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!
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