept.
From Marita's camera:

Aiden.

Reid.
Merge the following four photos together and I think we could have a winner. Don't be surprised if they resurface on our Christmas card. They're some of my favorites.



Daddy and Aiden. (By the way, the boys have recently been saying "Daddy" instead of "Dada". I'm trying to work on other words with them. Today when I asked them to say "Grandma", they said "Daddy". Oh well. We'll keep working on it.)
The floating dock that I forgot was a floating dock until I was in mid-step while holding Reid. Happy to report that I quickly regained my balance, but my heart remained in my throat for quite some time.
Back on solid ground. Boy, it was hot and humid! I was glowing most of the week. And not like the cute, pregnancy glow either. More like sweaty, gorilla glow.
Their little cabin on the pond. A little blurry- must have been the humidity in the air. Or me trying to take a picture while holding a squirmy 14-month old.
The pond.
Back at the farm house. Aiden and Reid were back to doing pre-bedtime laps. So we integrated their bedtime sippy cups into their fuel stops. Well, more like fuel slow downs. They weren't about to stop.




Wrestling around with Cousin Paul.

They were two tired-out monkeys when we put them to bed that night.