In March Cherstin and I thought that we'd take a little trip up to Wisconsin to visit Wanda and Robert and Hannah and Phil. While Cherstin and the kids missed Dan terribly the fact is: had he been home we wouldn't have had this opportunity - or at least as easily. Somehow it is just harder to pick up and go with no other reason than wanting to when our hubbies are home. (It is said that the mother is the heart of the home - I think that is true. But the dad has the mother's heart and so maybe it's really the dad that is the heart of the home! LOL) Anyway, without any deadlines looming we took that opportunity and wended our way north.
Cherstin and I share a love for Kentucky and it was lots of fun to drive through this beloved countryside with her. In my mind's eye I could see her, Felicia, and me heading to Mrs. French's for violin lessons on Thursday nights. I could see us pulling into LYO as we drove through Louisville. I could see Joseph and Beka standing on cannons outside of Ft. Knox. Or all of us touring Abraham Lincoln's birthplace.... So many wonderful memories and waves of nostalgia flooded my being. I loved my two year stay there - it just felt like home - and am really grateful that we got to share it with Felicia, Cherstin, Wanda, Joseph, Beka, Rachel, Mary, Ben, Desi (it seems like we only had a few moments with Desi but one of my favorite's was meeting her and Wanda as they drove in and they were listening to that song, "Just Wanna' Talk About Me!" - I don't actually know the title -surprise! or the artist - surprise! LOL but I never hear it without thinking of that trip!- she took our teasing with laughter and grace), Suzanne, Nathan, Sariah, Paul, Aaron, and Hannah. The bonds are tight and the memories so much fun because of the shared time.
As we crossed the Ohio river more memories flooded - the many trip out wests and back again, wading in the river, visiting the Civil War Fort., seeing fireworks, and so much more - and we headed through the gentle Indiana countryside. We saw lots of farmland under water from the storms and wondered if there would be any crops this season. Leaving Indiana we headed into Illinois and Wanda had told us that there was a "Sweet Tomatoes" in Chicago. Yea! Garmin! It seems that we drove for at least an extra 1/2 hr. to find it - but Garmin did not let us down! The kids had done really well - but getting out and stretching and having something to eat that wasn't fast food sounded pretty good - and it was.
Wanda and Robert and their little (that's kind of a relative term LOL) family welcomed us and we had so much fun. Phil and Hannah and Orion were able to come over often and it was just wonderful to be there with them all.
Feeding the 5000 - sort of!
While there Cherstin took Beka and Rachel and some of their friends to WalMart at midnight to get the new release of Twilight. To say that Beka loves the Twilight series by Stephanie Mayer would be an understatement by at least a 1000% ! LOL
We sewed and shopped and ate at Red Robin while there. Wanda was due in September with Adam, Cherstin was due in July with Elle, and Hannah was due (it looked like any minute LOL) with William in June. Poor Hannah was huge even then and so it came as no surprise when William was born and weighed in at a hefty 11 lb. 2 oz.! Wish I had some picture of them!
A Game of Basketball with Moroni, Emmett, and Abby
Cherstin and I share a love for Kentucky and it was lots of fun to drive through this beloved countryside with her. In my mind's eye I could see her, Felicia, and me heading to Mrs. French's for violin lessons on Thursday nights. I could see us pulling into LYO as we drove through Louisville. I could see Joseph and Beka standing on cannons outside of Ft. Knox. Or all of us touring Abraham Lincoln's birthplace.... So many wonderful memories and waves of nostalgia flooded my being. I loved my two year stay there - it just felt like home - and am really grateful that we got to share it with Felicia, Cherstin, Wanda, Joseph, Beka, Rachel, Mary, Ben, Desi (it seems like we only had a few moments with Desi but one of my favorite's was meeting her and Wanda as they drove in and they were listening to that song, "Just Wanna' Talk About Me!" - I don't actually know the title -surprise! or the artist - surprise! LOL but I never hear it without thinking of that trip!- she took our teasing with laughter and grace), Suzanne, Nathan, Sariah, Paul, Aaron, and Hannah. The bonds are tight and the memories so much fun because of the shared time.
