Family Times in Illinois

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We took the long way back to Philly from Costa Rica, stopping in Bloomington, Illinois to visit our oldest daughter and her family. She and her husband had moved there not long after we left for Chile, so we were anxious to see where they lived. Thankfully, they have a spacious house and the gift of hospitality. We arrived just 2 days after Josie’s third birthday, so we started celebrating from the day we arrived in the States and haven’t stopped yet! We were able to see Harry’s kindergarten and Josie’s pre-school. Dave accompanied Harry as he rode his two wheel bicycle at “dangerously fast speeds”, while I followed Josie around the block on her tricycle.We visited the local zoo and just had a good time getting to know our grandchildren. (Josie was born while we were in language school, so we’ve had very little time with her.)

Sarah and Nate had also graciously extended an invitation to our other daughters to join us for Thanksgiving. So Michelle, with her 2 year old Sammy, and 2 month old Miriam, accompanied by our youngest daughter, Sharon, flew in from the East coast to liven things up some more!  We had a whole week of enjoying all four of our grandchildren under one roof! It was a noisy Thanksgiving, but we were all full of thanks to be together. We were even more thankful that Michelle’s husband was able to join us for the weekend. He missed Thanksgiving and the Peoria parade, but made it in time for ”Christmas” which we celebrated that Sunday.

Obviously, we packed a lot into a short time, but we loved it! (Well, maybe not the 6:15 wake-up call from some early bird grandkids!) We never know when we’ll all be together again, so we appreciate every opportunity we have.  

Note: apart from a few common colds, no one got really sick this year:)

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