Family Weekend

My sister Mindy and her two oldest kids, Landon and Brittyn, came to visit us last week. Cole and I had so much fun with them, and Ben was relieved that he could study and not worry about us. It rained most of the week, so we didn't get to do as much as I had hoped and we didn't get much swimming in like Landon and Britt had hoped, but I think they still had fun. Ben's parents as well as my brother Casey, his wife Lindsey and baby Carly came Friday to visit for the weekend. We had a full house for the weekend, and we loved it!! It was so much fun having our family here.

Cole loved playing with his cousins! He was a clown the whole time :)

We went sightseeing in the rain, and made Landon get out of the car for a pic :) Landon and Britt were real troopers

Going a little crazy in the car :) The kids kept asking why we had to go in the car AGAIN

They were more than happy to play video games and watch movies while they waited out the rain to go swimming

Cole couldn't get enough of Baby Carly (unless she was chasing him! Who knew a 2 yr old would be afraid of a baby?)

Ben's parents came for DMU's Family Weekend. Friday we got to see a lot of the school and see what Ben's daily life is like. Saturday was the White Coat Ceremony where Ben got his short white coat...he is officially on his way to being a doctor! Mindy and Casey were great and kept Cole for a lot of the weekend so we could go to all of the events. It meant a lot that Ben's parents would come out for this too. We have so much love and support from our family! I don't know how we would make it without them.

We didn't get very many pics of the school, but at least we got a few: our family, and Ben and Cole in a classroom...Cole wanted to sit in a big chair like Daddy!

Saturday was finally a nice day weather wise, so we all went to the Iowa State Fair. We had heard that it is the biggest state fair in the country, so we were pretty excited. There was way too much to see, I'm pretty sure we missed about 2/3 of it. We saw plenty of animals, the famous butter sculptures, a plethora of veggies and flowers, and for Cole's sake some trucks! We missed the train exhibit with Cole, which he would have loved...I guess we'll have to go next year and see it :)

That is one huge pumpkin!

Only in the land of corn

I thought Casey should be in this display...

and Casey thought my belly should be in this display :)

There was a ton of produce, but this was our favorite!

There was also a ton of animals. Landon kept asking "why are we looking at a bunch of cows?" (or pigs or goats or whatever animal we were looking at)

Cole had to sit on Ben's shoulders to see anything in the huge crowds

Cole's favorite animals were the bunnies (Mine was Baby Carly!)

There was a beautiful garden and the cutest little tunnel that Cole found...unfortunately I couldn't fit in it :)

Cole was thrilled to see a fire truck and lots of tractors...and how can we go anywhere without finding a garbage truck?

The only thing Cole got to ride though was Connie's scooter (We met Connie when she came to take her scooter for a spin and found our little munchkin trying to hotwire it)

Last, but not least, we couldn't leave without seeing the butter sculptures

It was an action packed weekend, and we were so sad to see everyone go. Cole asked if he could go on the airplane with Mindy, and he keeps asking where everyone went. Luckily he has lots of friends around here so he hasn't gotten too lonely without our family. We miss you all and love you! And we're ready for some more visitors...any takers?