Our Trip to Iowa

We had a wonderful time last week visiting family and friends in Iowa. And we even got to stop in Nashville to visit with Sam and Oliver as well. We left on Tuesday after Shae worked in the morning. We timed it really well, and within 10 minutes of the car ride this is what Teddy was doing:

Good thing he slept a little.... because we were in the car for lots of hours! Of course we brought "a few" things to keep him entertained.

And "a few" of the toys were Elmo-related (surprise surprise)...

Teddy loved his new Elmo pizza toys.

Teddy was very excited to see his Aunt Sam and his cousin OLIVER! By the way, since we have been home, Teddy continues to say "Oliver" over and over through out the day and whenever he sees a dog. He also loves to point to the picture of Oliver on our refrigerator.

Another thing Teddy LOVED on his trip was Grandpa's boat. He especially loved to drive it:

The second time we went out on the boat the first thing he said was, "I drive boat." That was followed by him saying, "water.... water... boat... boat..." at least 456 times!

Three generations of Hoschek men:

Teddy also had an absolute blast playing with his cousin Amy. The other thing he has said ALL WEEK since returning home is "Amy... Amy...Amy..." There are some great videos of Teddy and Amy having fun together one night when Aunt Stephanie babysat while we went to Steamboat Days. However, I can't figure out how to download them to our computer. So if you are interested please check them out on the Stuecker's blog page (click here to see). Thank you Aunt Stephanie for babysitting!!!

Teddy and Amy got balloons at Steamboat Days. Apparently the nice man making the balloons thought Teddy would prefer his Teddy bear balloon in purple and pink....

Teddy also got to meet the Burlington Bee:

and he got his very own fireman hat:

Grandma Suzie brought Teddy a very cool baseball and bat and he loves it! He had so much fun playing with Grandma Suzie every day. They played ball outside the YMCA:

The night Aunt Stephanie babysat, Teddy was worn out from partying with his cousin:

Motel living:

Teddy played with Grandma at a local baseball game:

We went for a walk around Shae's old stomping ground. Here are Teddy and Shae in front of one of the houses Shae grew up in:

We were so excited that during this visit we also got to meet the newest family member. Here is sweet Lily Marie with her mom Kristin:

Teddy snuck in to the shower for a few minutes to visit with everyone:

Hmmm I wonder what Teddy wants to do here:

"I drive boat!"

Hanging out with Grandma Suzie and Grandpa Jim:

We celebrated Father's Day while we were on our trip. Teddy and I really wanted to show Shae how much we appreciate him for all that he does for us every single day. He is such an amazing father and we both know how blessed we are to have him!

Teddy gives Shae his presents:

One of the presents Teddy forgot to give was to be in a good mood when we went out to eat for brunch. (Don't worry, he was a grump on Mother's Day too).

Here is another 3 generations photo (without any cigarettes or beers)

Teddy loved seeing so many family members... including the 4 legged ones. Here he is with Benny:

And here he is getting a little more personal with Oliver:

Here's a video of Teddy learning how to drive from Grandpa:

Lastly, a little trick we used to keep Teddy entertained on the car ride. It's the simple things really!

So to recap, Teddy's highlights from the trip were (in no particular order):

1. Playing with Grandma Suzie and the baseball and bat

2. Driving Grandpa's boat

3. Oliver

4. Amy

We were very sad for our trip to be over, but we are so glad we were able to spend some time with family and friends. All three of us had a great time!