Visit to Iowa

In late June the kiddos and I took off to Iowa to go visit Grandma & Grandpa Meadows and all the primos (cousins) and tios (aunts/uncles). I have a pretty big family, so it is always a fun-filled time in Iowa! We went down for a few reasons. The main one was to see my baby brother (now 23 year old) before he left to move to Florida for his first big gig out of college - singing with the Voices of Liberty choral group through Epcot Center in Disney. It's a pretty sweet deal! Also, my hometown (Iowa City) had been MAJORLY impacted by the flooding that bombarded the midwest. My parents and my older sister both live in homes equally far away from the flooded river, but are all attenders (plus my mom has been the Office Manager for over 18 years there) at Parkview Evangelical Free Church - my home church growing up - which sustained significant flood damage! At one point there was over 5.5 feet of water standing INSIDE the church building. After the waters receded, the church was immediately gutted on the inside. It appears that they will be able to save the building and re-build inside, but for the rest of the year services will be held in my old high school and the office staff are currently officing out of extra space in a Christian counseling center. So we wanted to be able to survey some of the receding flood damage. We had a great time with the family - and enjoyed the hot weather by busting out the sprinkler and hose - the Dressel kids LOVED chasing each other around with water. We got some water balloons out there too - which were very short-lived - they had all of them broken within minutes! Great fun though! Here are pics...

Angie, Master Conductor!

"I'm gonna get you La La!"

Hmm...not sure if Juancho is having fun or not... :)

"I'm just testing the water Mom!"

Angie was ready to go for a water balloon fight - bucket half-filled with water balloons...and her pom pom! Guess she was planning on doing a little cheerleading!

John & Tio Jon - in reality the two boys did fall asleep all cuddled up like this...but by the time I saw them and got the camera, they had woke up - so we had to stage this one! :)

Laura & Tia Jenni looking stylish in their shades!

Laura in front of the flooding that was receding from Parkview Church

Two beautiful kiddos in front of some not so beautiful landscape - post flood damage at my home church in Iowa...

This is the backside of my home church - flood waters can still be seen in the background, though they had receded from the church and playground. The amount of mud was amazing! Two weeks prior this was all covered with green grass!

Tia Michelle & Angie - City Park is in the background - usually home to baseball diamonds, picnic tables and a great mini-carnival...now completely underwater!

Classic Stair-Step Picture of the Meadows Cousins: (L to R) - Heather (age 13), Joel (age 12 - and not so happy here), Juancho (age 10 - and always entertaining!), Sarah (age 11), Max (age 9), Laura (age 9) and Angie (age 3).