November & December 2024

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Time With Family in Iowa | November & December 2024

After returning from our Colorado trip at the end of October, we spent a month and a half in the Midwest, bouncing between our hometown in Iowa and Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. We made it back right before my birthday, which I was happy to spend with everyone there, then had a few days before our weekend in Indianapolis to hang out. The highlight of the first week was going to Palisades-Kepler state park with my mom, sister, and niece and nephew. The fall colors were gorgeous, and we enjoyed a short walk and a picnic with donuts from Donutland. Curtis and I also went with my sister and her kids to vote early — it was the first time Curtis and I had voted in person since before marriage! The kids were very well behaved and made the experience that much more fun.

Right after our Eras Tour weekend, Curtis, Charlie and I traveled to Joliet, IL for Curtis’ last outage of the fall. We stayed at the same hotel as last year, the Towneplace right off the interstate, and Curtis worked the night shift again. It rained a lot and was rather gloomy throughout the week, which matched our moods post Election Day. We still got out every day for walks at a nearby park, and walked a little of the Dupage River Trail. Our favorite restaurants in Joliet this week were Sushi Ya, Smile Siam Thai, Rosati’s Pizza, and Happy Falafel in Minooka. It wasn’t the most exciting week but we made the most of it, knowing it would be a while before our next time in a hotel together.

When we returned to Iowa, we had a few medical appointments to go to, and some required follow ups a few weeks later. It’s not easy to plan these things, especially when we have to plan so far in advance, so we were thankful that Curtis’ schedule hadn’t changed so we could keep these. We were also able to see my Nanna and uncle this week and hang out with my sister’s kids.

That weekend, Curtis mentioned that he had never been to the Coralville Dam, so we did a little day trip to that area with my parents and all the dogs. One of the main highlights of this area are the fossils, however today the highlight for us were all the pelicans that were huddled together in big groups in the middle of the lake.

The next week was our trip to Missouri, and we returned to Iowa just before Thanksgiving. My mom did a wonderful job hosting the meal for most of my siblings and grandparents. We had a great time catching up with the adults and playing with the kids. A few days after that was Mom’s birthday which we celebrated with most of my siblings. Then a couple days later, my one sibling who still lives in the PNW came back for a week, so there were many more family gatherings that we got to be present for. A highlight of this week was getting to attend the Richard the Whale holiday event at Big Grove Brewery, a family favorite. Besides all the fun stuff, we also had our last few appointments to attend, and right in the middle of that was when the first snow of the season decided to arrive. We could hear the Southwest calling our names, but we couldn’t leave just yet…

For the second week of December, Curtis had to travel to Vidalia, GA for a week of work. We decided that he should just fly out for a number of reasons: besides this trip and one other week in January, Curtis had almost 2 months off, and we so badly wanted to spend that time in the Southwest, not back on the East coast. Then I also wanted to be around for my brother’s last few days in Iowa, and I had my last appointment to attend…I saved the best for last, getting my wisdom teeth out :p It was my first ‘surgery’ ever, and thankfully all went well. Since Curtis was gone, my mom took over as my driver and ‘caregiver’ for that week, and I was so thankful to spend that extra time with her! Unfortunately I don’t have any funny stories to share from post surgery because I felt pretty ‘with it’, and mom also said I seemed very aware of everything and was acting normal, though looking back on what I remember from that time I now see I was not with it. I did text Curtis a dozen Arrested Development gifs, but that is nothing out of the ordinary. Recovery went well, and I was especially glad to be able to recover in a house rather than a van.

Curtis came home a few days later, and over our last weekend in Iowa my aunt and uncle came over from Michigan to have an early Christmas celebration with us and Nanna at Big Grove Brewery. After that, it was only December 15 and we had already celebrated Christmas twice. That made our next decision…to leave, or not to leave before Christmas… a bit easier to make. Of course, when I remember all the years we spent in the military wishing to be home for the holidays, I feel guilty for making the choice to not spend them with family. But we felt good about all the time we had spent with our families this year, and wanted to make the most of the weeks we had “off” before the next outage season begins — which, if the schedule doesn’t change, will bring us back to the Midwest for a couple months. Winter hadn’t even started, and we were already tired of being cold, and were very eager to return to the Southwest. And so, after some last minute preparations and packing, we said goodbye to my family, until next year, and set off on our winter migration…our third year in a row of being partial snowbirds!

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