We had a great family portion of our visit, and then drove for a few hours to have a totally different kind of visit. The captions will tell who and what we visited, but not how happy this part of the trip made me and how my heart felt full to overflowing.
First, I got to reconnect with my longtime friend, Jennifer, for the first time since Grace was a newborn. We ran out of time before we ran out of conversation topics.
We all spent some time at the park and the creek. Of course, that's not something we get to do at home due to the scarcity of water, so we all loved it.
Here you see our kids playing with Lucas and Cherissa's kids. This made me so very happy! Clearly, the kids were pretty happy, too!
I got to visit with our former neighbor and friend, Kim. Kim and her family helped welcome Jonathan into the world way back when, and now her kids are grown and starting their own families.
I also reconnected with Cherissa, of course, since you see our kids playing together in the photos above. Super happy about this!
Jeff got to meet up with Matt and David, classmates of mine who have since become even better friends with Jeff. I entertained the kids for a bit so they could chat. Thank goodness our old town has a lot more coffee shop options than it used to!
Jenny and I got to reconnect for the first time since Grace's infancy, too. It was so great to see her and talk about the past decade!
Carrie and her husband and kids hosted us at their home for brunch during an amazing rainstorm. (Grace photobombed!) We have so many college memories together and so much in common to this day.
We had lunch at the best Mexican restaurant in the whole world with Tony and Rochelle who were in our small group. We hadn't seen them since Grace's infancy, either. Here we are as girls, above, and guys, below, except that their three boys were at school.
Lucas and Cherissa hosted us for some Lego playtime, a visit to the neighborhood playground, and dinner. What a treat!
I hadn't mentioned that Grace fell from the swings on her back, which bonked her head, and also fell and bruised her fingers (yes, they were swollen and purple) during our visit to the playground. In a very un-Grace-like move, she wanted to lay down and slept through dinner and most of our visit with Lucas and Cherissa. I'm thankful we know them well enough that Grace could get the rest she needed without a second thought. That's the way with great friends! She was doing great by the next morning.
I hadn't mentioned yet that Uncle Mel and Aunt Jan hosted us at their new home, which was such a treat. We appreciated their hospitality and their lovely accommodations! Also, the kids loved Remi the dog. Reclining and watching channels we don't have was fun, too!
I showed Grace my old dorm and she enjoyed the availability of white boards there.
Silly kids playing on the fountain that wasn't there when I was there (which is true for a lot of the beautiful facilities that have been built since I graduated.)
Love those kids in the background. Jeff posed us and took the pic.
A quick snack!
Lucas took us on a tour and showed us some really cool places including the engineering and health buildings. Thanks, Lucas!
I was so thankful to reconnect with my women's chorus director just weeks before he retired. His influence meant so much to me during a time when I really needed it, and the opportunity to hear his choir rehears was priceless.
The kids hurried to sit and look like they'd been reading and waiting for a long time.
After a busy visit, we finally got to sit down for a nice dinner and chat with Mel and Jan. We sure appreciated their hospitality and patience with all the noise and people we brought into their home!
Jeff introduced the kids to Braum's. I should note that we rented a van for our trip, and every time we got in to THIS van, I was thankful for OUR van. It's so nice to drive a newer rental car and like your own vehicle better than the rental!
We concluded our trip with a visit to see our dear friends, Brian, Anna, Sam, Kate, Malakai, and Alexa. Our time with them was filled with great chats, fun times, and chaos...which, I guess, is how it's been since Anna and I became friends 24 years ago. The friendship our husbands and families share is a priceless gift.
We stayed in a hotel our last night, and then spent as much of the next day with our friends as we could. Our neighbors in the hotel were having some kind of big party. They were high school or college aged, and their mom was there, and they were LOUD. I had the privilege of chatting with them about their noise level in the middle of the night.
ANYWAY, we loved having a few more hours with our dear friends.
Looking at these pictures makes me very happy. What a great family trip!
