Iowa - Part I

For our big summer vacation this year, we're spending almost two weeks in Iowa for Nora's Baptism, the Fawcett Sweet Corn Festival, the 25th birthday party for Cold Spring Pond, and Hoover Days. We packed up our bags and left DC after lunch on Tuesday to drive to Aunt Katherine and Uncle L's house in Cleveland for the first leg of our journey, and the next morning, all of us left in a caravan for Iowa. The drive went reasonably well, Owen of course was endlessly entertained by the DVD player in the minivan, but Nora is still stuck in a rear facing carseat for another month, so she had a few stretches of inconsolable crying, but at least managed several good naps in the car.

On Thursday Leanna and Grace came over for a visit, and the family began to trickle in. We started preparations for Nora's baptism on Thursday (e.g. Owen, Grandpa Z, and I picked up the keg and brought it to the Pond, so we could start working on the CO2 levels in the kegerator ;) We did some exploring around the Pond, and Owen was very excited to see the Uncle Ken's new teepee back in the woods on the West side of the Pond.

That evening the Fawcetts and Zimmermans gathered for dinner at Agave in West Branch, and with over twenty of us, we pretty much took over the restaurant. After a huge dinner, we headed back to Iowa City to rest up for Nora's big day.

(click here to see all the pictures)