Iowa Day 4

This day I took a lot of pictures. This was the hottest day of our trip and it got up to +27 degrees (around 84 for any Americans reading this)! I decided to go check out the resort’s private beach with Kiera + Blake. On the back right side of the picture is the side of the hotel, close to where the outdoor mini golf course was and the indoor pool Lake Okoboji I liked seeing the water tower on the other side of the lake Proof that I was at the beach Thankful that we had picked up a couple of sand toys for the kids Random statue The water was freezing but that didn’t stop the kids from going in it My camera was my beach toy Chillaxin' on the beach with a cast I found an egg Love the mess! There was a nest up in the tree on the left The steps I had to go down to get to the beach I like the colorful rocks Blake crossing the road in between cabins We took the kids to the park after supper and drove around a bit. This aqua-colored house was just down the road from our resort and I always liked looking at it as we drove by. It’s for sale and I found it listed online for $449,000. This is the park the kids went to 3 times in Spirit Lake There was a splash park in the middle that wasn’t on yet The matching clothes I bought Blake at Walmart

Kiera made a new friend wherever she went. I love that about her.

The park was right by the lake I love their smiles after Jared gave them underducks Jared wanted to find a coffee shop, so I searched on the GPS and we went for a drive around the lake. The entrance to an area of houses The GPS led us here. There was definitely no coffee shop but we did see some beautiful, massive houses right by the lake. We got to watch a group of deer for a bit. We saw these all over the place and weren’t sure what they were. We found out later that they are docks. They pull the docks out for the winter and while we were there, they were starting to put the docks back out onto the lake. Nothing quite like watching the sunset on the lake.

A Complete Mess

Yesterday, it rained all day and many streets in town were flooded.  The road before our cul-de-sac dips down and then rises slightly up into the cul-de-sac.  Right at that part, there is a drain.  Yesterday, the drain couldn’t keep up and the road got completely flooded over for over 8 hours.  We went out for lunch after church and when we got to our cul-de-sac, we realized the water was too high to drive through (at least Jared didn’t want to risk it).  We sat in the van and discussed whether we should try to get to our house from behind it or if we should go to someone else’s house to wait it out.  I knew Haley needed a nap and possibly Blake, too, so I said we should try to get inside through the back.  We parked on the street behind our house and went through our neighbor’s back yard.  The problem with our yard is that it’s unfinished and when it rains, it turns into a giant mud pit.  Thankfully, Kiera and Blake had worn their rubber boots to church, so they were fine.  I followed and when I got to the ditch behind our house, I got completely stuck with my crutches.  Haley was crying and not walking, so Jared had to first come get her and carry her inside.  As I stood there, my foot completely covered in mud (I was wearing a dress shoe), not able to move, I hung my head in despair as the rain poured down on me.  Although I was incredibly unhappy and discouraged at that point, what was running through my head was a line from yesterday’s sermon: “God’s grace is completely sufficient in this.”  It was so sweet of the Holy Spirit to remind me of that in a situation that I was definitely not ok with.  Jared came back with some boards that he lay across the ditch so I could cross it and helped pull out my crutches.  Then, he cleaned my crutches once I got inside while I cleaned some of the mud that we had all tracked into the entrance.  I felt like that whole situation was a disaster, but was extra thankful for clean, dry clothes that we all changed into after.  Today, the water is gone and the sun came out!  Soon, my cast will come off and we will have grass, so I see the light at the end of the tunnel!  It has been so incredibly challenging taking care of my kids (especially when Haley escapes outside), cleaning, doing laundry, and shopping, just to name a few, while on crutches, but God has definitely shown me His grace in different ways and He has carried me through.

Iowa Day 3

One of the things we did almost every morning was take the kids to the pool. Along with there being a couple of dozen cabins at the resort, there was also a big hotel with an indoor pool and hot tub. There was also an outdoor pool, which they use in summer. They went back and forth between the kiddie pool and the regular pool. We were going to take their life jackets along and completely forgot. When we were at Wal-Mart right before we got to the resort on Sunday, I saw $1 inflatable armbands, so we bought those and they worked perfectly! The kids could float/swim around in the deep end with no worries. This is where I sat for a chunk of the time. Sometimes I also sat at the edge of the pool or hot tub and had one leg in and one leg out. Jared had to do all of the playing with the kids in the pool, which I felt a bit bad about, but not much we could do about that. That’s the entrance that we came in. The pool was close to the back of the hotel, so it was very tiring for me to get there. Sometimes Jared would drive from our cabin to the hotel, which wasn’t far at all, but it was that much less distance for me to have to crutch. The mechanical room. Haley likes to point out the pirate on the right side of the picture. The hot tub is on the deck area on the left side of the picture. Around Lake Okoboji there were several towns that almost run into each other. We were in West Okoboji, right outside of Spirit Lake. There was also Arnold’s Park where they have a big amusement park that opens after May long week-end, Milford, and Wahpeton. This was in Milford. I like the colors. We took the kids to the Elementary School playground in Milford. Most of the parks we saw were bigger than the ones here with multiple structures that cater to different age groups. It was great! A church we saw while driving around. Another part of Lake Okoboji Jared commented that he liked their street lights. This was just down the road from where our resort was. Sometimes places in the middle of nowhere can have a lot of character and parts of this area definitely did. :)

