The Ice Cave

There is a natural Ice Cave in Northeast Iowa which is where we were staying and while on the drive to the ice cave I saw for the first time in my like a street with the name "Sumner" Which is both my brother and my father Grandfather and Great Grandfather's name.


So I took two pictures of it! I know I am silly but I thought it was so cool!

Here is Aurora just on the outside of the Ice cave. She is such a ham sometimes.

My mother in law on the inside of the ice cave. Really I should tell you that it was pitch black inside the cave and we were all doing the best we could to see where we were going. We didn't stay long as we didn't have a good flash light and could not see where we were going but it felt so nice and cool inside there.

More pictures of the Ice cave.

This picture is actually in backwards order as this was us walking up to the ice cave so I guess that it should have gone first.

Well really this picture should have been first as these were the steps that led up to the path that led up to the ice cave. oh well it was a cute picture of Father and son.

Dunning Springs

I am not even going to try to lie this was by far the best part of the trip! I love most of the pictures we took except of course for the blurry pictures. This was a natural water fall that felt so nice and cool compared to how hot and humid it was out there.


This may be the picture I send out for out for our Christmas cards! It is the best picture of the trip!

If you don't know who you are looking at well then maybe your looking at the wrong blog!

This was a good one too! Well I thought so. Although they don't look like they are my kids...maybe I should bleach my hair blond.

Isn't Aurora the most beautiful little girl ever!

my son and I or didn't you know already.

The most beautiful little girl ever.

Just the bottom of the springs.

The top of the springs.

Leif and I and his chocolate filled t-shirt.

Leif and his mom (she is the one in the insanely bright colors in case you couldn't see her) and the two kids on the bridge that goes over the springs.

Maybe this will be the Christmas card! This was the middle of the springs.

Leif and Aurora in the middle of the springs.

And my hubby at the top of the falls. He climbed to the top in his flip-flops. So this was taken with my incredible zoom that I have on my camera because it was a little too slick for mein my flip-flops

The room we stayed in!

Here is a picture of the room that we stayed in. I think that it is time for some upgrades! This was the stove that we had to use! They forced us into a 1 bedroom shack and we had to cook over an open flame! And share one bed for four people and it wasn't a king size!

Nah! I'm just kidding these are pictures of the Norwegian Museum that we visited. But the settlers before us had to!

Chandelier??? Not really sure what this was but it looked cool.

Hand crafted furniture with rosemaling...(I know I have the spelling wrong, sorry,) and well my own homemade creation.

Weaving machine.

The smallest boat the cross the Atlantic ocean. Two brothers crossed it and its not much bigger than my living room. Well maybe just as large as my living room.

Yes we are Dorks that stuck our heads into the hole for a picture.

Aurora and I looking at one of the exhibits that compared a farm in the 1800's to a farm in the 1920's.

This was the picture I took of my mother being a dork sticking her head in the hole.

Leif didn't want to be there but well it was taken so I may as well post it.

For My Father In Law

I know many of you will look at this post at little puzzled and wonder why I have chosen to post pictures of someones house. Well the truth is that my father in law has not been back to Iowa in some time and has not seen his mother's new house. So these pictures are of her house so that he can see what the new house looks like.

Leif wanted me to take a picture of the ceiling as there are mood lights in the molding.

Informal living room with my kids and their mess.

Another view of the living room...I would like to point out the pictures on top of the entertainment center. They are all of the pictures of the different grand kids weddings. Although we all "fought" (this was a super friendly fight in which we all kept moving out own picture to the front) I would like to point out that Leif and I have two pictures of our wedding to everyone else's one!

I would like to take a moment to tell a story here. As we were driving up I told Leif it was so interesting how they would have two or three houses on one farm he said,"those are the kids houses" I told him "you don't know that!" And his answer was "yes I do. They all stay together out here." Well this is the view from grandma's bathroom to... cousin Derick's house. yes our cousin. And just down the road a bit is Uncle Denny's farm and just around the corner is Leif's aunt's house.

laundry room and the back door that leads to the garage...which has no steps, and it is a 36 inch drop!
Master Bath...I debated as to if I should label this because if you don't know what it is well....wow!

Master bedroom.

View from the formal living room...the dining area, kitchen and front door.

View from the dining area; the hallway leads to two rooms if you go right it is the sewing room and the room to the left from the hallway is the guest bedroom. And of course there is a partial view of the formal living room.

Formal living room.

In case you didn't figure it out this is the sewing room! Grandma does the coolest thing for every grandchild or great grand child she sews a blanket. Aurora and Leif still have theirs.

A view as you walk into the sewing room.

This is the guest bedroom and the walls are a very light purple.

The pictures that Grant (my father in law) sent to his mother and she had framed....yes I know it is little boy blue...
You can't have one without the other!

Sometimes I hate technology

The most depressing post ever!!

I am not even going to lie this is by far my most depressing post ever! I took some of the cutest pictures of the day that we arrived in Iowa and cannot find any of them. They are there on my memory card and when I upload to the computer it says that they have been uploaded but I cannot find them! I have searched and searched for hours and I have now decided to give up. So here are the pictures I have; I don't like these but its all I have. If one day you see a Eureka post you will know what it is.

We went to the Park on the day we arrived. Leif says that he remembers going to this park when he was young so it was nice that the kids got to play at the same park that Daddy had played at when he was young too.

Baby Leif took off his shirt too, especially when daddy was chasing them.

This is Leif's cousin Josh and his girlfriend. I have to say Josh was by far one of the best story tellers I have ever met.

This is the backyard at Grandma Geiselhart's house. (Leif's maternal Grandmother)

This is Grandma Geiselhart's front yard and right here is where I would add all of my other pictures that I have but instead this will just be the end of the first day we had in iowa. :(

Iowa here we went.

I want to thank all of you for your suggestions as for what to do in the car ride there. When the kids were babies we used to travel at night because they would sleep the entire time and we would arrive without cranky kids. Then what would happen is we were super sleepy and we had kids in a strange place bouncing off the walls while we were sleeping. We decided that the kids would have to ride during the day and we would have to provide activities for them to do. we brought cards and coloring books and our van has a DVD player so the kids did extremely well on the car ride there and here are our pictures of the car ride there. It was a 2 day drive and the second day it rained for 8 of the 10 hour drive.


After the rain stopped the skies were so beautiful I had to take a picture.

Here is Aurora in the back seat. Yes she is wearing a seat belt I know it looks like she isn't but she is. She is holding her nose because she doesn't like the smell of the cows.

Leif driving through Iowa

Leif's picture that he colored of Dora and boots. He was so proud of it!

Leif coloring more pictures. The coloring books were a great idea!

Iowa here we come!

There are only 9 more days till we leave and head off to Iowa. Leif and I have been together for what feels like forever! Ok but really it has been more than 10 years and well I have never met his extended family. This is just sad in my opinion. In 9 days I am about to meet my inlaws and well I am not even close to being ready.

We will be driving there and the kids have the DVD player but I need more ideas other than just DVD's to keep the kids occupied for the drive. Something small that is not going to take up too much room in my car. Got any ideas I could use all the help I can get.