Trip Home

If you can't tell from all the picture posts...we were in the US most of August.

When we left Switzerland, it was in the high 40's/low 50's that morning...I could see my breath at the train station. We arrived in Newark and then Chicago and holy cow...HOT and HUMID! Sweating just standing there! Upon arriving in Decatur, we met up with the Brusky's for Wendy's...mmm...frosties and Brusky's!

We arrived just in time to be at Kolton's first birthday party and got to see a lot of the Moeller family! It was a great day there and nice to catch up with everyone. From there, we went to the Effingham County Fair for some fair food and lemon shake-ups...only ended up with the lemon shake-ups...way too hot to eat. Walked around a while, then headed to the Moeller residence to cool off. We came back for dinner that night and enjoyed some great fair food, demo derby and time at the Snowball booth with Rob! :)

The first week, we spent our time in Decatur. I was working. Gene spent the first couple days working on the bathroom at his mom and dad's house. The floor is finally finished after a year!! The bathroom looks huge now, too. We met up with Angie and Nick one night that week for dinner...a celebration of sorts...Angie finished her last treatment the week before and was DONE with her chemo!!! YEAH!!!!

Friday...was spent at the dentist office. We both had cleanings in the AM. I've had a tooth that has been really sensitive for a while and in December they couldn't see anything wrong with it. It has been getting worse, so they had some cancellations and I came back in a few hours later. They drilled it out and found out that my tooth has actually cracked (hairline only) and that's what is causing the sensitivity. So, they gently filled it and told me to watch it as really the best way to fix it was a crown, which takes longer to fix than we are ever home in the US. I'm still hoping it stays where it is now...occasional sensitivity...until we move home. I don't want to find a dentist here in Switzerland. :(

After that, we hit the Tuscola Outlet mall for some major shopping, then went to Riverton to spend the weekend. We went to the State Fair on Friday night with the Brusky's and met up with Adam, Kiley and Avery and Kiley's family. Erin was watching Avery while they all went to the concert...which eventually got rained out. It was a fun night...ran into some current and former co-workers, was thought to be pregnant (not true - good story though), had a great hotdog, saw some sheep (and other animals too) and got slightly wet in the rain. Mom came up and she stayed the night with us at the Brusky's. We went back to the State Fair the next day and was there with the Blair's, the Brusky's and my dad. Saw Alex's 4-H judging, had another great hotdog and lemon shake-ups, walked all over, and melted in the heat!! Just realized we did not ever get any ice cream from the Dairy Building or a funnel cake...boo! Dinner at Olive Garden, raced back to Riverton (literally...Sam wanted to), boys to bed and then some hand and foot. The next day, we just slept in and then hung out in the backyard while the boys swam. Nice!

The next week was the real reason for being home...my week of staff trainings for my whole department. It was nice to see everyone again and spend some time with my crazy co-workers in the evenings. Saw (and posted about below) Eat, Pray, Love one night. Dinner at all the good places in Decatur that I miss and some new ones. Gene worked three days this week at the courthouse. He got to see his co-workers and spend some time in uniform with his gun. He arrested more people in those days than the guy working there had in a while...go figure. ;) They missed him!

Friday night, we went back to the Moeller's...had family pictures taken and celebrated birthdays. :) Finally.....vacation time!!!!!!!! I'll save that for another post, as it could take a while.