Our vacation is in progress! We left last Wednesday afternoon, and arrived in Indiana late evening. Annah got to go swimming in Gram's and Krampa’s pool Thursday morning, and was elated.
Thursday afternoon, we drove to Ohio, and arrived at Andy's and Julie’s beautiful new house that evening.
They took us to the playground near their house so Annah could have some playtime!
She was lovin' it!
Andy played too.
Jeremy read a book called "The Krazees" to Annah.
Sylvie chillin'...
Friday morning we headed over to the regional office of S.F. in Newark for Mr. Corby’s retirement breakfast. We saw lots of people Jeremy used to work with there. The breakfast was a bit longer than we’d anticipated, and the girls got pretty antsy. From there, we went to the new S.F. building in New Albany to see Jeremy’s former coworkers in the Health department. The new building is very nice, and it was great to see many friends and meet some new people too.
Friday afternoon, Taryn & the girls hung out at Andy & Julie’s, while Jeremy headed back to Newark to “hob-nob” with some S.F. folks. Annah had tons of fun tormenting Andy & Julie’s poor cats, Ellie & Echo. They were extremely tolerant of her too! They are probably still on edge wondering if she’s coming back, or still sleeping because they’re so exhausted! Julie made us some awesome macaroni & cheese, and a yummy chocolate cake, which Annah devoured. Sylvia was so tired that she went to sleep at 7:00 (6:00 Illinois time!) and slept right through the night! That night, Ben & Andrea came to stay there too. It was fun to meet them again.
Saturday morning, we all hung out at the house, ate breakfast casserole, and watched Dora the Explorer and Blue’s Clues. Taryn was ecstatic when we got to have her baked chicken grinder from
W.G. Grinder’s for lunch. She’s still thinking about a way to finance a franchise in Bloomington!
Saturday evening, we all went to Matt and Suzanne’s lovely home for a cookout. Suzanne is an excellent hostess, especially for being 6 ½ months pregnant! (Hopefully, she is still sleeping, after all the work she did Saturday!) It was so nice to spend time with Matt and Suzanne, Cora & Josh, and Andy & Julie all together that evening. After an awful discipline struggle with Annah, she had an absolute blast playing with Cora and the bean bag chair. She even got Matt and Josh to join in the face-first flops! It was quite entertaining.
When we got back to Andy's and Julie’s, there were fireworks going nearby, so Annah got to watch those before going to bed. We stayed up late talking with Andy & Julie and discussing how today’s youth seem to have no morals... Boy, are we getting old!
Sunday morning, we awoke to a wonderful smell... Andy was making some awesome Belgian waffles! Mmm! As we got around and packed our things, Julie and Andy let Annah water their landscaping with a squirt gun, patiently bringing her inside about every 2 minutes to fill up the squirt gun and go back outside. She loved Andy and Julie and wanted them to come back to Gram's and Krampa’s with us. They were such gracious hosts, and it was so nice to stay with them!
From their house, we went to Polaris Mall and met Cora and Josh for a quick lunch at the food court. Then we drove through Reynoldsburg, by Mount Carmel East and showed Annah where she was born, and we went by our first house. It was a very strange feeling--kind of like we were still home, driving through such familiar places like we used to do every day.
Then we drove to Bexley and around the campus at
Capital. We showed Annah the dorms we lived in, Yochum Hall where Taryn worked, the Conservatory, and drove around the Cap Center. Sylvia was asleep, so we decided not to get out and go inside to look. Next time we go back, we will. We did go across the street and get some ice cream at
Graeter’s though. Ahhhhh, heaven! That’s another thing we need in Bloomington!
Our last stop in Columbus was over to the west side of town to see Niki and Jenna. Jenna is such a beautiful little baby! She was born about 8 hours before Sylvia, and they seem like they are just exactly the same size. They look a little bit alike too, with their dark hair and blue eyes. It’s too bad we don’t live closer so they could grow up and play together! It was fun to see them for a little bit though.
Once we got back on the road, Annah and Sylvia went to sleep. They did very well on the way back to Gram's and Krampa’s, although both of them were quite sick of being in the car. We were all glad to get out of it once we got back. But, it was so great to get to go to Columbus and spend time with so many special friends. We are so thankful for each of them and glad we got to spend even just a few moments with them all!
