It's been a few days since we've returned from our travels. It seems to be that I am pretty good about blogging about the first portion of our travels, but seem to need a few days to recuperate before blogging about the rest!
On Wednesday of last week the girls and I trekked from Grinnell, IA to Goodfield, IL (southeast of Peoria about 30 miles). We were headed to see my friend Kristi and her family. Kristi is another of my college friends who lives too dang far away! So far that it had been nine years since I'd seen her. That was on my wedding day, when she and Dan drove in for the wedding and had to head back yet that night. (June is not a good time for a crop chemical salesman to be traveling for a wedding!) We met at Rainbow World in Wayne, America...a daycare center where we relied on each other for sanity! She was already married, but since Dan traveled a lot for his job, we had lots of time to just hang out. They were even sweet enough to let me camp out in their basement for a summer. They say hindsight is 20/20....I think that we both agree that maybe living together didn't work out as well as we'd hoped; however, the most important thing is that we've come full circle and when she opened her door Wednesday afternoon to greet us, my heart just melted with her big smile and open arms!
We had a blast at their house! The minute we got there the kids were into their swimming suits and on the inflatable water slide. We hit another t-ball game that night, and didn't get home with pizza until 9:30pm. I forgot to mention that Kristi has 3 boys.... so it was a 180 degree turnaround in the play world for the girls. We finally got the kids to bed and it was 1am before I got there myself.
The next day we headed into Peoria to visit the zoo. They have a brand new African exhibit that was really neat. The kids then played at the park while we soaked up the sun. We tried to wear them out for Dan, who was in charge of babysitting that evening. Dan cooked us supper, Kristi and I bathed the kids, and then headed out for an evening of our own. We talked about a movie, but then decided that if we just shopped we would be able to visit more. So we closed down Old Navy at 9pm, Kohls at 10pm, and then headed for a beer since there was nowhere else to go! Such a hardship, I know! At nearly midnight we decided we should stock up at Walmart for the next day.....I always wondered when they stocked those shelves....now I know! We made it home just in time for some chatting on Facebook, and another late bedtime.
Friday we decided to head in the other direction and see a movie in Bloomington. We ate dinner at the family's favorite Italian restaurant, Avantis. It was very good, and perfect for the kids. We then saw the movie Up. What a wonderful movie! and what a fun day, until the girls and I packed our bags to head home.
We had decided that we would trek into Iowa yet that late afternoon with the hopes of arriving in Iowa in time to hit the outlet mall at Williamsburg. Our trek was a little delayed by two severe thunderstorms, one waited out in a rest stop, and the other at Subway. Two hours behind schedule, we finally arrived at our destination! However, there were no rooms available! So we did a little shopping and trekked down the road. After our friendly, and free, travel agent/occupational therapist/mom's salvation (a.k.a. Diane) found us a room, we finally checked into a motel and crashed at 10:30pm.
We finished our travels home on Saturday. I think the Ockanders are traveled out! Even though it took us several days to recuperate, it was such a wonderful week! I am so thankful that despite our differences or mishaps, we can still be such dear friends. There is just something very special about the girls I met at Wayne State! They are all so very different from each other, and yet they are all so very special in so many ways! I love them all dearly, and I am so very thankful that years, or almost a decade, can go by and it is just like we saw each other yesterday! Now, I only have one request, dear friends.....that we could all meet in the middle.....because it is even more fun when we're all together!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Girls' Vacation
While Jarod is at National Speech contest with Michaela in Birmingham, Alabama, the girls and I decided to take a little vacation of our own. We left home on Sunday morning (late morning) and made it to Omaha before having to stop! We had a gourmet meal at McDonalds and decided it was time to chuck our old dvd player that would play only play one movie ~ Hello Kitty! We purchased a new dvd player at Walmart, grabbed some guilt-free snacks and headed on our merry way. Our next stop was about 100 miles later. That was all the further I could make it after my refill of Coke at McD. We did manage to make it to Grinnell, IA without any other stops.
