with a little time off, we decided to take a road trip down to iowa to visit antique archaeology. it’s grace’s and rich’s favorite show {american pickers}; or at least, one of their favorites!

it’s actually a really short car ride to get to le claire, iowa from chicago. a few hours drive and you’re there! we left mid afternoon on a sunny, beautiful day and arrived at our hotel in the early evening. we unpacked and headed out to stevenson’s {a restaurant we ate at last time} for a lovely dinner.

it cracks me up but this is their ‘fine’ dining. call me a snob, but it was okaaaaayyy. everything was waaayyyy too salty {like my food was being served on a salt block}. their patio was quite nice but the interior definitely needed an upgrade and to think that they did upgrade it since we were there last {a couple years ago}!

anyhoo, after dinner, we hung out by their fire pit. that was actually really nice, it was warm by the fire. grace and olive got to run around and play in the grass. after dinner, we headed back to the hotel so we could play in the pool!

[sunny with our sunnies]

[the ‘fancy’ restaurant]

[i love, love, love olive’s little hand. she loves to say ‘cheers’]

[dancing on the patio with daddy]

[we loved the fire pit]

i hadn’t purchased olive a swimsuit since she outgrew hers last summer and i was in a pickle because we were leaving that day when i realized it! so, i swung by the always reliable target and picked up a cutesy suit for her. it’s actually quite adorbs!

grace, hc, and olive got ready for the pool and we all skaddled down to the swimming area {which was quite nice!}. olive was a bit apprehensive {she loved, loved the pool when she was a bit younger} but hc coaxed her into the water. she was a bit nervous and scared at first but then she really started to enjoy herself, especially when she saw grace having fun in the water.

it was sooo cute to see her in her daddy’s arms, circling around in the water. it just makes your heart melt.

[ready for a swim]

[momma and cubbie twinning]

[in the pool with daddy!]

[having a great time]

[look at that belly!]

[splish splash]

after our pool time, we headed back upstairs to our hotel room to settle in for the night. it was so stinkin’ cute to see olive run around in her diapy. i tried putting her pajama’s on but she didn’t want to, so i let her sit around naked for a bit. she was having a grand ol’ time watching the telly right next to her daddy. i was dying over her curly hair…who knows how long it will stay that way? so, i’m soaking it all in right now. tooooo cute!

[drinking her venti water naked]

[i love how curly her hair is!]

after watching t.v. for a bit and relaxing, we put olive down and we all eventually fell asleep. we needed our energy and rest for our fun day tomorrow! stay tuned!

xoxo