Our Day Trip to Pella, Iowa

Today was a great day and one I will fondly remember for many years. I invited my aunt Sherie to go to Pella, Iowa, with me and all three kids. We had a super fantastic day, as Bo would say! We left our house bright and early, around 9 a.m. and returned at about 4:30 p.m. Bo and I were exhausted, but Mazy had energy to burn, which was good since he had swim clinic at 5:45.

Sweet little Violet slept all day and all afternoon. She was up a lot yesterday so I was expecting that. I'm seeing a pattern with her Mondays -- I don't know if it's the food I eat on weekends (maybe more dairy that affects her when I nurse??) or the busier schedule or what, but Sunday nights and Mondays are her roughest times. Then she sleeps it off on Tuesdays and gets back to her routine the rest of the week.

Anyway, the weather was beautiful and there were not many people in town so we often had the museums and parks all to ourselves. If you need a fun day trip, definitely consider going to Pella. The boys really enjoyed the working windmill and historical village/museum (we spent about 2 hours touring it). There's a playground just a few blocks from downtown that's fairly shady and is ideal for picnics and some running around time. The town square can't be beat -- so many fun shops and interesting things to look at. The boys particularly liked the canal they built a few years ago. And of course, there are two stellar bakeries and a butcher shop that sell wonderful Dutch treats! Mazy will review Jaarsma Bakery tomorrow on his blog. I bought two rings of Pella bologna. We'll eat one tomorrow night in our jambalaya and I'll probably freeze the other for future jambalayas.

Here's a look back at our day in pictures:

 Can't you just imagine what these two were thinking.....   :)