We have been staying with the Mavin's since Sunday. Laurel and Lexi are only 9 days apart, and their habits and mannerisms are spookily similar. Brea is 3, and has the best vocabulary of any 3 year old I've known. Needless to say, the girls have played, played, played. Sunday we just got everyone acquainted and walked to the local ice cream shop at the end of the block. Yum! 4 kids, 3 dogs, and 3 adults took some acquainting. Yesterday I attended Jenn's gentle yoga class, and was the youngest student by about 25 years or so! The girls were entertained by the daycare at the studio. Then while Jenn taught another class, the girls and I got coffee and treats at the coffee shop and played at the park. Yesterday afternoon brought lots of relaxation, an early evening t-ball game, and some homemade granola in the evening.
This morning Jenn and the girls introduced us to Tiny Circus. I wanted to see what this was all about. It is a group of very artsy people who are interested in traveling by modified Airstream campers to do Artists in Residency. Their "medium" is animation. So they have people rebuilding Airstreams to meet their specific needs. They also have people working on animations. It is called Tiny Circus because they would travel in their "Mini-Airstreams" as a circus would. Very interesting! How I long to be that carefree! The girls were able to create some monsters on paper and then were aided in creating an animation of their monsters! They were very, very pumped to see their monsters turned into a 5 second cartoon!
This afternoon we hired a babysitter for the girls while we shopped around downtown Grinnell. We started at Basil Thai restaurant for some basil spring rolls and pad thai. We then headed directly to the quilt shop where I could not resist a beautiful yard of Amy Butler fabric, and also got some "boy" batiks for burp cloths. That was to be the extent of my purchases. That lasted until we got to this little craft consignment shop where I fell in love with a little black desk and chair for the fine price of $30. So once again I will be hauling home a piece of furniture in the back of my van! But it will look great in my kitchen!
The girls are finishing up our stay here with the making of a popsicle stick puppet show. I am trying to finish the pillowcases that were supposed to have arrived completed, but didn't. One more to go. It has been a wonderful time reconnecting and I think it is safe to say the girls are occupied enough they aren't asking for their Dad - yet! We head off to the Gudeman's in Goodfield, IL tomorrow! Can't wait to see more friends!
We have been staying with the Mavin's since Sunday. Laurel and Lexi are only 9 days apart, and their habits and mannerisms are spookily similar. Brea is 3, and has the best vocabulary of any 3 year old I've known. Needless to say, the girls have played, played, played. Sunday we just got everyone acquainted and walked to the local ice cream shop at the end of the block. Yum! 4 kids, 3 dogs, and 3 adults took some acquainting. Yesterday I attended Jenn's gentle yoga class, and was the youngest student by about 25 years or so! The girls were entertained by the daycare at the studio. Then while Jenn taught another class, the girls and I got coffee and treats at the coffee shop and played at the park. Yesterday afternoon brought lots of relaxation, an early evening t-ball game, and some homemade granola in the evening.
This morning Jenn and the girls introduced us to Tiny Circus. I wanted to see what this was all about. It is a group of very artsy people who are interested in traveling by modified Airstream campers to do Artists in Residency. Their "medium" is animation. So they have people rebuilding Airstreams to meet their specific needs. They also have people working on animations. It is called Tiny Circus because they would travel in their "Mini-Airstreams" as a circus would. Very interesting! How I long to be that carefree! The girls were able to create some monsters on paper and then were aided in creating an animation of their monsters! They were very, very pumped to see their monsters turned into a 5 second cartoon!
This afternoon we hired a babysitter for the girls while we shopped around downtown Grinnell. We started at Basil Thai restaurant for some basil spring rolls and pad thai. We then headed directly to the quilt shop where I could not resist a beautiful yard of Amy Butler fabric, and also got some "boy" batiks for burp cloths. That was to be the extent of my purchases. That lasted until we got to this little craft consignment shop where I fell in love with a little black desk and chair for the fine price of $30. So once again I will be hauling home a piece of furniture in the back of my van! But it will look great in my kitchen!
