Iowa - my Dutch homeland

Daddy likes to downplay that I'm half-Dutch, but I'm proud of my heritage - and Mommy is too, so she took me to Iowa, the closest I'll probably get to my Dutch homeland.

Here I am checking out the phone booth in the airport. There were several booths in a row which I then referred to as a "Choo Choo" which sounds like "Too Too" in my baby voice.

First we went to Grandma and Smitty's house in Orange City. I got to go to the park, a garage sale, and the best outing to Pizza Ranch where I drank a whole kids' cup of pink lemonade.

Then we went to Grandpa and Grandma's farm in Sheldon and ate tavern (that's what they call sloppy joe's) and dried beef sandwiches (why the South hasn't figured out how delicious dried beef is I'm not sure).

And the last night that we were in The Homeland we got to go to a real live Iowa auction. When people move into a retirement home or pass away they usually have an auction of their household items and you can come and bid on anything you want as the auctioneer talks 300 miles a minute. Grandpa bought a weed eater but we just enjoyed the experience. One of Mommy's favorite things to do on their Iowa vacation every summer when she was a little girl was to go to auctions and look for old jewelry, scarves, pretty cards, and any other treasures.

I'll wait over here in the shade. Even though Iowa is in the North, it was still in the 90's while we were there, but we had a great time! Mommy would like to take a moment to thank the people we sat by on the 6 different flights we took to get to Iowa and back. I only cried like I was being tortured for 15 minutes on one flight before falling asleep. I was a pretty good boy otherwise but I'm still a little wiggly. Thankfully everyone from a South African high school grad to a pharmaceutical sales manager were very understanding and kind. I think it was becuase I'm so cute :)

The Maestro Duo

Freeman and I tickling the old ivories man-style.

Back to practice, boys!

Keeping cool inside

We spend most of our mornings outside and afternoons inside because of the heat, so Momma has to keep on her toes to keep me entertained. One day she let me play with her embroidery looms....

which I had a grand time with....

One day she made me a tent and I was convinced that I had to get under it going backwards the whole time instead of crawling in and then turning around :)

I eventually got under there though!

And I love to wrestle with Daddy and play games. One day I found all my burp cloths that I like to sleep with in a drawer and had a ball playing "steal the burpy" with Daddy - I couldn't stand him having even one of the 10 burpies I had found so we stole them back and forth over and over.

The zoo in Mississippi heat

Momma's Bible Study group went to the zoo this week. Last summer I spent most of the time indoors and now I understand why. Mississippi in the summer is....whew....

Notice my red face and ever-ready sippy cup hydration - but the heat didn't stop me from exploring such an interesting place.

This was me at most exhibits, the last one there. Not because I was so fascinated by most of them, I just get easily side-tracked by railings, fences, bushes, rocks, sticks, and most other things you find at a zoo :)

Momma even let me ride the train! She said this was the first time she had ever gotten to ride the train at the zoo and she's like 15 times as old as I am....I must be pretty special :)