Road Trip Summer 2011

Well....I never got to the rest of June.  And apparently July has vaporized in the heat.  So, here it is, August and I'm way behind on blogging.  But I'll just have to write things as I remember them over the next few weeks.  Of course, the way my memory is these days that may mean a whole lot of nothing! 

So in July we took a road trip.  We spent eight days driving to see family and friends in Indiana and Ohio.  We thought it would be fun to drive as far as possible during the hottest summer on record in many years.  And I'm happy to say, we all came home alive.  It was close a couple of times, but no one was harmed in the making of this vacation.  The first day we drove to St. Louis and spent the night.  It was equally hot in St. Louis, but we had a great room at the Westin, right across from the Cardinals stadium.  We ate some yummy fish for dinner and enjoyed the Heavenly Beds at the Westin.  Joe was the deal finder and managed to get us a great room at a cheap price, he just kept asking what he might get credit for (like being old, working for the school district, etc.).  We got up the next day and went to check out the Arch before we got on the road again.  We all rode up to the top of the Arch and enjoyed the view.  I remember doing this with my parents as a kid, so it was kind of fun to take my own kids.  The last time we stopped there Harrison would have no part of going up in the Arch.  But it was pretty cool, even though the ride up is a bit claustrophobic.  And to prove that I know someone everywhere we go, we ran into the Harberts at the Arch.  That was a nice surprise! 

Next stop....Indiana.  We drove to New Castle, unloaded our bags and went directly to Top Hat Pizza (without passing go).  I admit, I'm not a pizza snob, I like it, I'll eat it most anywhere.  But Top Hat Pizza....it is truly the best pizza ever!  We did refrain from eating there all 5 days we were in Indiana.  Which shows that we do have some small amount of self control.  Very small...very, very small! 

We had the best time staying with Joe's cousins Lisa and John.  They have a beautiful home that has cornfields all around it.  Clara loves to stay in the frilly girlie room.  She announced "I love this room" over and over.  And we had fun staying up talking and laughing each night.  It was great to spend time with Joe's dad and visit with lots of other family too.  It's fun to see the newest generation of Dicken kiddos and I loved getting my baby fix with sweet Alaina.  We also made a run up to Muncie to check out Ball State.  And as you can imagine, that set off a whole new set of "ball" jokes and puns.  Why do men become 12 years old anytime there is anything with the word "ball" in it???

While we were there, we made a day trip over to Cincinatti to see two of our Xinhui girls!  We met up with the Dakters and Morans and let Clara, Maia and Anna have the whole day to play together.  There were lots of "ahhhhh" moments watching our girls reconnect.  As soon as Anna saw Clara she just ran up to her and hugged and kissed her.  Then Maia arrived and both Clara and Anna were so thrilled to see her.  They all donned their matching shirts that Maia brought and away they went.  There was giggling, hugging, running, more giggling and lots of fun.  It is amazing how these little girls, who slept next to each other in cribs in China, are so connected even though we don't get to see each other very often.  They always just pick up where they left off and have so much fun together.  I have these pictures in my mind, with the little girls all holding hands and running through the museum.  We were all wishing our 4th Xinhui girl, Alyse, could have been there with us!  We missed her so much!

So....my top five things from our Indiana road trip were...(I don't include the Xinhui girls visit....it's in a top 5 all its own!).

#5 - Family Fun with Dicken clan.  I always love fun times with the Dicken clan (Joe's mom's side of the family).  They truly are some of my favorite people!  We laughed, enjoyed Top Hat pizza, laughed some more, held sweet babies, enjoyed the little kids laughter, ate some yummy peanut butter pie, and watched the Dicken boys, who were little when I joined this family, all grown up now.  I loved that when we walked to our car that night Harrison said "so....we have a pretty cool family." 

#4 - Late night visits with Lisa and John.  Oh okay....and a glass of wine....or maybe Sangria....or whatever!  It's not my fault that Lisa was trying out new Sangria recipes while we were there in preparation for Lindsey's wedding reception.  I'm just helpful that way.  Lisa is the source for family history and has lots of fun stories.  And John....well, he's naughty.  And I'm trying to deprogram my kids.  But, he is hilarious! 

#3 - Garage sale Alf and jewelry run.  Joe's dad is a collector.  We are not.  He loves to find great things and collect them.  And he remembers if you like something.  So....he took us over to a garage sale because they had a talking "Alf" doll and my son is obsessed with Alf.  (No joke, he often says "well, I learned that from Alf".  Which is not always a great thing.)  This same sale had some classic costume jewelry from the 50's and 60's.  So Clara got a tub full of clip on earrings, necklaces and bracelets.  Oh, it brought back memories of me dressing up in my mom's jewelry. 

#2 - Toy boat, toy boat, toy boat.  I'm not sure why or how it happened.  But Harrison got started on trying to say toy boat 5 times fast with his grandpa.  And Joe's dad got laughing until he cried!  They went on and on and on and I have to admit, it was hilarious.  It was great to see Joe's dad laughing hysterically!  Makes me smile just thinking about it. 

#1 - Top Hat Pizza.  I bet nobody saw that one coming!  There are no words to describe it....just YUM!!!