Quotable quotes

I love it when kids create quotable quotes. When the grands are leaving the house after our traditional Saturday night pizza night, Phoebe insists we "hug first, then kiss" Now it has grown to "Hug first, then kiss, then kiss again, then hug".

Molly's quote is said with your lips puckered up into a kiss..."kiss me on the wips" I laugh so hard I can't pucker! I'll have to post a picture of her chubby cheeks and puckering lips.

I took those quotes to Iowa and put them to work out there where they met with great approval, with much laughing. Connecting cousins across half a continent is .....childs play!

Iowa

The Nativity and the Garden of Gethsemane

There is a 500 pound amythest in behind the creche in the nativity. Each of the animals has a significance to the scene, some depicting lost sinners or new believers etc. This was the most colorful and most amazing of them all.

more of the grotto

The courtyard with the stations of the cross. It's difficult to imagine the size of this place and the amount of work that went into it.

You can see just some of the many columns they have built around the grounds. The pink colors are rose quartz crystals. During the winter months, rosettes of stones would be made indoors, cemented into place in the summer, and filled in with other stones or shells.

The angel banning Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden (right)

The Grotto

The Grotto is a Catholic church where two priests spent their lives building shrines out of precious and semi precious stones and shells to commemorate the life of Christ and other biblical events. The work took place over nearly 80 years with car loads of donated stones being sent from around the world. Although the very top was closed due to slippery conditions, we were able to see all of the displays. I'll post a few more pictures that will show more of the detail. There is music playing around the hill, one of the displays is in the chapel itself.

Iowa countryside

Yes! Iowa is flat! Riding along the roadway on our way to "the Grotto" the family named off towns in the distance .....many miles away. It has it's own beauty, long golden sunsets, star filled sky, but when it's frozen with snow, it's very bleak. BRRRR

Iowa Trip: "Family time" is gathering in the master bedroom and watching American Idol. (Due to a television/cable dispute, Fox network only comes in upstairs on rabbit ears drapped across the bedroom closet door which must be kept half open for it to work! haahaa)

We ate chocolates, knitted and voted thumbs up or down throughout the show. Matthew was finishing up his homework. It was great to snuggle into the family routine and pick up the rythm of their lives.