The girls are finishing up our stay here with the making of a popsicle stick puppet show. I am trying to finish the pillowcases that were supposed to have arrived completed, but didn't. One more to go. It has been a wonderful time reconnecting and I think it is safe to say the girls are occupied enough they aren't asking for their Dad - yet! We head off to the Gudeman's in Goodfield, IL tomorrow! Can't wait to see more friends!
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Day 4 in San Francisco
The final day in San Francisco started with an excellent breakfast at a 50's diner, Lori's. It appears to be a chain and is very good! We then rode the bus down to the AT&T Stadium for the Giants/Cardinals baseball game. I am sure many of you are thinking that I was probably not too excited about this little venture; however, to be honest, I really do like Major League Baseball. The food is usually very good, the stadiums cool, the people watching excellent, and I even do understand the game (somewhat)! In fact, this was my 4th MLB stadium I've been to in California alone. I've been to the Dodgers, the old Anaheim Angels and the old San Diego Padres. I'm not sure why they needed to build new ones, but it is my understanding that my "stadium visits" are a little outdated!
So...all that being said....we arrived at the game 2 hours early. We were actually in line 15 minutes, waiting for them to open the doors to the stadium, because they were giving free hats to the first 20,000 people in the stadium! I guarantee we may have been in the first 200 in the stadium! If you know Jarod at all, he will NEVER pass up on anything free! The weather was about 59 degrees, but the windchill was at least 45! We froze! We were in the very top row of the entire stadium! After being there for 4+ hours, we decided we were frozen enough and left at the 7th inning stretch! The Cardinals lost anyway, so we didn't feel like we missed anything too major!
As you can see the stadium itself was really cool! I loved that the outfield was next to the bay! Yachts and kayaks would fill the bay in hopes of catching homeruns! It was a very beautiful scene!
After the game we went to the ferry building to check out the open markets. The funniest was called "Salty Pig Parts". We did get some excellent coffees...even bettter than Starbucks. However, the fun didn't last much longer. We headed back to the hotel to look up the address of the restaurant we wanted to visit in Chinatown, check in online with the airline, and then it hit...the bug I acquired from somewhere in San Francisco. It was not a fun evening! Come the next morning I felt a little better, but not the best. I did manage to make it home without any major incidences, and I was very thankful that Jarod kept my attention away from the newsbreaking stories about the missing flight from South America. I would have definitely NOT been boarding any planes if I'd known about that!
We were excited to see the girls, and the feelings were mutual! It felt so good to come home to our nice big house, with its nice green yard! I couldn't wait to get out there to prune and weed! I think the cats even missed us! All in all it was an awesome trip! We definitely got a mental break, but a physical workout!
So...all that being said....we arrived at the game 2 hours early. We were actually in line 15 minutes, waiting for them to open the doors to the stadium, because they were giving free hats to the first 20,000 people in the stadium! I guarantee we may have been in the first 200 in the stadium! If you know Jarod at all, he will NEVER pass up on anything free! The weather was about 59 degrees, but the windchill was at least 45! We froze! We were in the very top row of the entire stadium! After being there for 4+ hours, we decided we were frozen enough and left at the 7th inning stretch! The Cardinals lost anyway, so we didn't feel like we missed anything too major!
As you can see the stadium itself was really cool! I loved that the outfield was next to the bay! Yachts and kayaks would fill the bay in hopes of catching homeruns! It was a very beautiful scene!
After the game we went to the ferry building to check out the open markets. The funniest was called "Salty Pig Parts". We did get some excellent coffees...even bettter than Starbucks. However, the fun didn't last much longer. We headed back to the hotel to look up the address of the restaurant we wanted to visit in Chinatown, check in online with the airline, and then it hit...the bug I acquired from somewhere in San Francisco. It was not a fun evening! Come the next morning I felt a little better, but not the best. I did manage to make it home without any major incidences, and I was very thankful that Jarod kept my attention away from the newsbreaking stories about the missing flight from South America. I would have definitely NOT been boarding any planes if I'd known about that!
We were excited to see the girls, and the feelings were mutual! It felt so good to come home to our nice big house, with its nice green yard! I couldn't wait to get out there to prune and weed! I think the cats even missed us! All in all it was an awesome trip! We definitely got a mental break, but a physical workout!
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