Vacation!

Vacations are fun, and our family really needed one. But by the end, the novelty wore off and we were ready to go home. I haven't felt up to really reminiscing and posting, so this will just a be a quick review with some pictures. We left on Aug 1, drove to Indiana and stayed with the Busselbergs for a few days and left for Florida. There we stayed for a week, and went back to Indiana for a few days before we headed home. We got home on Aug 22.

We stopped in Boulder, CO at the Railroad Museum. Landen loved it.

We stopped in Bonner Springs, MO (just outside Kansas City) at the National Farming Museum and Agricultural Hall of Fame. Michael loved it. So did Landen.

In Florida, we went to a state park called Homassassa Springs. It's pretty cool. They have manatees and alligators. We went snorkeling with the manatees the next day, which was also very cool. I loved that.

We went to the beach. When we went to Pine Island and saw some dolphins! We also went to Clearwater- which has awesome beaches. Because of a tropical storm, the waves were really big and the boys tried to body surf. Landen loved playing in the sand and the surf.

While the majority of the group went to a water park, we decided to go to the aquarium. They had a little water playground that Landen loved. But he also liked the fish and turtles, sting rays, penguins, and jelly fish.

On the way home, we stopped in Moline, IL the home of John Deere. Since Landen wasn't old enough to go on a tour of the factory, we went to the pavilion and store. The boys were in high heaven. I guess life doesn't get much better than new green tractors for those boys.

So other highlights of our trips that I didn't take pictures of:

• Visiting Stephanie Curtis in Ann Arbor, MI
• Visiting the Andersons' in Davenport, IA
• Landen and Makenzie playing hide-n-seek, I-get-you, and bouncing on the trampoline.
• Landen and Makenzie playing together in general
• Spending time with all the Busselbergs'
• Playing Pounce
• The boys terrorizing Bro. Dickerson
• Bro. Dickerson taking them out to lunch after being terrorized.
• Visiting Grandma Goff & her telling Michael that Justin was her favorite
• Eating at a Japanese Steakhouse, and a great beach-side seafood restaurant.
• Landen playing with his aunts, uncles and grandparents.
• Interviewing for jobs in Wausa, NE and Valentine, NE.

It was a great trip. The car made it the whole 6,200 miles without any problems. Landen was a good traveler. Michael deserves a purple star for taking a 2 year old and 30-week pregnant wife across the country. I deserve an award just for agreeing to go, then I should get like a million dollars for making it.