We drove up to Carmel on Friday to stay with the Bans for a couple nights. Emily was SO excited that she couldn't even nap during the entire 4 hour trip. Turns out Gabi is a great traveler in the car and she slept most of the way.
We arrived to their house around 4pm and Emily was immediately attached to Mae! They were off to the neighborhood park in no time. In fact, I feel like I didn't even see Emily for 24 hours! :) She was off playing with the big kids most of the time and she even had a slumber party the first night with Mae.
Emily, Mae and Karen making guacamole!
Karen and Gabriella
Dinnertime...the kids all ate outside.
Gabi traveled great, but once we were there she was pretty overwhelmed. Eric was the only one who was able to calm her down and she rested like this for a long time.
Playing at the park with Mae.
Slumber party...remember this sweet 3 year old didn't nap in the car...well she was also up until 10pm that night. She is a trooper! (Or a party animal, says her daddy).
On Saturday they took us to the Children's Museum in Indy. We had SO much fun!
Pretty sure I want a 12 year old (well, really we just want Mae) to come live and help us with the girls.
Emily has been asking to ride a carousel for over a year (seriously), but I don't know where to take her to ride one locally. You should've seen her face light up when we turned the corner in the hall and she saw this huge carousel just waiting for her to ride!! Priceless.
Funhouse with Brick and Mae.
Even Daddy had fun!
Seriously, this is one great group of "kiddos!" Love them all!
Gabi was along for the ride! :)
Off on an adventure! No, we aren't going to Egypt. :)
Buds!
Taking Mae's baby doll for a walk.
Lounging on Sunday morning before we took off.
After our visit with the Bans we traveled to the southside of Indy to visit with our good friends, Tom and Beth. We also got to meet their current international students, Lewis (Scotland) and Alfonso (Spain). Fun times for sure! Beth and Gabriella enjoyed some cuddle time. I was amazed...Gabi NEVER falls asleep in our arms...Beth has the magic touch. :)
Emily wanted Tom to teach her how to play the organ. She did pretty well!
After lunch and visiting with Tom and Beth we hopped in the car again for our final destination, Bloomington. We arrived to Gretchen's (mom/dad's) house that evening and were so excited to see everyone. Pretty sure we haven't seen Gretchen and her girls in almost 2 years...which is WAY too long! Gretchen's brother, Zach, and his family came down for the night, too. It was so much fun to all be together again under one roof. LOVE this family!!!
Gretchen meets Gabi!
Amelia and Ella practicing their salon skills on Emily. haha. Three sweet girls!
What do you do with three over-tired, wound up girls at 9pm at night?! Don't put them to bed...rather, teach them a crazy game which involves throwing Jenga pieces across the room. HILARIOUS!
Monday morning we made our way out to the lake to visit Pop and Mimi for the day. Sadly it rained, but we still had a good time resting and playing inside. Here is Emily helping Pop prepare dinner.
On Tuesday morning we stopped in for breakfast with our sweet friends, Doug and Kristin. It was delicious and we loved learning all about their newest creatures (chickens, turkeys, bees, kitten, etc). We love our time with them, but I guess we were too busy chatting and playing because I didn't get a picture! :(
After breakfast we stopped in to see Grandma and Uncle Dave. It was a short visit...after such a long, jam-packed weekend the girls were both in meltdown mode. However, we enjoyed the time we did have together! These girls love their great grandma!
There you have it! We had a blast and enjoyed every minute of our time together as a family. The girls seemed to bounce back from lack of sleep and Emily is still talking about all her friends we visited. Our hearts are grateful!
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