Joe and Cathy

I found a few pictures I missed from MagiQuest yesterday.  Preston & Jorja fighting a dragon.  They both defeated the dragon, but it took a long time!

Preston & Mike

 Jorja

I texted Brett this morning and told him we slept in Gary, Indiana.  I was wondering if he served any of his mission there.  He wrote back, "You shouldn't sleep or ever stop in Gary, Indiana.  It was annexed from our mission because it was too dangerous.  The Chicago Mission covered it though.  You will be close to Michigan City, Indiana.  I did serve there."  Whoops.  Luckily we had no problems and were unaware that Gary was dangerous.  It looked less sketchy than other parts of Indiana we drove through.  We drove up to Michigan this morning, went in the state a mile and turned around.  Now we can put a sticker on.  It was about an hour out of our way, but in the long run it will be faster than coming back later.

Our next stop was to drive to Joe & Cathy's house.  They live in Ohio. The last time we saw them was about five years ago when we came for John & Cassie's wedding.  Did we drive completely out of our way to see them?  Yes, yes we did.  Was it worth it?  Yes, yes it was.

 Our map

It was SO GOOD to see Joe & Cathy!  They are one of the friends that when you are with them it seems like no time has gone by at all.  I sure do miss living across the street from them.  We got to see Nick, who has grown so much!  Jack was at a camp, so we didn't get to see how much he has changed.  Joe cooked us delicious food.  Smoked fish & steak.  I am not a fish fan, but I really liked this.

Stephanie, Cathy, Joe, Mike

We were able to do some laundry while we were at their house.  That was very helpful.  Of course we had to play Pirates.  Joe, Cathy, Mike, Maysen and I started a game.  When Preston saw we had started playing he was pretty upset he wasn't invited.  He took over my hand and I worked on laundry.

Joe & Cathy, Preston, Maysen, Mike

Joe had bought some bear figurines.  He said that whoever lost the game would receive the 'Do Better Bear'.  For most of the game, it looked like Joe would get his own bear.  Mike ended up with the bear when Maysen sunk his ship and forced him out of the game.

Do Better Bear

I was working on getting the kids ready for bed.  I was kind of getting frustrated because I wanted to be with Joe & Cathy and everything was taking me forever.  Jorja was in the motorhome washing her face.  She asked if I would wait with her.  I said, "Really?  I haven't seen Joe and Cathy at all.  Are you sure you can't be without me."  I thought I would have to wait for her for a long time.  She ended up coming in a few minutes later.  It was obvious she came in because she crashed into the screen door and broke it.  It was so sad.  She sat outside crying until we were able to get the door off the hinges so she could come in.  She had taken her contacts out and she wasn't familiar with screen doors, she just didn't expect it.  She was pretty embarrassed.

After we finally got the kids to bed, Cathy and I stayed up until around 1:30 talking.  I sure do miss her!  We talked a lot about books and Cathy's job.  She gets to teach the gifted kids in her school district, 3rd-5th grade.  She loves it.  Sounds like a perfect job for her.  It was hard to say goodnight, because who knows when we will see each other again. Hopefully it won't take another five years!