Honey Creek Resort at Rathbun Lake in Iowa

So this past weekend we took a mini-vacation. Our destination was Honey Creek Resort at Rathbun Lake in Rathbun, Iowa. The resort is brand new, and was discovered by Wade on a business trip. It is in the middle of miles of corn fields. The Lodge sits on the bank of Rathbun Lake. It is equipped with an indoor waterpark, arcade, restaurant and lounge. The also have an RV park and lots of hiking trails. Kid friendly activites are provided all weekend for guests of the hotel. Noah, Rylan and Sofia loved the waterpark and movie night.

Here's a link to the resort if you want to be nosey...

http://www.honeycreekresort.com/

The lake has it's own population of Bald Eagles. From our room, you could watch the eagles eat out on the ice. It was really neat. We also saw upwards of 100 deer in a one hour car ride through the park. As well as plenty of turkey.

We even braved a hike on Sunday. We ended up walking roughly four miles with the kids in tow. They were great sports for the first three miles, but the last mile was a lot of crying and whining.


During our four hour hike, I took a couple of scenery pics. This is one of them...

Rathbun Lake

Sofia plays in the kiddie pool.

Rylan floats the lazy river.

Indoor Water Park

Noah and Rylan




Rathbun Lake

All three kids before the crying and whining started...

The boys floating the lazy river...

Easter Photos

Here's a little teaser of our Easter Photos. All of the photos turned out really great. The jumping photo being my unconventional favorite.

Here's a few of the other great photos...

Noah's Eight!

Sydney Trinity Trapp

So here's our souvenir from Phesant Fest. She is an eight week old German Wirehaired Pointer. We have named her Sydney Trinity Trapp.

Pheasant's Forever in Des Moines, Iowa

So for Noah's birthday weekend, we were in Des Moines Iowa. Best Buy (Geek Squad) was a sponsor for a bird-hunting convention called Pheasant Fest. Check out the link if you're really curious. If you are just interested in a summary, here it is: Pheasant Fest is sponsored by the magazine Pheasants Forever. Pheasants Forever is primarily a pheasant hunting and conservation magazine. The convention was open to all hunting and conservation enthusiasts. The booths ran the gamut from crop conservation, dog food, dog kennels, dog trainers and even had an entire section for children. It was huge! And extremely interesting. We were there all day on Saturday and I felt like I missed out on most of it. The kiddos were most interested in the puppies. (So was I!) We petted every bird hunting breed imaginable. There were even a few breeds that I had never heard of. Our favorites, were the German Shorthaired Pointers and the German Wirehaired Pointers. Wade had to work for most of the day. He even had a meet and greet and photo with the US Department of Agriculture Secretary. He came fully staffed with The Secret Service. After the convention the kids and I headed back to the hotel for some swimming and take-out. Wade headed back to the convention for a banquet. On Sunday we picked up our souvenir from the convention and headed home. Here are some pictures from the convention.

http://www.pheasantfest.org/

Sofie and Rylan had a lesson on gun safety and phesant conservation.


Noah, Rylan and Sofie made pheasant buttons at the kids table.


Rylan practices fishing...

Noah take a turn at the kids archery booth.

Noah and Rylan wind down with a little ds tourney in bed...