Visiting Caroline

A few months back I was thinking about how we could get to visit as many of our "China families" as possible. Then I remembered that I had been surprised that my Ohio family lived so close to Indiana and then I remembered that Caroline's family was in Indiana. One quick look at map quest confirmed that Caroline lived a mere 1 1/2 hours away from my relatives. That was WAY TOO CLOSE to pass up, so I emailed Cindy and we sent messages back and forth until we settled on a visiting plan.

As we were getting close to their home, we stumbled across this interesting intersection. For all you CCC folks out there, I thought Hickory, NC was the only place in the world with such confusing streets! Luckily we didn't have to figure out if we wanted 600 NW or 600 WN and found their neighborhood without getting lost!

As we turned down their street, Ian said, "Hey, that kid looks sorta like Mickey." (Hmm, good one honey, maybe it's because it was Mickey...) At any rate he came running down the street to his house when we turned into the drive. Abby opened the front door as we pulled up and then turned back inside and shut the door (I'm presuming to give the final warning that we were there...). We were welcomed into their home with warm greetings and hugs. Funny how two weeks with a family makes you feel like you've always known them!

When Caroline woke up from her nap a bit later the girls got to "re-meet" one another. At first they were looking at each other as if to say, "Hmm, I think there is something familiar about you," and soon were pushing each other out of the way and pulling toys out of each other's hands. Ahh, just like our play dates in the China Hotel...

Friday evening was spent just hanging out with no schedule. The girls enjoyed a bit of time swinging on the swing and sliding with Mindy. After Jon got home he fired up the grill and fixed State Fair Pork Burgers. I'd never had such a thing before, but let me tell you that they lived up my expectations of anything with the words "State Fair!" Add corn on the cob (which Caroline figured out ~ Kylie ate hers cut off the cob), cheesy potato casserole, strawberries and cantaloupe, and then finish it all off with a pan of extra fudgy brownies ~ it was delicious!

After dinner we put the girls in matching outfits ~ of course I know it is cheesy, but hey, it was fun! ~ and had a massive photo shoot. We all sat around and talked about the past three months and even managed to get in time to read a few books to the girls. Because Caroline's house is pretty full, we spent the night next door at Dotty's house. She was a gracious hostess and we really enjoyed our time with her. Dotty fixed a pot of coffee and a breakfast casserole and Cindy brought over a coffee cake for a yummy brunch. Mickey chowed down to fuel up for his soccer game which we all headed to see. Kylie and Caroline enjoyed watching the game, but perhaps enjoyed the popcorn even more than the excitement of Mickey's team winning by 6 goals!

Then we headed down to Indianapolis to check out the canal area downtown. We had a leisurely stroll along the water but found several of the eating venues closed for the holiday weekend. No biggie, we just pushed our strollers up an amazingly steep hill and went into a mall food court to enjoy some Chick-fil-a. After eating we went back to the river front area for yet another "costume change" for the girls and one more photo shoot. Kylie had walked for about a 1/2 mile and then got cross when we changed her in the grass, so we had a sweaty, cranky baby on our hands, but I still think the pictures turned out ADORABLE!!!

"Yeah, we know we're cute!"

Abby, Cindy, Caroline, Mickey, Jon & Mindy

Our happy little family

All too soon it was time to head back to Ohio. But we know that it won't be the last time we see Caroline and family ~ you guys are stuck with us now that we know how close you are to our family...