Trip to Iowa

We took a two day trip to Iowa with the Zavoral clan . The drive is decent since we only live 30 minutes from the Iowa border. 
National Czech & Slovak Museum, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Josef Zavoral and his wife, Zofie Zavoral, were the first Zavorals in our family line to come to the United States. They settled with many other Czech families in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 
Czech Village
Czech National Cemetary
We found the grave sites of Joseph and Zofie Zavoral in this cemetery! (Jeremy and I came here 6 years ago when we lived in MN for the summer, and since then I have always felt a special kinship to this couple.) This Zavoral couple is Tanner and Dallin's great, great, great grandparents. 
It took a while to find all the ancestors. Uncle Matt and baby Dallin were pretty patient about it! It was beautifully hot and humid at the cemeteries. During our two-day search, we actually went to two cemeteries, several homes, and churches. 
 Tanner had fun pointing out circles and triangles on all the tombstones (which were really the letter O and A). He also had a fun time walking and stomping on the tomb stones, which we tried to keep him from doing the entire time.
This is the grave site of another one of Tanner's great great great grandparents, the Tehels. Their daughter, Mary, married the Zavoral's son, Frank, and together they had Lee, which is Jeremy's grandpa. Did I get that right? Yep! Dang, I'm good with this family history stuff. 
I really enjoyed being at this cemetary again. When we were married, I really took a big interest in learning about the Zavoral family line for two reasons- 1) It was my new last name, so I felt that I better know about it, and 2) I wanted to be able to tell my kids stories about the people that gave them their last name. It was neat to show Tanner their grave sites and start teaching him about the legacy that has come before him. It was also really cool to be with DadZ during all the Zavoral and Czech adventures in Cedar Rapids! His love for his family history makes me love it all the more. 
Field of Dreams, Iowa
above- Jeremy playing ball with his father.
below- Jeremy playing ball with his son.
Needless to say, they were all in heaven!

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