vacation #1

I'll keep this short and sweet for the moment... the trip up here was long, but uncomplicated, which is good! Friday night we just chilled out at the hotel. Saturday morning we headed over to my aunt's house and then went to a family member's 50th wedding anniversary. It was nice to see family, but what I was really excited about was seeing my friend, Melissa! We worked together in South Africa and have stayed in touch since we both came back to the States. My parents drove me to her house Saturday evening. After they left, Mel and I had dinner and then went to Dennis and Nikki's house. The plan was to just go to this one store and then hang out. Well, when we got into the car, Dennis said, "let's go to Chick-fil-a!" Now, the closest chick-fil-a in Toledo, Ohio (and we were in Michigan). So... we went to Toledo (about an hour away). Random, but fun! :) We went to Lifeway Christian Bookstores first (apparently there's not one of these close to Melissa either). Randomly, we saw a guy that once came on a mission trip to South Africa. Then we went to chick-fil-a, which made Dennis a very happy man. Everyone but me (the one from the South) got a big ole cup of sweet tea. Dennis is from Michigan, but I swear he thinks he's from the south... it's funny really. After that we went to Cold Stone (mmm...) and then went in search of a Wal*Mart. We finally left Wal*Mart (when they closed!) at 11:00 and headed back to Michigan. Fun times all around... I haven't laughed as much as I did in those few hours in a very long time!! Sunday morning I went to church with Melissa (her Dad is the pastor). After church she had to take me back to my aunt's house for the family reunion. We made a short stop at one of the coolest stores EVER called the Flower Factory. They have really cool, really cheap home decor stuff. I wish I had more money and more time to spend there, and I wish we had this store in NC! Oh well, a good reason to come back to MI. :) Finally, we arrived at my aunt's house and Mel and I said our good-byes. The reunion was a lot of fun. Lauryn (my youngest niece) was adorable, and such an entertainer. And it was great seeing my cousins again. One of them is an elementary school librarian, and after talking to her, I am seriously considering going to grad school for library science! It's something I've thought about before, but now I'm more motivated to actually pursue it... we'll see how that goes once I get back home and settled into real life again. Now I'm back at the hotel and ready to crash. Tomorrow we head for Kentucky! (Thanks for the tip Jessica!)

Have a great week, and thanks for checking in!

Link to pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/user/bonnieb81