Trips (And More Trips)

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So it has been a busy two weeks full of travel, travel, and more travel! But the trips have been most excellent!

A couple of weeks ago, Gretch and I decided to go to Washington (Illinois) to visit my family (or, more specifically, my two sisters, Amanda and Ariana). We spent the afternoon/evening with them, but then we had to head back so that Gretch could get sleep before working on Thursday.

The following Sunday, we drove to Washington again, this time to see all (well, most of) my family. Tom and Tabitha were visiting for a week with their children (seven of them). Aaron and Megan live in Washington, also, so we got to see a bunch of the family. We stayed overnight this time, but then came back again on Monday because Gretch had work on Tuesday. While in Washington, I noticed that Megan was reading a Jodi Picoult book, and I was heaps excited, as, previously, I had just one friend who read her books (Laurie is actually the one who introduced me to the author's book, "My Sister's Keeper".) I promised Megan I'd have the book done by the end of the week.

On Wednesday we got to go to Chicago with the Robeson Elementary 5th graders for their field trip. It was lots of fun! We got to ride on the charter bus and chaperone a group of three students. Although it was frustrating at times (I forgot how easily distracted 5th graders can be when they are in a new and exciting place), it was also quite fun. We've decided we need to plan a trip to Chicago where we can spend time in all of the museums. (This will work well, for us, and Brady and Erin want us to come visit anyway.)

On Saturday we filled up the tank and made a dash for Washington for the third time in two weeks. This time we got to see not just the Parents, the Sisters, Number One, and Number Two but also Number Three (aka Abram)! It has been something close to five years since everyone in my family was together (it was in November 2004 when I got home from my mission). Even as it was, Numbers Four and Five were gone (Number Four, Anton, lives in Oregon with his wife and son and Number Five, Adam, lives in China with his wife and son). So the family still hasn't been all together yet in five years, but we're hoping that it'll happen before the decade is up.

So that's been the bulk of what we've been up to these days. Driving, driving, riding, and driving. (And using parenthetical comments with reckless abandon.)

Oh, and I have a Blackberry Storm now!

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