I thought it would never happen

MY SISTER CAME TO VISIT!!! Practically 5 months ago, Dan sent me a link to cheap-o tickets flying from Milwaukee to Baltimore. It was practically a miracle that my sister considered actually coming and a true miracle when her and her family actually arrived here last Saturday! They haven't taken a real vacation for several years now and most definitely not on a plane! There was a lot more to consider travelling with Claire (who is special needs), but Katherine and Jon handled it all like pros and arrived in Baltimore last Saturday. Claire is definitely unpredictable, but she did awesome for the plane ride here and the car ride down to Virginia (she didn't do as good on the way back home). We didn't do too many "really cool" things, but we did have a fun time. It was fun just to hang out and let Carson and Bryn play with their cousins, Gwen and Claire. Here's the lowdown on their trip, as stated by Katherine in a recent email:

1. lynette and i sang a duet at church on sunday. we have a cool arrangement of "a poor wayfaring man of grief" that everyone really liked. it's always fun singing with my sis!

2. we took the kids to a cool "bounce house".... there were 3 huge bounce toys that kids and adults could enjoy, and in the middle a sitting room with couches for the moms where they'd bring by drinks (not those kinds of drinks silly!). i went on them all a few times----the slide was fun (i can only imagine how tall it feels for kids), the obstacle course was a workout, and the bouncing hut made me need the bathroom! gwen of course had a blast!

3. for the first time since we've had kids, jon and i got an overnight date "sans" kids! lynette and dan took on the beast (and claire, too! hahaha.... just kidding!) while jon and i got to the DC temple, Outback steakhouse in maryland (we don't ever get to that restaurant cuz our only dates here are when claire's at therapy and outback isn't open for lunch), and then stayed at a hotel close to lynette's house. in the morning we went to target and Wegmans!

4. Wegmans gets it's own line, folks! the Wegmans where lynette lives are way nicer than the ones we had growing up in rochester (though maybe those have been updated---i haven't been back for a while). we had dinner and lunch at wegmans, and i got their awesome animal crackers and mint M&Ms! yumm! jon agreed that wegmans is quite the grocery store, even though we're pretty sure a girl there gave brynlee the "bark" (whooping cough).

5. lynette sewed the girls cute matching skirts with matching hair bows.... and sewed claire "burpday" (birthday) burp clothes.... and gave me some pointers on sewing and material and ribbons. and we went to joanne's for dollar patterns. fun stuff! I've got a few more burp clothes to finish, then I'll email pix of those things.

6. for FHE, lynette found a cute idea to make turkeys out of oreos and candy corn and stuff. the kids loved it, and everyone loved eating it!

7. we took the kids to a mall that had a "Polar Express" exhibit (and weird stuffed animal safari too!). gwen loved the fake snow---and kept saying "it's made out of styrofoam mom" they all saw Santa too. gwen wants mint M&Ms and peanut M&Ms (and she later told me she wants her own tape, so she doesn't have to "borrow" mine for her art projects!)

we also watched movies and hung out. the kids were loving jokes and talking about B.O.B. the blob from "monsters vs. aliens".... so we made a bob the blob cookie with a big eyeball on it and they loved it. gwen got along great with carson and brynlee for the most time, with just a few "sharing" issues. one time i almost fainted when i thought i saw claire playing with a toy---what really happened was dan moved claire over and put brynlee where claire was and so i saw brynlee playing with a toy when i glanced over..... holy miracle for a mili-second!


It was sooo fun having Katherine and her family here...I wish they lived closer!! Thanks for coming guys!!!