Nebraska 2014

Summer is now in full swing!  For the 3rd year in a row, we took a road trip to southeastern Nebraska to spend some time with Ed's aunts, uncles and cousins.  It's a great escape to rural farm life and I love that my kids get to experience life in small town America.  And I love that they have become comfortable there...comfortable with where they are going, with their relatives, and with what we do while we are there.

On our drive to Nebraska, we always stop for lunch somewhere along the Mississippi River.  This is a favorite park of mine in Moline, IL.  Beautiful park, right on the Mississippi, view of a lock and bridge and fun park for the kids.

The morning after we arrived the kids were welcomed by cattle that graze around the cabin we were staying in.  They were having a staring contest while I was taking this picture:)

This year was all about fishing!  Sam couldn't get enough of it...probably because they had incredible luck and pulled 30 fish out of a little farm pond on the first day:)  Regardless, the fishing was good and the kids had so much fun.  Memories were definitely made.

 Sam caught the first fish of the day!

So much time was spent with cousins!  Here are the girls with cousin Allis and second cousin Lyla.  It is so great to see them all playing together and fun that they remember each other enough so that they aren't overly shy when they see each other again.

Annual picture in front of the Cook, Nebraska sign.  I know we'll have fun looking back at these in years to come:)

Mollie getting a ride in the farm pickup truck on gravel roads.  Oh the freedom of driving around the countryside!  I love this picture and how it captured the moment.

 The kids collected lots of eggs from the hen house with second cousins Charla and Caleb. 

 Mulberry picking with Charla...the girls' new best friend:)

 Fishing again!

More mulberry picking.  I had mulberry pie for the first time.  Thanks to Ed's mom for baking them after Charla, the girls and I picked them!

Preparations for a fish fry.  The kids love helping in any way they can and Ed's mom is great at finding jobs for all of them to do (I'm admittedly not nearly as patient, but enjoy watching and picture taking:).  The fish was SO good!

Sam getting a mini-guitar lesson from Caleb.  These two played so well together.  It was great for Sam to have someone older to play with and learn from.

 Cousins exploring the farm together.

 Kittens!  The girls couldn't get enough of these kittens and even had names for them.

Cousins playing inside together.  Our kids LOVED playing with Caleb's toys.  They would load the cattle in trucks, deliver them to another room and set up grazing areas.  It's amazing how well they play with "different" toys.  And they all played together so well.

The girls with Charla:)  I just noticed that Emmeline's face is really funny in this picture...oh well:)  Charla was such a big help and was so great with them.  It was nice to see the girls so comfortable with her.

We visited the old one-room school house where Ed's dad and uncle went to school.  This was a good opportunity for the kids to see what school was like then compared to what their school looks like now.

 Playing, playing and more playing:)

On the last evening we were there we went to get ice cream for a pre-Father's Day Eve treat.  It was a nice way to wrap up our trip together.

It was a great trip and lots of new memories were made.  I feel blessed to be able to connect with Ed's family during these summer trips and love the connections all of the cousins are making.