Ode to Okoboji

With an oink oink here

Is that Daddy and Tyto sitting on a pig? That must mean one thing, we're in Iowa! Oh wait, we've got a photo of Tyto sitting on a pig outside a store in Boulder as well, maybe he should be sitting on a big ear of corn.

Make this into popcorn!

Okay, so this is the closest we could get. Long gone are the days where Tyler will actually pose for the camera. Now we're all about making goofy faces and sticking out our tongues. So much for the modeling career we were banking on. Anyway, what do you get when you combine four doting uncles, two adoring aunts, four crazy cousins and one grinning grandma with an indoor water park, a super cool lake with a speed boat and an amusement park down the street? You get absolute heaven for little boys and this one is called Lake Okoboji! We "discovered" Okoboji last year and Tyler couldn't stop talking about the water park and the amusement park (called Arnold's Park, perhaps the oldest amusement park in the world but so much fun - who needs Disneyland when half the thrill of the ride is that it could literally fall apart on you?).

Just try and pry me out of this roller coaster, sir.
The rides, of course, were the big draw for Tyler (the food, of course, was the big draw for mom. Hand-made salted nut rolls and nutty ice cream bars anyone?). This year Tyler was able to do more of the rides on his own and I don't know what the hell we were thinking putting him on that roller coaster alone last year, but put us down as the most laid-back/stupid people on this planet. Tristan was content to just ride along in the Baby Bjorn and snooze every so often. That's my kind of amusement park. I think it's called a "spa."

Try getting a smile like this at the spa.

A spa treatment is definitely what we all needed after our exasperating trek up to Okoboji from Cedar Rapids. This is a four-hour car ride with two little people so serious plans had to be in place. We were to leave in the morning, just before Tristan's nap. He would therefore chill in the car for 30 minutes, sleep for an hour, then wake up during the last 30 minutes before lunch. Then we'd chill in a park and repeat the plan with the afternoon nap. Tyler would get plenty of provisions and Clifford on the DVD player and would be happy as a clam. Easy! Someone apparently missed all the planning meetings because the nap occured, but only for 20 minutes and the rest of the ride was spent howling and screaming. You have never seen a more haggard bunch escape their car, giddy at the thought of a picnic in Clear Lake. He's my adorable son but I was thinking, "please don't make me go back in the car with him. I'll walk us there the remaing 150 miles. Seriously." We even thought about purchasing real estate in Okoboji so we wouldn't have to do the whole thing again.

Oh, are we there finally? Yay! Did you notice that I wasn't particularly fond of the ride?

But, once we got there, the fun never stopped.

We went boating....
And tubing (is this activity going to ruin my hairdo?)....

And chilled out on the sun deck...
And in the water park...

And cruised on jet skis...
And gummed Thimila....
And gummed Katie....
And were ready to hit any luaus that might pop up.

And if that weren't enough photos for you, more Okoboji photos can be seen here. Too soon it was time to go home although we did get to go back to Uncle G's house for a while which was cool because he has his very own pool and a real choo choo train passes behind his house. You have never seen so many people scream and grab the toddler and rush out to see the train when they hear the whistle, you'd think the house was burning down. Nevertheless, it was a fun-filled vacation, and now we need a vacation from our vacation!!!