Trip to Indiana/Illinois (Part IV -- and final!)

I'm breaking up our first camping trip into a series of posts. You can go back and read Part I here or read Part II here. And here is a link to Part III. 

Sunday & Monday

After the picnic on Sunday, we headed back to Aunt Connie's house. She lives in a beautiful city in Indiana a bit out in the country. Oh what a sweet spot of green Earth she has. Connie lived with us for nine months when we were in the Azores. It was a very dark period in my life as I was pregnant with Hannah during this time and in the throngs of terrible sickness and depression. I have had a lot of guilt about that -- guilt that Connie really only got to see me and be with me at my worst. She, of course, understood, but still ... it sucked. And it sucked that I couldn't have been more fun while she was there.

Okay, that is all water under the bridge now. What I really wanted was to get to see Connie now ... for my kiddos who loved her then to see her again. And that is what we did. My parents stayed in the house, and we stayed in our camper, and we just had a wonderful 36-hours or so just being together again. It was truly a magical time for me and my family, and I hope Connie felt the same way. Just a chance to realize that we truly are connected for life!

Abigail didn't talk much when she knew Connie, but she has since told us that she always thought her name was Aunt "Coffee". Appropriate since Connie LOVES her coffee. 

Abigail snugged up by Connie!

It was important for Connie to meet Hannah -- this baby in the womb that gave me such fits -- and I think she really got to see the wonderfulness of who Hannah is. Here's Hannah with Connie's dog Jersey. (A sweet lab/dane mix).

Abigail helping Connie set the table in her farm house.

Isaac and Grama Di playing some Candy Crush on her phone! (Isaac loves to do this with his Grama Di!)

My Dad and Sidge playing Hotels.

John and Connie got along so well in the Azores -- they especially bonded over food. Connie LOVED John's cooking (who doesn't)! They spent an evening cooking together again in the kitchen. SO FUN!

With the girls.

We did a lot of coloring together.

It was so wonderful to get to spend this week with my parents. We had such a great time. I love them so much! They truly are great, great parents. I couldn't ask for any better.

Connie and the four munchkins

Tuesday

Tuesday morning, we packed up our camper and headed out for a six hour drive to a horse park campground in Lexington, Kentucky. Oh man, now THIS was the weather we had been hoping for. Seventy degrees and sunny -- it was simply magnificent! We simply love this camping way of traveling and definitely feel like it fits our family.

Playing the game of LIFE outside. Isaac got this from us for his birthday.

There was a huge patch of green grass and the kids asked if they could just take off their shoes and play in it. I think they are playing zoo here. 

Again they kids loved having their bikes, and they loved the playgrounds in the camping area. We got a good night's sleep and then, on Wednesday morning, we made the four hour trip back to our farm in Tennessee. While we were sad to see the trip come to an end, we were happy to return home to our farm, our animals, and especially our grandparents and doggies!

A huge thank you to my in-laws who held down the fort while we were gone along with our intern: Jacob and our WWOOFer: Leon. Without having these people back at the farm, leaving would be much harder!

SO MUCH FUN!