Well I figured I could sum up the last 4+ weeks for everyone in probably a bit of a lengthy blog....so apologies :c)
Well Levi and I left Wisconsin with my dad on June 10th to make our long drive back down to Winston Salem. Of course we couldn't leave without giving Iqhawe and Duduza a kiss before leaving.
Levi and Iqhawe
Levi and Duduza
He will definitely be missing his dogs...hopefully they'll join us soon, or we'll at least be skyping with them on a regular basis. :c) We headed south toward Chicago and of course sat in a bit of Chicago traffic....we went to the top of the Sears tower. I believe it's 103 stories. Levi was not phased at all about being that high in the sky. In fact as you can see by the photo he was hanging on the banisters. Of course, he was also leaning over to look out the windows and showing me all the boats and trains he could see. I tried to stay back just a bit, since I'm not the biggest fan of looking straight down and imagining plummeting to the ground. They do have a portion where you can stand on glass and look down. I did Levi the favour of standing on the glass and holding him so we could take a photo and say we did it. I can't say I looked down while standing on the glass :c)
Yep....this is us standing on the glass part. To think there's nothing separating us from 103 stories of air, but some glass....yikes.
After the Sears tower we thought.....you can't go to Chicago and not have pizza. So we went in search of a pizza place....found a lady who lived in Chicago and she directed us to her favourite place. We ate pizza, but it wasn't the deep dish...I believe it was New York style pizza. Either way, we ended up enjoying our delicious pizza for lunch.
Oh. We tried to take the signs of the states we were driving through after leaving Wisconsin....well we missed Illinois, but we did get Indiana.
It was amazing to see all the wind turbines. They're huge and there are a lot of them.
After driving through Indianapolis and eating at Steak n Shake we decided to call it a night. So we checked into a hotel and here's the result the next morning....
Levi having his breakfast ... room service style
There is no one on the other end of that phone, but he loves saying "hello" into the phone....guess he hears that a lot.
After breakfast we were on to Ohio.....
Then to West Virginia....thanks for the toll road every 15 minutes.
On to Virginia...
...and finally into North Carolina
Here's the expression you get when you haven't seen your dad in 2 weeks and you see him all of a sudden sneaking up on you...
Levi loves his daddy
We arrived just in time to head out for the BBQ Festival and so on we went.
Levi enjoying the music
The next day Greg had a graduation dinner and so we enjoyed spending time with his classmates, spouses, and other members of the department. It was difficult to believe that 4 years ago this journey started and all of a sudden here we were at the end of another chapter in our lives. We enjoyed living in Winston and will miss all of our dear friends. Many of them moved as their residencies ended, many will be staying through the rest of residency, and many will stay as they continue on in Winston Salem.
Levi and I headed on to Tennessee at the beginning of the week, but had the opportunity to visit some friends who were on our way.
Here are Levi and Jayden burning it up on the front porch :c)
Levi helping his grandad move the tree branches into the woods for burning.
Ruffles being super friendly to Levi in hopes of getting some Cheezits.
After a week we were back down to North Carolina....here's our stop at the Nantahala Outdoor Center on Nantahala River. This is Levi hearing a truck pass. Whenever he hears something he points to his ear....I guess I must do that a lot :c)
After almost a week in North Carolina, saying our final goodbyes to friends and enjoying time with many of them, we headed back to Tennessee. Well after staying with some friends again we decided to take our children to Dollywood. Needless to say it was a success. Here's Levi on the carousel....he had to be on a horse since of course he loves horses.
Greg and Levi waiting for the train to start. Yes, it was a real steam engine. Levi enjoyed it so much. We even gave in and bought a train drink (it was juice in a plastic reusable train container) and some cotton candy (candy floss for some of us)
Family photo....few and far between. :c)
Then we headed on from Newport to Chattanooga. Where we enjoyed the 4th of July fireworks at Coolidge Park. Here's Levi hiding in the trees. He was really hoping he could climb it, but I think there were too many branches.
We also got to spend some time with cousins and got to meet Drew and Aaron for the first time. Here's the best photo we could get of 3 of the 4 boys....Aaron had already fallen asleep...so here's Drew, Zach and Levi
It was great to be back in Chattanooga where we have so many dear friends. Some of our friends from those days have moved, but came back from Nashville to visit and it was wonderful to see them and their children including their latest 3 week old addition. Here is Levi with their boys Spencer and Sullivan outside the Aquarium downtown.
The best we could get of the 3 boys.
Levi and Greg playing in the truck tent.
We also got to visit with some other friends who had just had a baby. Here's Levi and about 8 week old Kaylee. He kept giving her kisses, which was so sweet...this was the best we could do at catching one. Her daddy has his eye on Levi :c)
Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of the children on this trip....different friends who have 2 boys and a little 8 week old girl. Levi had such a great time hanging out with the boys and of course Greg and I had such a great time catching up with their parents and seeing the new baby. We had a piece of cardboard and road it down a hill....which sounds like...oh just another hill and cardboard...no this was a really really steep and fast hill with a slick piece of cardboard...we flew down that hill, it was great. Then of course we had to cool down and go to the Coolidge Park fountains which Levi couldn't get enough of.
We have been so blessed with the many friendships and can't be thankful enough for the blessing that it has been in our lives. So to all of you friends and family, we just want to say thank you for being you and being part of our lives.
Oh, and Levi wanted to show everyone that Cars vitamins aren't just for eating they are for driving around on magazines, too. :c) It was so funny the first day we gave them to him he was excited and played with them for a minute and then I said you have to eat them...which he did. Well then he wanted more...which of course we couldn't give him. So I explained that they were in his tummy. He promptly lifted his shirt and points to his stomach saying "cars, cars", "pu--ple, o-sa" translated as "cars, cars, purple, orange". Yes I had given him a purple and orange Cars vitamin. :c)
Levi after another evening with Kaylee. We just had to try and get a picture of them together. It was so cute how they would look at each other. I think they were both trying to figure out who this other person is.
Well so that's about our last 4 weeks summed up and we hope yours has been as exciting as ours. We can't believe we'll be on a plane to the UK in just 4 short days. We've been trying to tell Levi about the plane we're going on. I think the last time we flew was in October so it's been a while for him. Well I might be able to squeeze a post in if anything else exciting happens this week and there's time. Otherwise our next post will be from the UK. We love all of you and hope you decide to come visit us soon.
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