The morning after I arrived in town, my sister, mom and I drove to Pella, Iowa, a Dutch colony founded in 1847. Pella holds a special place in my heart for one main reason- the Dutch letter (see a previous blog post for more information). Our pilgrimage to Jaarsma Bakery for Dutch letters was well worth it, since Matt and I will not be making it to Holland at Christmas time...the only time you can get these pastries in Europe, or so I'm told.
Is this Holland? Nope...it's Pella, Iowa
My mom is such a good sport...when we noticed that her fleece and scarf matched these plants, of course we made her get down in them for a photo...
From Pella, we headed to Iowa City to visit my brother, T.J., who is in his senior year at the University of Iowa. That night we had dinner at Givanni's, one of my favorite restaurants in Iowa City.
Check out the awesome art-deco lighting...
After dinner, we attended the Newman Singers Christmas concert and went to the Java House (a dark and cozy coffee house in Iowa City) for some tiramisu and tea...
The next day, we walked around the pedestrian mall (ped-mall) in Iowa City. It was great to see some of the familiar sights from my college days, including Old Capital, which served as the first capital building of Iowa until 1876 when the capital moved to Des Moines...
Me, Ki, and T, at the Saloon, decorated by my dad...
We were back in Des Moines for one night before my mom and I headed west on I-80 toward Lincoln, Nebraska to visit my grandparents. We were only in Lincoln for 24 hours, but had a great time getting into the Christmas spirit while decorating the tree and watching the snow begin to fall...
The following night, I went on a driving tour of a Jolly Holiday Lights display at Water Works Park in Des Moines with my parents and my great-great-aunt Mildred. Mildred will be celebrating her 90th birthday in April, and I'm the one who fell asleep in the car during the tour! I could blame it on the jet lag, but I have also been known to fall asleep (as a passenger, of course) on the drive home from Wiesbaden...
That night, the snow began to fall old-school Iowa style, and we woke up to a couple of feet in the driveway/yard and drifts that were nearly waste deep! This was the most snow I can remember seeing since I was a kid...
Our 13-year-old lab, Brandy, didn't quite know what to think about the snow...it's hard enough for her to walk these days, let along through all of this white stuff! Now she has taken to laying in the snow (we think it has a numbing effect on her arthritic hips) and eating it by the mouthful.
Introducing Mia Jane, daughter of our friends Kate and Nate...such a little peanut! Congrats guys!
1 comment:
Looks like you are having a great time back in Iowa!! Nice to see some recent pictures of you guys. We miss you!
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