Fall Brings in the NEW

We went a little crazy, with 3 kids soon in our future, and bought a new Honda Odyssey! Randy is laughing at me because I won't drive it (or insure it, why waste the $$) until we sell his car and are back down to 2 vehicles. It's a GREAT van, many of our friends have the same, but I NEVER thought my FIRST NEW vehicle would be a MINIVAN! Ahhh, to embrace motherhood and all its perks! Here are Cooper and I with our salesman, Patrick:

We REALLY lucked out because Aunt Beth and Aunt Ruth drove all the way from Utah to our neck of the woods on a little sightseeing adventure. They spent 2 days spoiling us with playmates for Cooper, goodies at the Kalona bakery, and more from Amana Colonies. We were all sad to see them leave. Thanks for the fun time!

We wrapped up the weekend with a day-trip to Dubuque - beautiful drive this time of year with the leaves changing. Our neighbor told us of the steepest railway west of the Mississippi, so I had to check it out. As luck would have it, the town was also hosting their annual Chili Cook-Off, not so good for my super-sensitive sniffer, but it came with games for the kids. Cooper LOVED the bouncy house. He threw a MAJOR fit when we had to DETACH him from the fun.

I HAD to take a pic of this chili booth for all you Chuck Norris fans, not sure how true their claim is, I'd bet my money on Chuck anyday:

And finally we made it to the railway. It was a little shorter than I thought - ok, a lot. So good thing for the chili or Randy would have been SOOO disappointed.