Joshua's 28th birthday

Joshua's birthday began with us saying goodbye to Matt, Jess and the kids.  It was sad, but we had many miles to travel to get to Milwaukee, WI that evening to see another friend before heading on to Wheaton.  On our way we stopped at a few places to enjoy the beautiful weather and some of the sights.  The first one was the Jolly Green Giant.  Below are some pictures that we took while there.  It was really neat and we could actually walk up some stairs and stand on the platform below him.  You may recognize the giant from cans of corn or peas which are still produced en mass from Blue Earth Minnesota.

This was the location of the statue and museum

Next stop the SPAM museum and lunch!  We enjoyed touring the spam museum.  We learned a lot about spam.  They do not use the left overs to make it like most hot dogs.  It is made from some of the prime cuts of meat.  That's why it is so yummy!

It is kind of hard to see but the clock tower here is made up of cans of spam.  Pretty cool!

We are trying to lift the crates full of spam like what were delivered to troops that were deployed as part of their rations.

We actually got to do an interactive spam canning station that timed how quickly we could get a can through the production line.  I wasn't very quick at first until I figured out the sensors only worked on one can at a time.

Here's Joshua all ready to head into the factory to start work for the day!

Happy birthday from the mascot!

Lunch!  A hickory smoked SPAM burger with chips.  It was very delicious!  This was the birthday lunch Joshua picked too!

Farewell tour/trip

The first stop on what we dubbed as our "Farewell tour" was Missouri.  We visited with grandmas and some extended family in Lebanon, Missouri.  After about a week we left and spent the night in Kansas City, Missouri with some good friends that Joshua knew really well growing up.  The next morning we traveled to north Minnesota.  We stopped in Iowa at John Wayne's birthplace museum and that was really cool!  The pictures below are of our visit with our previous teammates and their kids.  We really miss them right now.  We basically lived together our first year in Mongolia.  They were our teammates for 3 years in UB.  It was a great time to just spend together on the farm. 

Of course Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Joshua had to bring gifts for the kids!  Matt and Jess received some gifts too.  We just didn't take their pictures.

Claira had a fun time with her tissue paper!

Claira's new book was a hit!

Super cute in her new outfit!

We went to a parade with Matt, Jess, the kids and one of Jess' aunts and uncles.

This was Claira's first parade!

Shortly after the start of the parade it started raining!  It didn't get rained out though.  There were a lot of marching bands, so they took cover until most of the rain had stopped to protect their instruments.

Ezra's blue candy tongue.  He's so cute!

After Sunday fellowship we decided to have a picnic by the lake for dinner!  There was a playground there that Jess and I enjoyed with the kids!

Claira is there you just can't see her face.  

Such a cute little girl and so flexible!

The guys had a day to themselves at the wooden castle park while us girls went thrift store shopping for the day!

Uncle Josh basking in the joy of Claira warming up to him!

Hot afternoon in the pool!

Matt and Jess surprised us with a birthday celebration for Joshua since we were leaving the next morning on his birthday to travel to Wisconsin before on to Wheaton.  

That is whipped cream on Joshua's face put on there by a waitress from behind!

Always a fun time with our really good friends!!

Ezra's new swing set on the farm.  I think daddy is enjoying it too!

Farewell photos with our friends that we consider as part of our family.  Sad saying bye.  But at least we have skype!!

The next post will continue our trip with our travels to Wisconsin on Joshua's birthday.  We stopped at some fun places on our way!  Stay tuned!