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The most notable difference in this trip to the midwest is that we didn’t drive straight through. Call us old and responsible, but we had a much more enjoyable time both going and coming by stopping in Batavia (about halfway). We got to Fort Wayne on Saturday after lunch feeling basically normal, and returned home the following Sunday feeling rested and able to unpack, exercise and settle in before the work week.

Another improvement was working out – we walked a lot, went jogging, and did two Martina workouts. It was very easy to pack an extra bag with the Xerdisc, foam roller and elastic band, and both the Woodmansee and Judd households had hand weights. We walked around Avalon, jogged Avalon and Lake Shores in FW, jogged at Oak Openings, walked at Secor and ran a quick 5K at Swan Creek in Toledo, and also walked to Steak and Shake.

As for the actual visit, we had a really good time. We looked at gardens everywhere – my Dad had eggplant (yum!), zucchini (we ate nearly all of it in Toledo if you count sharing some with the Holliker clan), cucumbers, snap peas and green peppers for us to eat, plus lots of other veggies looking healthy. Mr. Gladding shared his beets and some yellow zucchini with us. We walked around Lakeside Park, which has both rose gardens and annuals now around the reflecting pool. Dawn has a cute back yard with flowers, the most perfectly shaped tree, and a few vegetables. Sue has a container garden on her patio plus a beautiful landscaped bed in her front yard. Grandma Hume has a garden with several tomatoes, zucchini and green beans just starting to bloom. Lynn has a big garden with lots of different vegetables! Seems like everyone puts our garden to shame (or reinforces our desire to re-landscape the back yard).

We went to the Fort Wayne zoo on Sunday after church, looked at a couple houses (including this one we think is a good investment!) with Dad, played softball, cooked out, had dinner with Dawn, and generally did lots of talking with my parents. My grandparents were feeling great so we went out to lunch on Tuesday and then for a drive around St. Marys, stopped by to see Sue, and then headed back to Fort Wayne (with an important stop at the Tastee Twirl to sample creme brulee and butter pecan soft serve. Yum.).

July 4 was a big family party at Grandma Hume’s. Uncle Greg flew in from OK and Aunt Loretta was there from Arizona. In the evening we went to the Mudhens game with Ken and Leslie, which included fireworks. Thursday we went to Grandma Krueger’s, and got to see not only Aunt Diane and Steve but also Aunt Ellen (who drove in from Houston) and her kids Ashley and Daniel, plus Ashley’s daughter Aubrey. It was great to all be together and to finally meet Ellen. We stopped over to see Greg and Grandma H again, so Leslie could go through some boxes in the basement. This turned into oral reading of Leslie’s 8th grade journal, which was both funny and rather telling. Friday we had a “down” day to sleep in, do our Martina workout (Barb had already done her toning at 7am but joined us a for a few planks) go for a walk and hang out.

Saturday rolled around, and it was time to pack up and head to Edon for one more family get-together before heading back to Newburyport. It’s good to see family and enjoy catching up.