nostalgia

The Chicago temple

For mothers day, Mario gave me a plane ticket to Chicago with words of excitement about touring Indiana so he could see what my mission was like.  The last time I was there was when AJ was a baby.  I planned that trip around people and mostly the people I really cared about were either inactive or I was not able to find.  I came home quite depressed about it so when I got this for a gift, I had some concerns.
No need to worry.  It was a great trip.  I mostly planned the whole thing around sightseeing and fun.  The only people thing I really wanted to do as far as see people from my mission was to attend church in Martinsville.  Sunday ended up a really great day for me, maybe the best day of our trip. Being there brought back a lot of great memories.  I saw a lot of people who still remembered me and made us feel very loved.  When we walked into the church, Sister Nerding was waiting for us.  Then the Lewis's came and gave me a big hug and I started crying when I saw them.  I didn't expect to get all emotional about being there, but I remembered all they did for us and they were still just so great.  Then, my favorite ward mission leader and his wife (last time I was there, I found out that they were inactive).  They're back in the church again and doing great.  Then Tanya, a special friend, who I had a really hard time saying goodbye to when I left, and it was hard all over again.  So that, combined with all the back roads, dense forests, windy roads, and farms that I associate with that time, made me extremely nostalgic for it all.

Lake Michigan

The rest of the trip was a lot of sightseeing and fun.  We spent a couple of days in Chicago.  As far as cities go, this one had a good feel to it and night time there was not terrifying.  Lake Michigan was amazing and our Segway tour of Chicago was especially fun.  Mario and I both had a few moments of not controlling the things at all.  We also got poured on along the way, which made it that much more memorable.
Our "Blue Man Group" concert ended up being super weird.  I expected them to be so different than they actually were.  But that too, will be a great memory.

The brand new Indianapolis Temple--so beautiful inside!

Our Segway tour before the rain started

Brown County --one of my favorite places

We discovered this super old race track stadium.  We thought it was an old baseball field but then Mario found it on the Internet and read about it.  We drove up to it thinking it was a covered bridge at first.

We saw A LOT of covered bridges.  I have a huge thing for them and I told Mario that he's probably the only guy on earth that would drive all over Indiana to find covered bridges with his wife.  The one above was my very favorite.  Just because it was still in it's original state.  So many of them have been repainted and rebuilt.  I just love the ones that are falling apart and dilapidated.

We also visited a national land mark- so Mario can put it on his National parks list that he's trying to fill up.  It was sand dunes by lake Michigan that are way across the bay from Chicago.  There was a really cool view of the skyline from there but it didn't show up too well in pictures.

My one disadvantage of having Mario to myself for a few days in a row, is that I get used to it and then have to come back to harsh reality.  We did really miss our kids though.  They are old enough now to completely take care of themselves.  This time we came home to no stench in the house (last time no one took out the garbage or did any moldy laundry).  They were fed, thanks to Audrey, and basically, they told us that they rather enjoy when we're gone.  But, I come home from our kid-free trips ready to try harder to be that dream mom that I always am trying for but have never made.  So, here's to trying again.