Friday morning my sisters and I attempted another black Friday "death by shopping" morning out. Only, we were a little disappointed. Kendallville was dead to the world. l guess all of the extreme shoppers were in Ft Wayne. Standing in long lines. Fighting. None of them shopping for me...
Who would pass up the Kendallville WalMart??
We ate at Applebee's and laughed and shared heart-to-heart talks. I love my sisters.
Once I finished all 7 courses of my meal and asked for another round of Welcome Willy Dip, I had to hurry home because Goria, Dawson and I were headed to Cleveland to spend the weekend with the Conrad's and the Janke's. Cleveland is where Gloria grew up and her sister Diana and brother Gil still live there. So we were off to visit them.
Here's Kirsten helping Dawson with his shoes.
We stayed with the Conrad's and spend most of the weekend eating. WE visited Westside Market, B.A. Sweetie's, Rito's and Jack Frost doughnuts., not to mention the fact that Diana and Jeff spent most of their time cooking in the kitchen when weren't eating pre-fabricated items. Staying with them was like being on a cruise. you want it, you got it.
Dawson had a wonderful time with his cousins Kirsten, Kelsey and Briana. I helped Briana start her own blog and I added a link to her site with the rest of my links over to the right. It's "Princess Bri". I can't figure out why we don't have any pictures with Briana and Kelsey in them. Briana has some pictures of her own posted so if you go visit her blog, you'll see them. Dawson spent most of his time running back and forth between the girls' rooms. He found a German hat in Briana's room and he kept it on! It was too cute. So I made him take a picture with me.
We celebrated Briana's birthday while were there even though it was early. Ragelle brought Lydia over to play. Of course, she's holding Dawson in this picture.
But here are some cute pics of Aunty Gloria with Lydia.
Probably one of the main highlights of this time with family had to be watching Dawson and Lydia interact. The Conrad's have this thing called a sit-n-spin, which neither toddler could control. but when Kirsten got them spinning, they were having screaming matches. The whole room erupted in laughter. I have a video clip of it so you can watch it yourself.
Aunt Diana tried teaching me how to crotchet. (I know that looks like the word crotch-it but it's not). I'm terrible at it and I can't even get a chain to look like a chain. I'll keep trying. But don't expect a handmade scarf, hat or pashmina for Christmas. If you really do want something though, I can send you a crooked chain.
One night Jeff and Diana pulled out some old cassette tapes they had that had voice recordings of Grandpa Janke on it. (Gloria's dad). One of the tapes ahd Jason's cousin Gib talking on it when was really little. I'd say he was maybe 5. On the tape Aunt Diana was asking him what he wanted to name his little brother or sister that was due soon so he said a few names and then he had an "aha" moment where he figured out what he really wanted the baby to be named. He says "I know! Name it Jason.. Jason Wilkins". We all busted up laughing. Jason had quite an impression on his young cousin in those days.
And now Jason has proof of the impact he had on his special cousin. When we headed out to leave on Sunday morning, Jason found this:
Jason still hasn't washed it off yet.. ugh. However, we did get some honks and waves on the drive home. What did you use Gib? White-Out? It rained and it wouldn't budge! Gib and his wife Jenessa are expecting their first baby. Jenessa is a cutie pregnant girl!
We were trying to give them practice and make them take care of two at once.
Just before leaving Cleveland the Conrad girls wanted us to take Dawson to the mall so that he could ride the train. I wondered how he would do since he has to ride it by himself. But when he saw the train coming around the tracks for the first time, he just about jumped out of my arms right onto the tracks. Guess he wanted to ride.
View form the side of the train tracks of the neat Christmas display that was set up.
Once the train ride was over, he wanted to ride again. So we had to bribe him with food.
Fun times in Cleveland! Thank you to the Conrads and Janke's for sharing quality time with us.
And now I leave you with: The Sit-N-Spin:
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