Spring Break Re-Cap

Fair warning. This will be a long post. It was a great week, full of relaxation, fun, adventure, long drives, good food, awesome friends, incredible family and snow showers.

We started our week working on the yard. The trampoline still does not have a permanent home. This job has become a little bigger than we anticipated. Ty and his buddy have been very helpful. Greg was starting to lose patience with his assistants so I equipped them with tools for excavation. The little scientists were in their glory. Cuteness wins every time.

On Tuesday, we hit the road for the Schmucker's house near Fort Wayne, Indiana. We were welcomed by our sweet Colby and his baby sister Josie, who isn't sure about me. She loved Greg. I kept trying to explain to her that babies love me but she wasn't buying it. I got a kiss on our way out the door Wednesday anyway. It was a sympathy kiss, but a kiss none the less.

Indoor trampoline? Yes, please!

Checking out the deer out back....Brian and Robyn own a gorgeous log home in the woods. To say we relaxed by a large stone fireplace for over 24 hours would be an understatement. We loved it!

Colby and his buddy, Makenna.....he hasn't forgotten who to turn to for entertainment, cuddles or giggles.

Kate checking out Robyn's ipad with strict supervision

Isn't she beautiful?

Wednesday evening, after dinner, we headed to my Mom's house. We drove state routes the entire way through very rural towns. It was a beautiful drive and also quite relaxing. We saw gorgeous churches, cool old barns and very few other cars. We enjoyed ourselves. We arrived at bedtime but spent some time unwinding and chatting before putting little people and Grandpa to bed. I woke Thursday morning to the sound of Ty's chatter as he followed my mom around the house while she prepared for work. I attempted to rescue her but was met with a grin that let me know she was enjoying his constant banter. In fact, on Friday evening Mom took Kate and Ty on a Grandma Date to the park. As they were backing out of the driveway, Ty told Kate, "Now we get to talk to Grandma a lot"! By the way, the park was both kids' highlight from the entire week. Ty says, "it was awesome".

On Thursday we saw Kristin and Avry. Ty and Avry are still not friends. Darn kids. They will not win this battle. Their mommas love each other too much. We also stopped in on Pam and Ken who lived across the street from us on Hile Lane. We were a bit sad to see the condition of our old neighborhood but our little house is still being well cared for. We have a lot of precious memories there.

Friday we went to the jewelry shop because Greg has had his eye on tungsten wedding bands for awhile. He likes the gun metal look. It is pretty sharp. He started talking to me about it a few months ago in anticipation of our upcoming twentieth wedding anniversary. While we were in Ohio, we sought out our favorite jeweler and Greg ordered his new band. He had been persuading me to also update my wedding set. My mom offered a great suggestion and Kristin can always be relied upon for an opinion about jewelry but I still entered the shop feeling uncertain about a change.  I had ideas of maybe trying on a new band in white gold to better compliment Greg's new band but once I walked across the threshold, I lost my nerve. I can't do it. This is my wedding set and seeing Greg turn his yellow gold band over to Bethany to be scrapped, made my heart sink a bit. There is a strong possibility I will be calling her on Monday to retrieve that band. I just can't bear to think of it melted down after representing a solid marriage for twenty years. Generally speaking I don't consider myself very sentimental; however, I am also in need of new dishes and can't bring myself to upgrade our wedding dishes yet either!

I saw Jill for a very quick lunch and then took the kids back up the road to JD's Custard which has been a family favorite for years. Kate and Ty now understand why. This trip was a walk down memory lane for us. A lot has changed and we know we won't be making as many trips up once Mom and Dad move away from Englewood this summer. 

Friday night the family had Donato's pizza and I salivated. Oh how I still miss pizza. Anyway, Kristin and I were able to walk for quite awhile and Dad entertained Kate with his favorite music. Kate watched videos of Eric Clapton with him and noted that he has likely "had a lot of lessons". Dad was pretty pleased to hear her observation. Miss Kate would like to take lessons as well.

Of course, I don't know if you have heard but there is a big deal basketball tournament going on. It appears we have teams that mean something to people in our lives competing against one another. I couldn't care less and slipped off with a book for a bit Friday night and woke suddenly to Greg getting sick. It was a long hard night for him and we made the tough decision to go home early rather than see extended family on Saturday. Mom and Dad jumped in to help pack and Ty requested their cheese puffs and oreos as if Grandma and Grandpa were a grocery store! (We brought them both and a whole lot of other food too). Greg had what appears to have been a migraine but we aren't sure. The weather was horrible for driving home but we arrived safe, content and ready to prepare for the real world week ahead. Reality may hit a little hard this week.