The Trip - Part 3

We drove up the familiar road to Illinois from Mississippi on Thursday. This time we stopped at a rest stop while we were still in Miss and there was a lamb. I guess the security guard had a pet lamb. We never did see the guard, but I don't know who else would bring a lamb on a leash attached to the ground to a rest stop. His food and water was nearby and he acted like he was used to being there and people gawking and trying to pet him. He even had a little bandana around his neck!

We got into town in time Thursday evening for the girls to play outside with neighbors for a while.  They really enjoyed playing in their playhouse and swing set again!  Friday we had house business to attend to and then we went to the expo to get our bibs and t-shirts! We took some pre-emptive "I did it!" photos and walked around. We ran into a few friends and picked up some of the little freebies people were handing out.  I think the girls started to get nervous at this point, but we were all excited!

I had to share one of my tulips that was blooming in the front yard.  They were so pretty!  I am sad that I didn't get to see the tulips in my very front bed bloom, they were up but not open yet.  But it was nice to see some of them in bloom.  And I was able to take some cuttings from the girls' rose bushes and my forsythia bush before we left.  Hopefully if I baby them adequately, I can plant them in the next yard one day.




We got to see many friends over the weekend.  Lyla was especially happy to see her friend Jake.   They are so cute, and they always just pick up where they left off.  We sure will miss our friends the Davidsons.  Jen, you are so dear to me!  I am so glad we got to spend a little time with ya'll.

Friday evening we lined up with the other 6000 people who were running the 5K.  Thankfully our wonderful friend Robin was running with us.  I originally had thought that Celee would be the one to want to take off and Gwyn and Lyla would get tired quick and walk a lot.  (We had only trained once)  But pretty soon into the race Gwyn and Lyla took off.  Celee stayed back with Robin and I sprinted to try to catch up with Gwyn and Lyla.  Apparently, Gwyn had seen a girl she knew running and was determined to beat her.  So together we would sprint and walk, sprint and walk.  All the while Robin and Celee ran steadily behind us.  Celee ran the whole 3.1 without stopping! Thank you Robin for hanging with her!   Lyla's little legs got tired in the last mile, but she was a trooper and kept going.  The whole atmosphere of so many people running and cheering and in general having a wonderful time kept the girls excited.  I'm proud of them all!  Afterward Celee even entertained the idea of doing a 10K with me some time.

I dropped Gwyn and Celee off at friends' houses to spend the night after the 5K.  Then Lyla and I went back to the house and crashed.  I had to get up super early the next morning to drop Lyla off with friends and get to the 10K, which started at 7:40.   Robin and I ran together this time.  We must have been running at a pretty good pace (for me) because even though we walked for a short space near the 6th mile, we crossed the finish line with an 11 min. mile time.  We hung around and I got a picture with my other awesome friend Sarah at the finish line.  We all went over afterwards to get our free beer for running.  I don't like beer, so Jon sacrificially drank mine for me.  ;)

After much rest and some attempts to pack everything that was left in the house into the van for the ride home, we got to hang out with friends again.  The girls had been asking me to go to Five Guys the entire trip and they finally got their wish!

So we truly did say goodbye to our Champaign house this time.  I left the keys and garage door openers behind, so I really can't go back again.  It was much easier this trip though.  I'm much more at peace with it now.  I think I had a mentality about it like we were loosing the house, as opposed to selling the house.  The closing date is finally pretty close, so we can move on to new things.  Or the same things just with a better attitude.  Either way, we enjoyed "camping" in our house one last time.  The girls played and had friends over.  I got to mow the yard one more time.  And none of us cried when we left.  It felt good.

I must say that while we were gone, Jason did get to have some fun.  He went on this crazy bike ride in Baltimore that happens the last Friday of each month.  This month the theme was the Prom.  So he and a friend went to Goodwill, popped some tags, and found some 80's prom threads.  I had to include this picture because Jason's got that mischievous look he gets at time.  He is a cutie.  I'd go to prom with him anytime, on a bike or not.