The Castellano Girls: Happy Memorial Day!!

We had a fabulous weekend! We took a little family vacation back to my home state of Iowa. It had actually been a couple of years since I've been there, so it was very nice to get back for a little while. We like to get back for Memorial Day as often as we can to visit the cemetery where my dad and my grandparents are buried.

It's almost a 5 hour drive from here to my home town, so we decided to take a stop for the night about half-way in Des Moines and visit with my Aunt Arletta and "honorary" Aunt Julie. We had a great time. They took us out for a great dinner on Friday night and then on Saturday we went to the Farmer's Market and walked around eating food that was terribly bad for us. (aka ---mini donuts and breakfast burritos) ;) It was a great time though. We then went to a sculpture park and walked around a bit. Julie took some amazing pictures.

It was a great place for Gwendolyn to walk around. She walked SO far in her little walker. It was a pretty hot day that day and I could tell she was getting a bit flushed and tired, but she refused to let me carry her or ride in the stroller. I kept asking her, but she kept saying, "No Momma, I walk!" We were so proud of her and I think she was proud of herself too.

Then after eating a delicious lunch it was time to make the rest of our journey. We had a hotel room reserved in Waterloo for the next couple nights. This was the girls' very first stay in a hotel so we were a tad bit nervous on how that experience would go. We made sure we got one with a pool of coarse. :)

The girls had a blast. Even Grandma McKee came over to our hotel and went swimming with us! There was a little toddler area where the girls could cruise around in, but their favorite thing was to sit on the side of the pool and jump into our arms. Oh, to be a kid again right?

The entire hotel stay went really well actually. I was concerned about the sleeping situation, but they adapted really well. It was a pretty good set up for us. There was a king side bed and then a pull out couch. Poor Chuck kind of drew the short stick because the girls slept on either side of me in the big ol' king bed, and Daddy slept on the pull-out.

On Monday it was time to head to the cemetery. It was wonderful to drive through the back roads of Iowa on the way to visit my dad's final resting place. I could really feel his spirit there. His very favorite thing to do was to drive those very roads that my little family was driving on right at that moment. It was a great feeling to be there. The girls helped me decorate his grave site a little bit. We put 2 little beaded flowers out from each of them and 2 little birds on my grandmother's site. There is always a small Memorial Day ceremony at this cemetery. I was sitting on a bench next to an older gentleman at the ceremony and little Braelyn came over and the gentleman helped lift her up on the bench. She just sat and looked at him and was reaching over and touching his hat. Eventually, she looked at the man, looked at me, and said, "Momma, Papa's back!" I didn't quite make the connection at first, but then she looked at me and at the man again and said, "Why Papa not talking?" It broke my heart to have to tell my 2 year old that that was not her Papa sitting next to us. I wished so bad that it could have been her Papa.

After the ceremony we went back to my Aunt DeAlta's house for lunch and to visit with some of my dad's side of the family. It was great to be able to see everyone. My girls tend to be on the shy side around people they don't know. They tend to stick pretty close to Chuck and I. However, there was something different about this day. I could just tell that they were immediately comfortable. Braelyn ran all over and was at one point bringing all kinds of toys over to my Uncle Harold.

And Gwendolyn has ALWAYS been our little wallflower. She won't go to anybody she doesn't know without freaking out. But there was something about my Aunt Irene that our girl found quite comforting. This moment almost brought me to tears.