As we crossed the Ohio river more memories flooded - the many trip out wests and back again, wading in the river, visiting the Civil War Fort., seeing fireworks, and so much more - and we headed through the gentle Indiana countryside. We saw lots of farmland under water from the storms and wondered if there would be any crops this season. Leaving Indiana we headed into Illinois and Wanda had told us that there was a "Sweet Tomatoes" in Chicago. Yea! Garmin! It seems that we drove for at least an extra 1/2 hr. to find it - but Garmin did not let us down! The kids had done really well - but getting out and stretching and having something to eat that wasn't fast food sounded pretty good - and it was.
Wanda and Robert and their little (that's kind of a relative term LOL) family welcomed us and we had so much fun. Phil and Hannah and Orion were able to come over often and it was just wonderful to be there with them all.
Feeding the 5000 - sort of!While there Cherstin took Beka and Rachel and some of their friends to WalMart at midnight to get the new release of Twilight. To say that Beka loves the Twilight series by Stephanie Mayer would be an understatement by at least a 1000% ! LOL
We sewed and shopped and ate at Red Robin while there. Wanda was due in September with Adam, Cherstin was due in July with Elle, and Hannah was due (it looked like any minute LOL) with William in June. Poor Hannah was huge even then and so it came as no surprise when William was born and weighed in at a hefty 11 lb. 2 oz.! Wish I had some picture of them!
A Game of Basketball with Moroni, Emmett, and Abby
Hanging Out with Our CousinsIt was a lot of fun to be with everyone - and I especially enjoyed watching the little ones play and and having time to spend with the bigger "little ones" too. One of the memories that I will always cherish was watching Moroni and Emmett play basketball. Robert had purchased a "little tykes" basketball hoop for the kids. Moroni LOVES balls and as soon as he gets one in his hands it get tossed, thrown, or dumped. We decided that Moroni would have to be the basketball player in the family as he really gets the idea of getting the ball into the hoop and even passing the ball. In contrast, Emmett would have to be the football player - if he got the ball he was not going to give it up! LOL It was so funny to watch Moroni's face when Emmett wouldn't pass the ball to him - it was like, "Hey! What ya doin'? Come on!" But Emmett looked like he was saying, "I'm not giving this up for no one! Touch Down!" What a hoot! And if Orion happened to be there it completely changed the dynamics. Moroni and Orion have become "buddies" and you could see that they were kind of on the same wave length - but neither one knew quite how to handle Emmett's "control of the ball" except to "tackle" him - which he didn't like! LOL
As it came time to leave it was sad to leave our family there. However, I am sure that they could use the return to normal. LOL
As it came time to leave it was sad to leave our family there. However, I am sure that they could use the return to normal. LOL
The latter part of the month we took a trip to Georgia. Rich had a conference in Atlanta and so we tagged along with him.
We took the opportunity to go to the Coca Cola Museum in Atlanta. Cherstin had some vague memories - really vague - from when we had visited when she was a little girl and then she and Dan had visited it when they had been displaced by Hurricane Katrina. This time though our two little munchkins proved to make this trip memorable in their own way. Emmett decided that he was going to "pick up" all the cute girls in line to go into the museum. He would smile at them, flirt with them, hold their hands, and even let them carry him - what a ham! Abby absolutely loved the 3-D picture that she and I went to. It was fun to watch her face and her surprise at the experience. And, they did enjoy drinking all the different kinds of soda pop that Coke makes!
We had a chance to go to the LDS book store while we were there, drove past the temple, went to Church and just enjoyed having some time to meander.
We drove down to Albany to see Grandma Bainbridge and Marsha and Blair. Had dinner with them at the Golden Corral and then the next day we headed south to Florida so that we could spend some time at the beach. We found a nice spot where the water was shallow and had hardly any surf. It was barely warm enough for a swimsuit and we picked up sea shells, made sand castles, and dipped our toes into the water. Abby and Emmett seemed to love it and I think they would have liked to spend even more time there - but we needed to pack it in and drive back up to Atlanta for Rich's conference, which is exactly what we did after a couple of relaxing hours.
The next day we dropped Rich off at his conference and then Cherstin and the kids and I headed to the Atlanta Children's Museum. We spent a little bit of time there (the kids seemed to enjoy this too), had some lunch and then it was time to pick up Rich and head for home. All in all I think we packed in quite a bit for the month! I had fun - it's too bad that the kids won't remember a thing! LOL
Abby remembers going to the beach, still...AND the soda museum. LOL
ReplyDeleteAnd the song you're referencing I Wanna' Talk About Me by Toby Keith. Ironically Toby Keith is from Moore (which is just 10 minutes from here).