Iowa Day 2

We woke up to bright sunshine in the morning, which is always wonderful!  We stayed in a cabin that had 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.  For some reason I totally forgot to take pictures of the bedrooms, but here is the rest of the cabin. When it was cool in the mornings, we would turn on the fireplace in the living room. The cabin also had a furnace and central air! I think that’s the tiniest kitchen we’ve ever been in. Jared + I could barely fit in there together. Meal preparation was interesting but we made it work. Our bedroom was just off the kitchen and was small with a double bed, a dresser and a night table and then an ensuite off of it. Blake’s room was upstairs and had one queen bed, a dresser and closet and the girls’ bedroom was the biggest (also upstairs) with 2 queen beds, a dresser, a big chair, a closet and an open space to play. This is our ensuite, which thankfully had a bathtub in it. The upstairs bathroom just had a shower.

Our bedroom also had a walk-in closet

Kiera wearing her new pink shirt and her new pink pants.  Gotta love Walmart!

Our cabin from the back

The side entrance The front, which is where we parked We could see part of the lake from the back window which was nice. We had stopped at Wal-Mart before getting to our cabin to pick up breakfast food but didn’t have any other food, so we went to Wal-mart after lunch to shop for the week.  We saved a lot of money by cooking all except 3 meals while we were there. We did end up going to Pizza Ranch for lunch right before we went to Walmart. They have gluten-free pizza there, but it’s not part of the buffet, so I just had the buffet. The crust isn’t thick and the slices aren’t big, so I think I had about 8 slices of pizza plus a few slices of dessert pizza. I’ve always had a large appetite. ;) That was my big cheat meal of the week and I enjoyed every bite of it! Haley didn’t want to eat her pizza, so I gave her salad from the salad bar and she ate all of that. I don’t know of any other 2-year-olds who prefer salad over almost every other food! This was the water tower in Spirit Lake (population: 5000) Lake Okoboji, which we found out is the “main” lake in Iowa. They don’t have a lot of lakes there. Apartments or condos by the water Downtown Spirit Lake

The sign at the entrance of the resort

I think we took the kids to a park almost every day of our trip, so they really enjoyed that!  They watched almost no t.v. while we there and either played outside with new friends they made, went swimming or played with their new Lego sets (we bought the older 2 each a new set on our way there). It was also wonderful to have Jared around 24/7 and he was a huge help as I was not as mobile. I used one of these when we went to Wal-Mart and everyone stared at me since I’m not elderly, plus I had one kid on my lap and the other hanging off the back.  Ya, we were a sight to see!

Vacation Day 1: The Drive There

On Sunday, May 4, at 8:20 a.m. we left our house and headed 900 km (559 miles) away to Spirit Lake, Iowa. Where is that? In the middle of nowhere! We booked a 3-bedroom cabin on http://resortcerts.com for $200 for the whole week, so for that price, we figured we would try it out. In preparation for the long drive, I ordered 14 Veggie Tales movies from amazon.com for a total of $40 and prayed that our dvd player would work in the van (sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t). Complete Season 2

I think we made it a couple of hours before I cracked open the case. I had bought a couple of things at the dollar store but those activities only lasted so long. Oh, and the dvd player behaved very well most of the time!

I liked all the water towers that each town had.

We stopped for lunch at a mall food court and they had recipes covering each pillar in the food court area. I thought that was really neat. They had a fantastic play room for kids, so we let them run around in there for a little while before hitting the road again. SOOOO EXCITED to see hills in the distance! An art centre The road actually went up and down! It was refreshing to see so much green, since we woke up to snow again this morning. Usually I’m the one taking pictures instead of the one in them, so I took a picture to prove that I was there. ;) We arrived at our cabin at 9:45 p.m. and I unpacked all of our suitcases before heading to bed.  I had asked my friend to pray for a miracle since our kids often go crazy in the van even on short rides and God did a miracle!  They did incredibly well on our 13.5-hour journey (and they did not watch movies the whole time). :)