Iowa

I don't know which day is longer; the night before christmas or the night before vacation!?  I am going to Iowa!!  
My mom was from Iowa and our summers always included a complete family vacation to visit her family there.  We would pack up and leave for a week taking the 7-9 hour drive in our own family trukster and  head down I-80 to Iowa.  These are such great memories for me.  It was always so much fun to take these vacations.  We didn't go on a plane, didn't go to any amusement parks, or stay in hotels, we went to see family and honestly those were the best vacations EVER!  Visiting family.  Aunts, uncles, cousins and my grandpa whom we only saw once maybe twice a year.  Playing outside going to dinners and to everyones house to make our "rounds", was every bit as enjoyable as if I was at a hotel or amusement park and the beauty of it was that I didn't miss going to those places.  We would pack a lunch to eat at a rest stop on the way and I tell you what, those were the BEST bologna and cheese sandwiches to this day!
Well last January my favorite aunt and uncle moved back to iowa. 

My Aunt and I at her going away party.

 I have missed them so much, and this week my sister and I along with my youngest Kendall are heading out in my family truckster and heading down the familiar road that leads us to Iowa.  Yes, we are packing a lunch, yes we will stop at the I-80 truck stop and yes I will road up every farm, blue sky, and memory I can munster this week.  I intend to take in every bit of this trip and burn it into my memory and hopefully make it an incredible memory for Kendall.  My ex and I took Hillary, my oldest, to Iowa when she was younger and she still remembers the trip.  I want Kendall to experience the fun of taking a road trip and being bored to death in the backseat and asking "Are we there yet?".  Visiting with family and showing her some of my memories from traveling to Iowa all those years.  Visiting my grandpas old house we would stay at, the park he would take me to every day that I wanted to go and even the McDonalds he would take me to and let me get whatever I wanted.  I want her to experience the fun of a road trip to Iowa.