Monthly Archives: July 2015

Day 13
All photos were taken by Winter at www.fauxrealfood.com
Grace had been enjoying the food with her host family and was excited to see how it was created. The ingredients didn’t look like those she had seen in the giant kitchen, but the food ended up looking delicious.

Day 12
All photos were taken by Winter at www.fauxrealfood.com
As her time with her first host family drew to a close the girls threw a Bon Voyage Party for Grace and Josefina.

They took a quick group shot before getting down to the business of dancing

And what is a party without refreshments!

All photos were taken by Winter at www.fauxrealfood.com
Day 11
bbp Ella is going to camp this week so we are taking her today. She will get to go horseback riding, swimming, hiking, spend a day at Adventure land and do a nighttime high ropes course and zip lining! Crikey! We each tried to sneak into her bag but we were found. hhmph, maybe next year.

Bye Ella! We’ll miss you! Have fun.

Girl Talk

All photos were taken by Winter at www.fauxrealfood.com
Day 10
Best. Day. Yet.
We went to a street faire in Davenport and then to the Figge Art Museum.

An installation of giant, blown glass GMO corn, Scary and also really beautiful

The Figge has gorgeous art to look at but they also have tables and spaces where you can create your own art and leave it for other people to see! This table was filled with self-adhesive vinyl and cardboard forms. Can you see us?

Here is another room for patrons to create art. How cool is this!?! Can you see us here?

There we are, look, right there, on top of that table by those two girls.
We had lunch at Downtown Central Perk and we played Clue while we ate!
This is the point where the girls noticed the bbp (big, big people) don’t eat meat.

Day 6
We all slept in, everyone was worn out from yesterday. When we woke, we visited the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library. We saw the home where he was born; it is tiny, just two rooms with the kitchen on the back porch!

We forgot the camera again so there are no photos for the next few days but we have some brochures in our boxes. Here is a link about the H. Hoover Library www.hoover.archives.gov/

Day 7
Today we went to Des Moines. Cousins from California were visiting Grandma. It was a lot of fun!

Day 8
On our way back from Des Moines, we visited Kalona, IA www.kalonaiowa.org/culture.htm
It is an Amish/Mennonite Community. We toured an old fashioned farm, very different from modern factory farms! We saw beautiful quilts, bbp traveling by horse and buggy. It was very interesting. We saw a little girl with a cloth doll and the doll did not have a face!

day 9
was another quiet day. The bbp here have a tradition they call “jammie day”. They stay home, wear jammies or lounge clothes, play games and read to each other. It is not as boring as it sound. Today’s game was trivial pursuit. Josie wanted to win, Grace just liked stacking the pieces. Isabelle is new here, she was adopted at MCM and she has an identical twin who was also adopted at MCM.

All photos were taken by Winter at www.fauxrealfood.com.
We are up at o-dark-hundred! These bbp (big, big people) are crazy! We are headed to Chicago today. First stop, Red Band Coffee in Davenport, Iowa. Smoked Gouda and egg breakfast sandwiches on ciabatta rolls, Holy wow, sooo yummy. We thought they were silly to drive 20 minutes for coffee and breakfast sandwiches. That was before we tasted the natural Ethiopian Yirgacheffe small batch drip, heaven. Truly, heaven in a cup. The bbp only let us little girls have a sip, bbp Winter made some excuse about coffee being bad for children. I honestly think she was just reluctant to share.

After breakfast we napped in the car. When we woke, we were in Chicago! It is a fun, busy city. First stop, the Field Museum.

The entrance

Mammoth Snacks, Saige was no help!

This is Sue

Aaaah, bbp Ella, Save us!

A typical pose: Josie, conquering another world; Grace befriending smaller persons and Saige resting!

This place is amazing. We spent all day here and only saw a tiny portion.

After the Field Museum, we went to The American Girl Store, had dinner at Mity Nice and headed back to our host family’s home.

All photos were taken by Winter at www.fauxrealfood.com

Day #4 was a day of rest.
We played Settlers Of Catan. Grace was building a harbor, Saige was moving her pirate ship: We were so focused on the game, it took a minute to realize Josie was missing.

No worries, we soon found her. She had stockpiled all the gold, was rolling/playing in it, laughing maniacally and muttering something about becoming “supreme ruler of the universe”. She was terribly disappointed when bbp (big, big, person) Winter explained the gold is actually just cardboard.

She recovered quickly as the yummy smell of homemade nutmeg doughnuts wafted from the kitchen. Turns out bbp Ella is a terrific baker.

Lunch was also delicious

Bedtime, Josie and Grace received welcome gifts of tiny, guardian angel trolls. We’ll send them on their travels with them.

On the the third day Grace’s  host family went to the MCM sale… and they forgot the camera at home!

All photos were taken by Winter at www.fauxrealfood.com

They did get photos welcoming Josie who has come to stay as well.

The bag behind Josie has the big girls that were adopted at MCM

Hello Maggie, My what big teeth you have!

On the first full day Grace took a trip to Le Claire on the Mississippi River.  All photos were taken by Winter at www.fauxrealfood.com.

She spent some time in the Candy Shoppe. I think this was Graces favorite spot.

She visited a tiny village, playhouse sized church, log cabin and school

They stopped for lunch at the Blue Iguana, for yummy food, with HUGE portions

Saige thought the vintage ash tray would make a great swimming pool, Grace was not convinced.

A visit to the mighty Mississippi rounded out the day

All that walking made Grace thirsty!

After Athena packed her doll Grace she was on her way to the first stop on her adventure. Winter and family welcomed Grace and kept her busy! All of the photos were taken by Winter at www.fauxrealfood.com.

The first night Grace learned how to play CashFlow

Grace received a welcome gift of a troll doll that is just the right size for her.  She took her new friend to bed which was helpful on her first night away from home.

In the morning she was greeted with a delicious breakfast of of waffles, eggs and bacon!