The Mad Scientist

Emmie entered the Science Fair this year at school. She was determined to build a robot...but since mom has to at least understand what her 10-year-old is talking about, she settled for a display on light reflection.

Spring Break with Grandma and Grandpa

We went to the Science Center of Iowa over spring break. Here are some of the pics.

A Little R & R

I need to get up-to-date on my posts. So I will start with the trip Kris and I took to Kansas City to celebrate my birthday. For spring break, Grandma and Grandpa Hiltbrand decided to visit us--so what do Kris and I decide to do? Get out of Dodge, of course! We have been wanting an "us" trip for quite a while and this was the perfect opportunity. It wasn't a very long trip--two days, one night--but great, nonetheless, to be alone together. We just spent the first day shopping and hanging out. That evening, we headed to our hotel to check in. It was a swanky joint in downtown KC, and we were really excited to try it out--mostly because we never do things like that.

BUT, when we got to the hotel, we couldn't "get" to the hotel. There was a road crew right up in front resurfacing the road (we happened to go two days before the big NCAA basketball tourney was to take place and we think they were trying to spiff things up). I was pretty upset about the whole thing. So my solution was to cancel our reservation and go somewhere else. But Kris was determined to make it work. After talking to the hotel on the phone, we worked out a plan to have the valet service meet us in the middle of the construction to get our car. By this point I was a little fiery about the inconvenience, and I couldn't figure out why Kris wouldn't just take us somewhere else. But we checked in and headed to the room--on the top floor.

When I walked into the suite, I found out why my sweet husband wouldn't cancel. There waiting for me in the room were a dozen long-stemmed roses, chocolates and sparkling apple juice. Then I felt dumb for getting so mad. Anyway, Kris had worked this all out as a surprise for me just cause he loves me. He really is the greatest!!

Needless to say, my heart was softened pretty quickly after that. We had a nice dinner in the hotel restaurant and spent the evening walking around downtown KC before heading back to the hotel. The next day we hung out at the Plaza (an outdoor shopping mall) again and then headed to Adam-ondi-ahman on our way home that evening. It was really a great experience.