Trip to Iowa

This trip to Iowa was LONG overdue for Charlie to meet his great grandparents on my dad's side.  They had seen SO many pictures of him and were so much looking forward to meeting him.  With a 6 hourish drive up there though, we wanted to make sure we got a good weekend, so we planning going with the whole Bruns family for Bruns family Christmas the third weekend in Thanksgiving, right before my Grandpa's birthday.  My dad, Jimmy, Charlie and I headed out on Friday morning around 9 and we did pretty good on time.  Charlie did good in the car...kept very consistent with his eat-wake-sleep routine and we stopped about every 3 hours to eat.  We did get to stop and get out for lunch and get him out of the carseat, which I know he liked!!!

We were ALMOST there and he just lost it because he was so hungry.  I was going to pump and feed him with a bottle, but then with only 15 minutes to go but then we figured it wasn't worth it so we just listened to him cry until we got to the hotel.  On the way there, we did hear about the Connecticut shooting which was just so awful we could barely stand it.  All I wanted to do is just get to the hotel, take Charlie out of his car seat and hug him for hours.  Which don't worry, he got lots and lots of loving when he arrived to see my grandparents.  This was the extent of our Friday night...

...staring at Charlie...

My dad and Jimmy were laying just like twins...

Friday night was WELL...interesting.  My dad and Jimmy decided they were going to the Alta boys basketball game.  So they dropped Charlie and I off at the hotel for baby's bedtime and were off to the game.  I made a request for them to stop by Walgreens for like the 7th time of our trip already to pick up some pictures that I got printed for my grandparents.  I went to bed a few minutes after Charlie went to sleep and then woke up at 10:30 and Jimmy still wasn't home.  It was weird so I woke up and checked my phone.  He sent me a text message that said "Call me when you can".  Uh - not good sign. And it wasn't good.  Jimmy hit a car on their drive down main street.  Down main street in Storm Lake, IA.  There was only one other car on the road and that was the one he hit.  Apparently the was in the left lane and needed to turn night, so instead of looking in the mirror he just went.  The poor guy didn't speak English or have insurance so even though Jimmy walked away with a $125 ticket...the poor guy he hit walked away with like an $800+ ticket, which probably meant no Christmas for his kids....

I thought I handled it decent because I didn't freak out.  That's all I'm going to say about that.

The next morning we were up early and had breakfast at the hotel and then went to my grandparents.  Charlie was rocking his new fleece...

But then he got hot and showed off one of his shirts that Jen made him at our Hallmark shower - so cute!

Around lunchtime, the rest of the family rolled in (my sister and mom were still on their way).  It was so good to see everyone and my cousins were excited to meet Charlie!

And then Charlie began getting passed around.  My uncle Dennis was sure a baby hog!!!

But at least Charlie likes him a lot!!

In the middle of the day we decided to get out and go to Santa's Castle - a Storm Lake classic.  Apparently we went there as kids, but I don't remember AT all!

It was interesting....with the decorations but fun to get out and about!

Standard family picture...

The best part?  Santa.  Um - I'm sorry 26 year old Santa with your converse tennis shoes.   You have no one fooled.  Even my cousin's 7 year old son was asked by Santa if he wanted to get on his lap and Isaac's response was "no thanks".  Up, no one fooled in that get up.

Then it was back to my grandparents house for more family time, pizza and presents!!  And of course lots of family pictures!!!!

Great grandpa Bruns and Charlie

Charlie and one of his sets of great grandparents

Charlie and Great Grandma Bruns

The family!!

My dad and Jimmy.  They are weird.

We made an early exit to get this sick kid to bed.  I was pretty sick as well and miserable, so I wanted to get to bed early too.  Didn't help that there were crazy kids in the room above us that didn't let us sleep. We were those parents that called the front desk at like 8:30 to complain...but it didn't work.

Bed time!  Enthralled by his sea horse!

The next morning we wanted to get an early start to the drive home, so it was back to my grandparents to say goodbye!  A few last minute pictures...

And...we got my grandparents to record a recordable storybook for Charlie.  Obviously we work at Hallmark and have known about these forever, but now having a baby and having my grandparent's voices reading to him forever is literally priceless.  He loves it so much!!!!!

And that was it....back in the car seat for this little man again.  He's not that big of a fan, but he does ok.

Until next time Iowa....