Vacation!

We've been home since Monday, but what with all the unpacking and starting to pack for moving, we've been pretty busy.

We had a wonderful trip, with a couple of adventures thrown in! We loved seeing Daniel, Julie, Shiloh, and Ella and got to meet Julie's family and eat with them several times. They are great cooks and great at card games (the girls want to play spoons with Mrs. Fiddler again sometime!) and we enjoyed being with them, too.

We left on Monday, the 19th, and on the way up, we stopped at Bill Monroe's birthplace in Kentucky, visited an Amish village in Indiana, and, my personal favorite, saw the Little House in the Big Woods in Pepin, Wisconsin, and saw Caddie Woodlawn's house, which is in Wisconsin as well.


We had a bit of adventure in Minnesota when the alternator in the van stopped working, but a big THANK YOU to the guys in St. Paul who rescued us and got us back on the road in just a few hours.

Getting over into Canada at the border was interesting. The officials there couldn't believe there are Southerners who don't carry handguns or own rifles and searched the van thoroughly just to make sure. Daniel and Julie drove down to meet us near the border and it wasn't long until we were in Selkirk, hugging the kids!


One day we went to the Oak Hammock Marsh, one day to Lake Winnipeg, and one day to the Manitoba Museum, and one day to The Forks. The children had the opportunity one night to play for some of Julie's relatives at a church and they sang some hymns in the Cree language, which was really interesting. We ate Polish food that Julie's lovely grandmother made for us and Indian tacos one day, made by Julie's father, Mr. Fiddler.



We left there on Thursday, the 29th, with many tears and plans to visit again. On the way home, we visited Plum Creek in Minnesota, where Laura and Mary lived in the dugout, and DeSmet, South Dakota, the location of 5 of the Laura books.


On our last day, we tried to get through Tennessee, but had to turn back and go across Kentucky instead, stopping overnight in Somerset, then home the next day through Knoxville and Chattanooga. But we enjoyed seeing more of Kentucky and had the opportunity to buy a case of Ale-8-1, a favorite local ginger ale which we used to enjoy when we lived in Lexington. (Sorry, no flood photos - we were too stressed!)

Fifteen days, 1400 photos, and a mountain of laundry! Worth it all!

We miss you, Daniel, Julie, Shiloh, and Ella!