Day 6 (Tues. Aug. 4, 2009) Road Trip

Chris and Jess left this morning. It was fun to see them and be with them. As always, it never seems to be enough time together. So, it was Roylances and Wimmers who were left at Mom and Dad’s house.

Again, it was all about playing legos and climbing trees. They did go downstairs to play foosball and other things in the basement. Unfortunately one of those other things was the weight lifting set. The boys of course had to try their hand at it and since it was set to WAY too much weight, they thought they would change the weights off the end of the barbell. This they decided to do while the bar was sitting up high on the rack, rather than on the ground. UGH! As Ethan began to take his weight off, the bar flipped up and all the remaining weight fell onto Tommy!!! Somehow his hand got stuck and he ended up having the skin between his thumb and forefinger torn….ouch!!!! So, Annie took him to the Redi-Med where they super glued it! He was in hysterics when they left, but had calmed down just fine by the time they got home.

Adults talked and kids played. Dad also brought out the Electronic Football game for all to enjoy! They had a great time with that. It was kind of a gloomy day….but later, Dad took all the grandchildren down to the South Harbor playground and we had ice cream under the pavilion. The kids wander around the lake front as well, and Dad and I had a good talk.

Once we got home, Grandpa took boys on a hike in the woods at the end of the road, while we prepared ham and corn on the cob for dinner. It was getting late, but we still decided to go back with RaeAnna to their hotel and swim. It was the smallest pool EVER!! I swear once all 11 kids and I got in, it might as well have been a giant bathtub!!! Hahahaha! Too Funny! It was a small room with a small pool….and very loud and echo-y!!! oh my! We only got to swim for about an hour or so, because it closed at 10:30pm. Oh well….we went up to their hotel room and changed and snacked and watched TV. We had to say our goodbyes as they were going to leave straight from the hotel in the morning. I had a good chat with RaeAnna, as I always do, and then we went back up to Mom and Dad’s house to sleep. It is so hard for me to say goodbye!!! The kids were bummed too…they love their cousins!

Day 3 (Sat. Aug. 1, 2009) Road Trip

We slept in!! Yikes! Well, we took all morning long to get packed up to go on the road to Indiana. I don't know when we finally left...2 or 3pm? Anyway, it was later than we hoped. I drove the girls...well Karina really wanted to be with the boys, so minus her. But Lizzy was delighted to be riding in our van with ALL girls...no brothers!! That meant Annie had ALL the boys plus Karina.

We took route 77 north and then I-70 west to Indianapolis. I suppose this was a longer way when I think back at it, but it was all highway and we took turns passing each other on the road!!! We stopped a few times for bathroom breaks and running around, but really we pretty much drove straight thru. We were lucky to have some yummy cookies made for us by a co-worker of Jon's....yummo!!! We also saw a Frische's Big Boy along the way....my mom always talked about these when we were young and how she loved them, but ya couldn't find them anymore!!...hahaha...well there it was right outside of Dayton, Ohio!!!

We finally arrived at the Days Inn in Castleton, Indiana around 8:30pm....late! Wimmers went up to my parent's house anyway, while Roylances stayed at the Hotel and prepped for Sunday. We were able to see my grandparents, Alma Card and Elizabether Clark...Chris, Jessica, Alma, and Abrams, Rebecca, Craig and Amber, and Scot. We had some fun playing and eating and catching up! We got back down to the hotel at about midnight! It was going to be fun being around so much family!!