So when Mandi was here we decided on Saturday to drive down to Madison County, birthplace of John Wayne and home to many covered bridges. It was a great time. I struggled at the thought of leaving Tom behind, but in the end was able to let go and have a good time. And it was very helpful that the boys were on exceptional behavior. Most of the time it was as if they weren't there because they were so quiet in the back seat.
Here is Collin playing in the corn at the Covered Bridge Festival.
These baby llamas were so dang cute! The boys loved them and we sat and watched them for awhile. I really think Mandi and I were just so tired we went into a daze in front of the llamas for awhile.
Right before visiting the llamas I had an
interesting bathroom experience with
Talin. I just have to share. The kid says he has to pee and starts grabbing himself and dancing. Okay, this is serious, lets get to the bathrooms asap. Well, the only option is a line of
porta johns, yuck, but the only option.
Talin has never used one of these before. After waiting in line and praying he doesn't pee his pants before we get in, it's finally our turn. I take him in and close the door, turn to lock it, but
Talin starts to freak out, insists he won't go to the bathroom in there. He runs out of the
porta john and stands a few feet away insisting that he doesn't have to pee and won't go back in; while I stand inside the stall, so as not to lose our toilet to all the people in line, and start entreating him to come back into the bathroom, telling him there are no other
options. It was pretty embarrassing, there were a lot of people watching, and I was so upset at him. Finally I gave in and he held it until another forty minutes or so when we went to a gas station, so my snobby child could use a
flushable toilet! The things you endure for your kids!
Here is Collin and Mandi standing in the middle of the square, it was such a quaint little set up, I wish we would have thought to take a picture of the court house in the middle.
I don't remember all the names to the bridges, I think Mandi looked them up and wrote them on her blog, so if you're interested head over there. But this is the first one we went to.
Not one of the official bridges, but this little stone one was so cute, and I had to get the picture of
Talin with his foot up, trying to be a ballerina. He tried this on several other pictures, I had to yell at him, once is enough.
Me and my boys, it's so gorgeous out there, I love it!
This tree was beautiful, I couldn't pass by without taking a shot of it. A sign of fall, I can't wait till all the trees are looking like this.
The tower. Not sure what this tower is for, but we got to drive up a beautiful windy road to get to it and on the drive down we got to listen to AC/
DC's 'You shook me all night long', which was very exciting, and a fond memory.
Here is Mandi at the top of the tower. She had
Talin with her and was going to hold him up for the picture, but he refused, which I'm grateful for. I'm terrified of heights and the thought of her holding him up that high sends a panic through me!
Turns out
Talin shares his mother's fear because he refused to let Mandi help him down the tower, so in the end I had to go to the top and carry him down, which was not fun, because they were very steep ladder-like stairs that would have been hard to climb down without a pregnant belly and a five year old strapped to your neck. But the view was worth it.
Talin took this picture. I love it, one of my favorites of Mandi and I from the weekend. We were both laughing so hard as
Talin and Collin took turning snapping our photos.
Of course I had to include the only picture of the four of us together. Everyone was asking us and other people to take pictures of them, so we thought we'd have someone return the favor for us.
This is towards the end of the day. Mandi was on the phone with an exhausted husband, and the boys were starting to get bored. So I handed them the camera and let them take pictures of each other. Here is Collin posing for
Talin's picture.
And here is
Talin posing for Collin. They are too funny. And while Collin had the camera he tried to be very sly about photographing a man wearing a leather jacket and hat to match. It was quite hilarious because the man totally noticed and we were all laughing.
Once again I don't know what bridge this is, one of the many, but here is Mandi with the boys.
We were trying to get the boys to take a picture of us and they were being so silly and passing the camera back and forth. This is the shot of us before I stopped laughing and started getting a little irritated, I won't include the second shot documenting that.
It was a fabulous day, beautiful outside and we were lucky it didn't rain on us once, only when we started the drive home. I'm definitely going to be visiting Madison County again, but next time I'm
insisting on
dragging my lovely boy along with me!
Here in Des Moines the kids don't go trick-or-treating on Halloween, everyone gets dressed up on Beggar's Night, which is the night before Halloween and goes out from 6-8. Very organized. 
Aren't they scary? 
Talin, our creepy vampire.
And Collin, our aggressive pirate. 
Getting excited to go out!
Tom thought they were pretty scary too. 
Top row: Talin, Collin, Caitlin, & Aaron
After we were done, Talin, Suzie and Collin sat at the door waiting for trick-or-treaters to come by. They loved handing out the candy. Maybe I can convince them to hand out some of their hard earned candy tonight at the the trunk-or-treat. Probably not.
We had to snap a shot of a sting ray. They look like they're smiling, and their little mouths open and close as they swim along. 
