On the Road Again....

Sean had a four day weekend for Fall Break and we joined him on a little road trip to Northern Indiana. He was attending/speaking at a teacher's conference. I know that our vacation last summer was a once in a lifetime experience. We discovered that going places as a family brings us together in a special way. It doesn't have to be a month on the beach. It can be a trip up the road to see something new to us or a leisurely walk in the forest or a night together in a tent. It's good to go and it's even better to come home again.

God is good to provide opportunities such as these. The room was already paid for and Sean received a stipend for speaking. We won't be eating out again in October, but that's okay by me. It was more than worth it. And even better, gas prices went down at least $.50/gallon in the last week and we received a gas card upon checking out to the hotel. All good things come from His hand.

Our first stop was at Amish Acres. We arrived when the farm had already closed, but that didn't stop us from enjoying a family style meal in a huge barn. All of the food was locally grown and prepared from scratch. It was possibly the best fried chicken I have ever tasted.

After the huge meal came the deserts....Lemon, chocolate, shoe fly, banana cream, pumpkin, pecan, pumpkin pecan, cherry, apple or blueberry pie, apple dumpling, apple crisp, or apple cake. The children were thrilled to choose their very own piece from this tray.

Before leaving, we took our own mini tour and enjoyed the fall decorations outside.


While Sean was at the conference the next morning we set out to see what was in South Bend. Elizabeth asked the intelligent question, "Why is it called South when it is north?" Joseph was quite pleased with himself to learn that this city is on the south fork of the St. Joseph River. You would have thought they named it after him.

Using my favorite resource, "Kid's Love Indiana", we spent a few hours at the Healthwork's! Kid's Museum. (Sorry, forgot the camera.) We played in the exhibits and saw two science demonstrations. We got to experiment with healthy pig lungs and pig lungs infused with tar from cigarettes. Interesting. I think the consensus was, "Mom, I don't ever, ever, ever want to smoke! Ever!"

Next, we scooted on over the the South Bend Chocolate Company for a tour and some treats. Can you imagine the delight in the heart of our chocolate man?


Ignoring that fact that John snagged some forbidden chocolate off the production rack from the stroller and that Joseph almost sneezed into a vat of chocolate, it was a huge hit with all the kids.


On the ride home we visited Potato Creek State Park and ran around in a prairie grass maze.


We are having fun planning up our next winter excursion. Looks like it might involve tobogganing down a luge at 40 miles an hour. Stay tuned.

But as always, it's good to be back home again. Looking forward to a day of worship, rest and reading in God's Word tomorrow.