Well, Rachel and I returned from our lovely trip up north last night. We were both extremely exhausted, but it was such a blessing to be able to spend some one-on-one time together. If you have a chance to do that with your kids, I highly recommend it. I think it brought us both closer together!
The weekend started out around 3pm on Friday. We busted Rachel out of school a little early so that we could avoid traffic. Rachel asked what we were going to have for dinner and I said, "Anything we want!" She was like, "cool!" Guess where we ended up? McDonalds!!!
We managed to drive about 5 hours on Friday and checked into a Holiday Inn Express around 9:15. What a fabulous hotel!! Rachel and I each had our own beds and we felt like we were sleeping on clouds! The breakfast buffet was super yummy, too! Drove through "Amish country" on our way to Wooster. Rachel learned about the Amish and their way of life.
We arrived at "the Barn" restaurant around noon. This was another one of Rachel's requests... We had a great meal with Jason, Trish, Haley and their new addition - 2 year old Kyle! Although Haley is probably a whole foot taller than Rachel, they were completely alike in almost every way!! It was great for them to get to see one another. They had fun looking at the bee house and the train. Later we were joined by my friend Sheryl and my friend Jen and her two kids - Emma and Jacob. Emma immediately took out pencil and paper and gave Rachel her address so Rachel would write to her. SO CUTE! They went out by the pond and fed the ducks (geese?) and no one fell in!! Really wished we could have spent more time together, but it was a nice start to the weekend.
We then drove through the rain down to my good friend Debby's house. She has three lovely daughters and the middle one (Chloe) was having her graduation party. I had told Chloe on facebook that Rachel and I would be coming, but it was a surprise for Debby! Noelle met us at our car with her umbrella and informed us that all the girls were SO excited. I was glad. I wasn't really sure if they would be all that excited, but they were! HOORAY!! Debby did a double take when I walked in the door. I was actually shaking! She mumbled something about the fact that I was suppose to be in North Carolina, but I'm not sure either of us knew what she meant by that!! All I know is that I then received a great big "Debby" hug!! YAY!!!
Debby had set up a gorgeous ice cream sundae bar with all kinds of fixin's. I was really glad it rained because it gave an excuse to huddle up in her cozy home. It even smelled exactly how I remembered it from the days I used to rock my pregnant belly in the kitchen while Debby made something from scratch! Ah... the memories...
When the guests from the graduation party had all left, it was just me, Rachel and the Schrock ladies (oh... and Glenn... sorry Glenn...) having a good ole time in the living room! It was just how I remembered it except the girls are now 21, 18, and 15!! And now Rachel is 10! Yikes!!
It all ended too soon! Rachel and I had to head on to our next visit which was at Cordell and Stacey's house. This was the first time I was able to see their beautiful new home and the great big yard perfect for raising their three boys! We enjoyed a dessert buffet and some great conversation. It was great joking around with Cordell like old times. I probably stayed too long, but I had to absorb as much of my dear friends as I could. I wanted to take their youngest son (3 year old Cody) home with me, but he informed me that he belonged with his mom and dad's family. I can't wait to see them when they come down for a day on their way to their family vacaction!
Sunday morning was church. It was definitely strange to go back and visit a place that I spent so much time in 6 years ago. I had worked on staff as well as being a member. I ran into a lot of familiar faces in the hallway. Too bad I couldn't do much than say a quick hello... I enjoyed the service with Stacey and took a tour of the new youth center. AWESOME!!
After I spent entirely too much time roaming the halls of Grace, Rachel and I headed out to my dear friend Laura's house. Laura and I met each other when we were each pregnant with our first (Rachel for me and her son, Sam). We quickly bonded over our newborns and spent a ton of time together watching them grow from birth to age 4 1/2. We went to parks, story hour, the mall, the zoo, the pool - almost anywhere together. It was such a blessing to see her again and Rachel and Sam (and his siblings) had the best time together - mostly on the trampoline. I had the privilege of finally seeing Laura's new home. It is absolutely wonderful!! Laura made a delicious dinner for us and had remembered my fondness of Mexican food. Dessert was a moist chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting!! She really knows how to make me happy!! We talked over 2 cups of coffee and then she took me on a tour of her orchard, her evergreen forest, her berry patches, her vegetable garden and her herb garden. That gal is amazing!!
Time flew by! I thought it was 4 o'clock, but it was actually 5!!! We had to hop on out of there if we wanted to make one last stop before hitting the road back to NC! It was hard to say goodbye - especially for the kids. Hopefully they will be able to come down and see us very soon.
So, the last stop was to see my friend's Mike and Becky and their children - including the newest addition - 5 day old Audrey Katherine! Mike gave me a quick tour of their new home and it is just perfect for their family! I even got to hold sweet Audrey for a few moments. Wish I could have stayed longer, but I knew Becky needed to rest and we needed to get on the road, too. Plus, I was making Becky laugh so hard that her stiches were hurting. Poor girl...
So, we were about an hour or so outside of Wooster (near Cambridge, Ohio) when I spotted a deer in the road (alive). It was walking across the grassy area between north bound and south bound traffic. I was so excited and I said, "Hey Rachel! Look at the deer over there in the road!!" No sooner had I said that then I found myself talking to the deer and saying, "No. No honey... don't come back this way!!" BAM!!! Dead deer!! My first thougt was "SHUCKS!! I should have bought the insurance on the rental car!!"
Well, we pulled over to the side of the road and I tried to get out my door. No luck! I had to cross over the seat (in a skirt) to get out the passenger side door. Rachel was yelling at me for hitting the deer. I expained to her that it was either that or I could have swerved in front of the semi or into the ravine and killed us both!! She then said, "Your so nice mom! I love you!"
We met the nicest couple on the road who talked me through what I needed to do and I followed them to the highway patrol. They said that on that stretch of highway they had hit several deer and their son had totaled his car over a deer. They said it's not a matter of "if" you will hit a deer, it's just a matter of "when". So, that made me feel better. As soon as they knew we were safe and taken care of they headed home... Thanks Jim and Connnie!!! So, the highway patrol filled out an accident report and Sgt. "G" confirmed that hitting the deer was the right thing to do. He said that if you swerve to miss a deer and then cause an accident, you will get a ticket!! Well, after that we were on our way.
We didn't drive too long since I had only one headlight and the lights on the speedometer and gas gage weren't working either. Thankfully the rental car company did not charge us extra for returing the car 2 hours late on Monday!! We did have to pay our deductible, but it was half as much as our normal fee due to the fact that we hit an animal and it wasn't really my fault! Hooray!!
So, we were exhausted by the time we finally arrived home on Monday evening. Ken made a delicious lasagna dinner for us and we hit the hay early. Now I have to just get used to hearing "mom" from four children instead of one and I have to catch up on all the laundary and cleaning! FUN! It was all worth it! I was so fortunate to have these visits and to get to spend time with Rachel!! Thanks to all of you who took time out of your schedule to see us and to those of you who made us yummy stuff to eat!! We love and miss all our Wooster peeps!!
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