December 14-19, 2014 Our week and trip to Indiana

December 14-19, 2014

Our week and trip to Indiana

What a WONDERFUL week!  Monday we went for a nice nature hike in the woods beside our apartment buildings:

and we went to our library in downtown Grand Rapids.  We also worked on our craft projects (Christmas gifts for family and friends), not to mention getting some reading and math done.

Tuesday we did some more "lessons", packing, and grocery shopping, all in prep for our trip to Indiana.  Worst or best of all--we made our trip to the Post Office to mail off a few packages of gifts to dear loved ones. 

Wednesday we drove the 5 hours straight through, without making any stops along the way.  We arrived at 3pm and unpacked for our stay.  We were glad for a night to finish up on projects.  Dd still had some work to do finishing the scarf she made for Gabbie (we failed to get a picture of this cute scarf!!! bummer!).

Thursday we had planned to meet up with Gabbie at her house at 10AM.  We chatted with Gabbie's mom for 2 hours until it was time to head back to our house with Gabbie and get lunch started.  I made the spaghetti and brussel sprout lunch.  The girls played and played, then they made dinner:



During their day together, they played Twister:

They made and decorated gingerbread cookies:

The knitted (Dd is finishing up James' hat):

They played Twister again:

We took Gabbie back home and hope to see her again soon!

Friday was our day with the "L" family!!  Dd brought LOTS of various swords and daggers (here you can see "A" with one of her big, long swords) to play with.  Can you spot James in Dd's camo cloak?  He thought he might be invisible in the cloak!  He had a great time wearing her cloak through the day!!!  He would have been willing to keep it for her, if she didn't want it any longer! ha!

Little Laura had the most presents...little things to fit inside the purse that Dd made her.

Little Laura had been up sick during the night, so she kept her distance from us...but, at least we got to see her!  She is opening the gifts Dd got for her.

Laura opening the purse that Dd crocheted for her!

David had been sick during the morning, and also had to keep his distance from us too.  He enjoyed his gifts from Dd.

We didn't take a picture of the hat that Dd made for James, so this picture will have to do!  He appears to have really enjoyed it, as he wore it the whole day!  He also liked the little Lego kit too.

Here Andrew is with the hat Dd made for him!  It is a Minecraft "Creeper"...whatever that means!  He seemed happy with it.

After the present exchange, it was time for lunch, so we went to Eagle Creek Park for our hike and picnic.  What a lovely visit at the park!  But, for once I was so excited to be talking with our friends I wasn't giving the trees much attention.  I guess it is a good thing Dd had to camera and took lots of tree pictures for me!

While sitting at the picnic table we had a lovely visitor about 75 yards away from our table!  Here is one picture of the very vocal hawk that entertained us for a long time.  He/She kept calling and announcing it's territory!

After we returned back to the "L" house, they had a "Disco Night"...with balloons and the colored ball light.  Then we all (except the 2 sick children) went to see the eldest "L" play her violin in her school Christmas program.  I think we finally got  home after 10 PM---what a full, and terrific day!

A funny part of our trip, was that on Friday we got a text that someone wanted to come see our house on Saturday.  So, I called the "L" family to see if we could arrive a bit early (9:30 AM), so we could accept the showing request for Friday.  So, Thursday night and Friday morning, I cleaned and mopped, and got the house as nice as I could.  Then on Friday, I got up at 6:30 to finish cleaning, and we left the house by 9:15!  Then a few hours into our visit with the "L" family we got a text that the family that had wanted to view our house decided to cancel!!!  Cancel! after all the work I did!!!  Blah!  But, on Saturday when it was time to pack up and prepare to leave, at least I didn't have to do any cleaning!!  It had all been done earlier--so maybe it was a good thing!  

Then on Saturday, I loaded up the van while Dd kept sleeping in...poor thing was exhausted with all her fun!  We arrived back in Michigan around 3pm.  Poor Pappa had woken up sick, sick, sick! on Saturday morning, and was in need of some TLC.

I am so thankful for getting to see our friends in Indiana!  I feel like I received my Christmas gift a week early!  So nice to chat with our friends, exchange gifts, and hugs! 

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