The Puddles

Today was our last day in Geneva.  The good news is that we are going to see Marsha tomorrow  (the other half of Lonnie.  Ainsley is not sure why Lonnie was allowed to come without her, but still.) We have concluded our time here with . . .

• breakfast at Jill’s
• playing at the park
• shopping at Super Foods (must spend equal time at both grocery stores)
• bringing Ferher’s (not sure of the spelling but all who know of its fame know of this product) cheese spread home
• buying candles at Whispering Wicks
• lunch at Geneva Java
• getting birthday items from the local bank
• eating ice cream at Goodrich
• catching fireflies with friends
• seeing the  moon rise and the Milky Way last night
• paddleboating at Merriweather Park
• catching fish in the pond at the park
• seeing Bob’s latest additions to the park
• spending time with good friends
• spending more time with really good friends
• being with friends who we will miss terribly

We will miss it all.

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“Mom, do you know what is the best part of this trip?” asks Madie.

“No, what?”

“The best part is coming back to friends who remember who you are after you’ve been gone forever!”

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We are slowly working through our list of what we want to do while we are here.  So far we . . .

• ate at Jill’s Sweet Shop
• played with friends
• ate at Evening with Friends
• walked around downtown
• shopped at Hilty’s
• visited the courthouse
• 2 of 3 children went to E-Free’s VBS (awesome as always!)

We have much more to do, but that is a pretty good start to our trip.  We are having a really good time.

We are just hanging out at the Kennel’s this morning.  They are recapturing all of their old memories.  Playing in the barbie house in the basement.  Sticking their head through the staircase bars on the second floor and freaking out their mother. And on and on.

Now we have more to do.

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Finally.  Two years later and we finally made it back.  We stopped on the edge of town and visited with some good friends this evening.  Stayed late late late.  But, in the words of Ainsley, it was “wonderful.” (And you have to listen to her say it.  She draws it out and makes it sound just right and not another throw away adjective.)  Chris concurred.  A visit with good friends was the perfect way to start this vacation.

Jokingly we said that we left their house after dark so that we could sneak back into town and hopefully go unnoticed by the other townsfolk.  That was silly on my part to think such a thing. Our license plate would give away quickly and we aren’t here to stir up trouble but to only visit with friends with whom we haven’t seen in a long time.  Besides . . . we can’t hide. Our children want to shout it from the roof tops that we are “home.”  For at least Ben and Ainsley, this town is their birthright.  The place that they were born and baptized in.  That is something that will never go away.  So even if this is technically not our home any more, for at least the next several days it will be.  We will certainly make the best of it.

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Soon. We are making better time than any of us expected. I am amazed at the number of wind turbines that are dotting the landscape. The majesty of their presence matches the majestic nature of this part of the world. Looking out at miles and miles of beautiful fields of green makes me feel proud of the place from which my children were born. It is about time we filled them up with some hearty Midwestern food and friends.
I am almost finished with the book that I am reading. I now trying to hold off finishing it so that I will have something to read later. But it is To Kill A Mockingbird, so I doubt that I will be able to put it down for long. Thank you Debra for loaning it to me before we left. I forgot how much I liked the book. I only brought one other and I can only seem to read two pages at a time before boredom sweeps over me. But alas, there is no barnes and Noble where we are going so I guess I have no other choice but to finish the second book too.

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We have gently passed into the great state of Kansas. You would not know except for the sign. The rolling plains are beautiful and green. When Ainsley declares that it is “wonderful!”, it truly is.
The kids got to hang out with Grandma Betty, Larry and Thea last night which included: night swimming, awesome pizza, sleeping in a princess bed, and lots of hugs. It truly was a good night and morning. Apparently, baptist coffee includes 12 scoops of coffee to make 12 cups. The sweet smell of it was all I needed for my morning pick me up. It was just nice to wake up to such good company.
I am beginning to remember all of the things I like about this part of the world. Even the roads are quieter. When I look out onto the roads both in front and behind I can only count five cars. Peaceful. (Of course it helps when the children are quiet too.)
We have a lot of miles to go before the day is over.

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“I’m only reading the titles to the emails!” says Chris when I ask him what he is doing with his iPhone while he is driving down the interstate at 80 mph.

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We just crossed the Red river and I think that we might make it without blood shed. WE FORGOT THE IPODS AT HOME. No digital media. No movies. Just the radio, books and ourselves. How did our parents do it? We are doing alot of traveling in the next week. I’ve made alot of cross country travel but never with nothing to plug in to entertain children. Debra went to the house to look for the bag with all of the iPods in it. No luck. At least she tried. Oh, Chris still has his iPhone. Hence my 21st century realization . . .
I am typing this entire entry in the middle of nowhere. Awesome. Technology is truly cool. I may break down on the side of the road and not see anyone for days to rescue me but I can blog about it .
Aunt Thea assures Chris that there will be pizza waiting when we finally make it there. We are all looking forward to that. I can not wait to be done with this leg of our journey. We just need a little John Denver to make this a true Lake family trip. Maybe we can stop somewhere and buy one of those fancy cd things. We will be set up just right then!

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As I am desperately trying to get the last loads of laundry done at 10:30pm so that I can finish packing. I pull a load out of the dryer and there is green crayon covering every bit of clothing.  Not just here and there, but everywhere.  Someone (I won’t mention who, but the person is the only one in the house taller than me.) left crayons in their pocket.  The last thing I need at this late hour is a laundry disaster.  But it is here. And we must deal with it. So I googled a solution. We mixed together a concoction that I am sure is illegal, but the internet assured me it would do the trick.  We will see in the morning.  It is soaking in a tub in the kitchen.  I pray that it works.  Most of the clothes were new little outfits of Ainsley’s. We will give it a try.  To his credit . . . the owner of the crayons helped me mix the “witch’s brew” of a concoction and set up the clothes to soak.  Thank goodness.  Of course, it was probably self preservation of his part.  Either way I am grateful.

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Swamped.  Swamped. Swamped. We are trying to get ready to go tomorrow.  The kids and I went to the store on the way home from church to hopefully get everything that we need to get for the journey.  My plan is to buy the rest we need in Nebraska. The kids think that we are going on a field trip to the grocery store.  I swear Hilty’s should sell tickets, because my kids are more excited about going shopping there then they were when I offered to take them to the museum this week.  I stayed up until 3am last night trying to get more laundry done and get to the bottom of the mountain of papers on my desk (I’m pretty close to that one.).

We are looking for dead family members on the way home from Nebraska and I have almost all of my homework done on that one.  Satellite photos of cemeteries, lists of who to look for, maps to the cemeteries, and Dad’s phone number written in black on the notebook and we are ready.  The kids are excited.  They like running around cemeteries looking for names on the list.  Chris not so much.  But he is doing it for me and for his mom.

He is still working.  I just hope that he makes it home before dark so that he can fix my car before we leave on our trip.  He has worked since he got home from camp.  He did come home yesterday at 5:00 to go to the movies with us (which we have not gone to movies as a family since we moved here.) and then promptly went back to work (luckily he brought everything home to do it but still).

The kids are outside swimming in the little pool while I try to finish all of the laundry so we can back.  I just hope that I can get it done.  Well I’m off to put stamps on envelopes while I watch the kids swim (I’ll be about 10 feet away from pool so I don’t get the papers wet)!

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