Iowa is Green!

On our way to celebrate my parent's 50th anniversary, we spent a couple of days in Kansas City. While we were there we visited Cabella's. It's similar to Bass Pro Shop but much bigger. Jeremiah, Mollie & I spent 2 hours in Cabella's. It was awesome! The above picture was taken there. We also visited the KC Speedway. Richard Petty's Driving Experience was there. We were able to go down to pit row and watch them drive the race cars. Even though we didn't ride, it was still quite an experience.

My parents were definetely suprised to see us on Saturday night. They understand how difficult it is for us to get away but they were sure glad to see us. We went back to my parent's home after dinner and spent some time looking at old photos. My brother and one sister left Saturday evening and my oldest sister left Sunday morning.

On Sunday, we attended Fellowship Baptist Church, which is were I spent a lot of time growing up. They had a group from West Coast Baptist College sing in the evening service. The leader of the group know "Mr. Cody." (Many of the teens in my youth group know who he is!) After church on Sunday night, we went to visit my Grandma Lounsberry. She enjoyed our visit.

On Monday, we drove to Newton, IA to visit my Grandpa Campbell and Grandma Myrtle (my grandpa's second wife). They enjoyed our visit but the kids got a little stir crazy.

I have eaten at all the places I look forward to on every visit...Taco Johns, Maid Rites, Zenos, Ev's Ice Cream. When we went to Maid Rites we saw Tow Mater from the Car's Movie. I'll have to post a picture later. It is still on our camera. A tow company here in Marshalltow has put together a very good, real-life version of Tow Mater. Titus was sooooo excited to "meet him." He even had the "ghost light" hanging from his tow cable.

All in all we've had a very good visit but it is too quickly coming to an end. I never would have said this as a teenager but, if the Lord would every allow, I would be more than happy to move back to Iowa. (Stephenie's just not so sure how she would do during the winter months.) This is the first time that Stephenie has ever seen Iowa in the spring. Her comment has been, "It's so green!"

I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of me with my siblings...

Christmas, 2006 in Iowa

We just arrived home from our "every 3 years in Iowa" Christmas. With 4 children, we decided to fly instead of drive. All the children did a wonderful job on the flights. (Having a DVD player definetely helped.)

It was great to see my family. Brenda, my youngest/older sister, suprised us by driving up with her husband and youngest son so that they could go eat with us at Zeno's Pizza. Brenda had originally told us that she wouldn't be able to make it this year, which disappointed all of us. It was quite a suprise when they walked into the house.

There are three things that I always accomplish when I visit home. Eat at Zeno's Pizza and Maid-Rite and devour some AE Party Dip. I accomlished all three! Zeno's serves the best pizza in the world! Maid-Rite makes only one thing - a loose meat hamburger sandwich with mustard, onions and pickles. You order it this way, "I'll take a wet one with everything." (I know that a loose meat hamburger sandwich doesn't sound that great but you just have to try one. Check them out at www.maidrite.com) AE Party Dip is what you eat chips with.

Silas, due to the change in weather and humidity, developed quite a bit of drainage and a cough. It hasn't gone to his chest. We're praying that it will clear up now that we are at home.

While at home, I saw a friend of mine that I had grown up with and that I hadn't seen for almost 20 years. His name is Richard Keller. My dad has an old Ford Escort sitting by the barn that has a "For Sale" sign on it. Richard just happened to be driving by and stopped to look at it. When he got out of his car, I said, "You're Richard Keller!" He replied, "And your Joseph Campbell." We spent a few minutes catching up on 20 years. I had Stephenie take our picture and then Richard was on his way. It may be another 20 years before we see each other again.

It's amazing that although I am 34 years old I still feel as though I am in high school. 20 years only seems to have been a few days.

I will be posting our Christmas photos on our family website at www.familyofcampbells.com. Check them out.