Schmidt Family Vacay in Anita

Our annual Schmidt Family Vacation was this weekend.  Each year we pick a weekend and Deb picks a new place within a short drive of us all to meet up (though Heidi and Nate always seem to have to drive the farthest!!).  A few months ago I introduced Deb to VRBO,  a vacation rental by owners website.  Though there aren't a ton of options in Iowa, there are some, and this year we decided on a house in Anita, Iowa.  We loved the idea that we could rent a house that we could all stay in together, versus staying in a hotel and all having our own rooms.  It ended up working out great, and may even be the best trip out of all since we started this over 5 years ago. 

We all met there on Friday afternoon, in time to catch some rays the HUGE wrap around deck.

We knew it was going to be hot - and hot it was.  Luckily it was only an hour drive for us, so we were able to pack full the truck with all sorts of toys, including a pool and hose for the kids to cool off in. 

Each room had a robe in the closet - the kids put them on and played dress up.

The house had plenty of room for us to stretch out.  The boys even had their own play room! 

The kids all got along so well.  It was so fun to watch them play together.  They loved playing pretend, their favorite being pretending to sleep on each other.  Hilarious!!

Saturday morning we checked out the local Mud Races.  It was quite interesting, especially the people watching...

Saturday night Dale and Deb treated us all to a nice dinner at the Redwood.  Food was great, but service was terrible.  We waiting over an hour for our food - the kids did surprisingly well during the wait.

Hannah lovin on Grandma and Grandpa Schmidt.

Kids being silly!

I was able to set up my camera and get a great family picture!  Love that Nate is holding Hannah!

Pulling Grandma around the yard. 

Around the campfire making smores!

The boys playing softball.  It finally cooled down a lot this morning so we spent the entire morning outside. 

We checked out Anita State Park beach.  The kids built sand castles and played in the water. 

The family next to us shared their floaty with us - Camron and Henry had a blast.

Hannah pulling Grandma around.

We played a lot of inside games including chess and Banagrams. 

Henry, Grandpa, Camron and Andy went fishing on Friday night. 

The funniest part of the trip was this morning.  We were playing Banagrams outside and one accidentally fell under the deck.  With some serious Schmidt Family team work we stuck some electrical tape to a smore poker and pushed it to the edge of the fence where Jill had small enough fingers to poke them through and get the A!  It was hilarious!

Great weekend spent with great family.