Elkhart 1

From Chicago, we went to Elkhart where I grew up. Half the kids stayed with my mom and half with my sister and her husband. My mom and sister live 5 or 6 houses apart in a retirement community. We really don't belong there so we have to be careful not to annoy people. And I have to be carefully which children I put together as some combinations work better than others! (And some of you know exactly what I mean)

We found a park nearby with a half mile track. The kids ran three times.

There's a playground area to play in too.

This is a life long friend of mine. I think we met at church when we were five and have been friends since. Of course we live almost 1000 miles apart so I only see her once a year. Her daughter Ari and my daughter Jasmine have become what I call second generation friends. And her in laws have a house on a lake. She has a really good relationship with her in laws. It's cool to watch how they interact with her just as though she were their daughter. She is truly blessed in that way. I bring her mother-in-law a pile of new books when I go up there after book convention. Unfortunately there was an incident that involved the riding lawn mower and the pile of books, and a couple of the books are in about ten thousand pieces!! Thankfully the pre  release copy of Karen Kingsbury's book The Bridge was not involved.

The kids went tubing at the lake.

We had pizza a couple of times.

And we ate at a little Amish store near Shipshewana that makes subs.

And pie!

My friend's daughter turned 12 and had a party at the lake.

The girls had a lot of fun jumping off the pontoon boat in the middle of the lake.

This is my mom with my three daughters (I also have an older step daughter not here). Neither my brother nor sister have children so my kids are it for grandchildren.

Tyler and my mom with rhubarb dessert.

Jessica made a diet soda cake--any cake mix and one can of diet soda in place of the eggs and oil. That's it. Mix and bake according to the package. We mix orange soda and yellow cake mix. If we make spice cake we use sprite. There are some combinations that would be disgusting obviously.

Thinking about it--no one is really where they belong tonight as I write this. The kids and I are in Birmingham.Rick was supposed to be on this trip with us, but one of his coworkers is undergoing chemo right now, so that made the office one short, and Rick stepped up to pick up some of the slack. Adam is on his last day in Trinidad and flies back to TMI headquarters tomorrow. Jeff, who is stationed in TX, is in CA with his platoon for training to help prepare the guys for deployment.

Where are you tonight?