Where to begin?

Last week when we left Illinois it was cold. We'd had snow and ice earlier in the week, but it had melted rather quickly. We'd gotten word that we were headed toward snow in Iowa....lots of snow, but that didn't really worry us. We've traveled through some pretty severe conditions to see family.


But after being on the road about 45 minutes, we were in complete white-out conditions and after two hours, we were routed off the interstate to some county highway .... completed ice covered where travel was a mere 40 miles per hour due to ice. Not cool. This is the view of the Mississippi River as we crossed.

A little while later as we headed north, we saw a rainbow ... just before we began driving through snow drifts.







Kabe was so excited to see Grandpa Gene...







and Grandma Gene (aka Connie). He had to give them his presents right away.







And Adam was put to work helping his dad put the tree up so it could dry out (covered with snow) and then Kabe could help Grandma Gene decorate.








Of course, Adam was also assigned to figure out the lights.