June Road Trip-Days 1 & 2

Well, last June we made our 12th trek to Ohio, our 12th in 4 years!  Actually, it was the 13th for Mari and Joshy and Eric, since they went back when the movers packed up the house.  So many people ask how we do that kind of road trip with all the children.  Now I just say, "Practice, lots of practice."

We were heading East for a wedding in Indiana, but as long as we were out there, of course we had to pop in on some friends.  And since we were so close anyway, we thought hey let's go to Kentucky and explore since we never did when we lived in Ohio.  So we left on Saturday, June 16th, right after Joshy's 9am baseball game.  We drove and drove and drove and had a pretty non-eventful ride until we hit south of Chicago.  We noticed the sky looking storm-ish and turned on a local radio station just in time to hear an announcement for probable tornadoes.  I was ready to turn around, or at least stop, but there were two obstacles in my way.  One, we were in a very yucky part of Illinois and Indiana, one that we vowed never to stop in, and two, Eric was all pumped up to try to beat the storm.  With the aid of his iPhone, I constantly checked the weather and our location.  We had to stop for gas, and we hit a gigantic pot hole getting back onto the freeway.  I thought Eric would want to check for damage, but he said if the van is still running, we have to keep going.  After a very intense hour of lightening and prayers and a few wrong turns (or actually, missed exits), we did make it ahead of the storm.  By minutes.  I think it helped Eric stay awake for the rest of the drive, but I am pretty sure it shaved a few months off the rest of my life.  We made it to Fort Wayne late that night and stayed at a delightful hotel with the most cheerful breakfast attendant we've ever met.  I didn't get a picture of him, but here's a few from that morning, recovering from our crazy night before.

Eric doing morning Bible time with the kids.

It was Father's Day.  We had celebrated the weekend before, but of course had to snap a photo, pray over Daddy, and each shared a "My favorite thing about Daddy".

Just a cute one of Lydi.  She very much loves these basketball shorts.  They were Joshy's, but I know he got them from someone else.  An older cousin maybe?

 

In the morning, we had another non-eventful (thank You, Jesus!) drive into Ohio to visit our dear friends Bobby and Kelly and family!  It was dreadfully hot, and so we were ever so thankful for their pool.

We miss them so, so, so much.  A lot.  Even amid the din of all the kids, we got in some good, edifying conversation.  And a lot of laughs.  You can't find a Bobby/Kelly sense of humor just anywhere, and we miss that a lot.  Oh, and of course, of course a major treat. 

Kelly delights in feeding children large amounts of sugar.  They delight in is as well.  The blue and purple hair is also compliments of Kelly.  I seriously miss her.

Later in the evening Kelly took me on a tour of Sidney to convince me to move (nice try) and then we all hung out in their back yard watching the kids get really dirty.

Not only are Bobby and Kelly good friends who have seen us through a lot, they are also Sophia's godparents, whom she loves so very much.

And she loved them before they started giving her monster size desserts, though now that is just icing on the cake of their relationship (HAHAHA!). 

That night they treated us to a local hotel, so thankfully we had about a two minute drive before we could crawl into bed (after baths, because wow were those children dirty).