Saturday, July 25, 2015

Head North

Late Sunday we got back from a whirlwind trip up north. While it was a mostly work trip for me in Wisconsin, we managed to squeeze in time seeing friends and family in Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois. We took off in the wee hours of July 2nd and headed for Holland, MI for a weekend with the Hilldores.

Prior to leaving, we made arrangements for the neighbor to look after our cats and the mail. We also set up a web cam to look in on the cats while we were away. We felt a little guilty leaving them for 18 days and felt slightly better we could see them lounging around the living room while we were away.

Laying on the guilt pretty thick
We had a wonderful time in Holland with Ben and Amanda and the kids. It was relaxing a holiday weekend filled with games, a picnic, catching up and playing the with kids. (thanks for putting up with us!) Zachary picked up a RC micro quad-copter at a hobby store to drive our cats crazy.

Neighborhood Picnic


Playing in the lake


After the weekend we headed to Wisconsin for me to start my office visit for work for almost 2 weeks. The upper midwest summer weather was a welcome treat compared to Florida summer weather. We got to wear pants and light zip ups at times! While I was in the office, Zachary kept busy helping my parents with random projects at the house and the farm. (thanks Mom and Dad for putting up with us also!)



The weekend gave us a chance to take in the Iola Car Show, to see show cars and eat deep fried cheese curds. Got to catch up with our friend Kate at the lake and grilled out and boated.


Show cars:



Piggies in motion at the farm

Still life with Cows

Parents' Farm Garden

My dad's project Model T that Z helped with

Daylily

Cloverleaf Lakes Boating

Speaking of foods, we also took advantage of being in proximity of Luigi's Pizza and Simon's Cheese and filled up on favorites. Yum...

Also got to see 2 of my brothers and their families and caught up on the goings on, and my Uncle Bob and Aunt Becky and cousin Kelsey too.  We didn't get to see everyone this visit, but hope to see them the next time we are in town. Summer is a busy time of year for everyone.

My niece Sydney showing us her show cattle for the upcoming county and state fairs
After finishing up work stuff we headed to Illinois to see Zachary's mom and Bob and the boys. It was fun to catch up and give the nephews some pointers in Minecraft.

On the way home we broke the drive into 2 days and stayed a night in southern Indiana. We both agree the states of Indiana and Alabama are way too long to drive through. It felt like we were in Indi-bama for most of the drive with a blink through Kentucky and Tennessee. Pulled into our driveway Sunday night, July 19, to 2 cats happy to see us. Its good to be in our own bed and not living out of a suitcase anymore. Long drives like these makes us really appreciate Rest Areas that are along the interstates. We stop at nearly everyone, to stretch out every 80 or so miles. They are generally clean and tidy, and gets us to switch driving more often. More pleasant than most gas stations and you can take your time and relax.

Tennessee Rest Area I believe


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