The Basement

We made it to Iowa Sunday night with our sanity hanging on by a very thin thread.

The minute we pulled into grandma and grandpa's driveway the kids jumped out like caged birds set free. They ran inside, yelled their hello's and went to the one thing (among a thousand) that grandma and grandpa have at their house that we don't...a basement.

Now grandma and grandpa's basement, mind you, is not like any old run of the mill basement. Not hardly. Theirs is a kid wonderland of sorts full of amazing toys, gadgets, all manner of clothing and every single toy my husband had growing up and most of them in their original boxes.

Most kids think they have died and gone to heaven in the basement.

Just to give you an idea of the goods, here's a list of just a few things I saw yesterday. Mr. Potato Head, cases of tiny cars, old roller skates, various hats and sunglasses, dolls (belonging to my husband's sister), multiple bean bags, two different basketball hoops, a ping pong table, etc. Get the picture?

We probably won't see the kids all week.

Many of our kids favorite childhood memories have been made in grandma and grandpa's basement. Epic ping pong matches among the cousins, fierce hockey competition, bean bag flopping contests, NBA like basketball games and trying to chase a chipmunk out of the basement with brooms.

I am not kidding about the chipmunk. This year alone grandma and grandpa have found three chipmunks in the house. In fact, the night before we arrived, grandma and grandpa came home to find a dead chipmunk in the middle of the family room floor.

Only in Iowa people, only in Iowa.

So, here's to a week of fun basement memories and no dead chipmunks.