A Visit, A Wedding and Lots of Miles...

This past Thursday the Jones' embarked on a long trip to the north... We put Winnie to bed in her carseat and headed out to start our journey. A speeding ticket, lots of coffee and 11 hours later we arrived at Josh & Emily's home in Fort Wayne, Indiana tuckered out. Oh yes, I got a speeding ticket in Virginia...grrr...supposively I was going 76 in a 65 but I KNOW I wasn't, the truck in FRONT of us WAS (can you tell this is still a sensitive topic!!)! It was the early morning when we arrived so Tom headed to bed and I got Winnie ready for the day. She was excited to meet Josh, Emily and their cats....squeeling everytime they gave her attention. We spent the rest of the day touring around Fort Wayne and meeting Emily's parents (and dog, who I could've guessed..slobbered on me...to funny). One interesting fact about Fort Wayne is Vera Bradley's products are made very close, close enough that they have Vera Bradley only stores and hold an annual sale at the convention center (Emily- let me know if you go!). For dinner we headed to the much-talked about Flat Top restaurant...what a treat...we (like everyone else) thought it was yummy!

their home

Josh, Emily & Winnie

Early Saturday morning we piled into the truck and headed up to Grand Rapids, Michigan for Ben & Pam's wedding. After changing our clothes in the car and parking lot we jumped on the trolley to the wedding site. The wedding was very special...they both glowed with joy and emotions. Their love for each other was so apparent...

Ben did get all choked-up preparing to see his bride...

It's official!!

Saturday evening we headed downtown Grand Rapids to celebrate some more with Ben & Pam. Everyone enjoyed snacks and games...oh yes, Ben is a Guitar Hero fan so he entertained his friends with playing some music. What I loved most about the evening was watching the newleyweds truly enjoy each others company...even boxing on the Wii. While we stayed at Ben & Pam's house we got to know their crazy cats....I have NEVER seen a cat scale a wall as far as theirs!! Now I know what Ben talks about during our daily team meetings...

After grabbing some breakfast at a dive in Lowell we started our trek home. On our way we drove through East Lansing to check out the MSU campus and Ann Arbor to see Michigan. At the last minute we got in touch with some old friends, the Swenson's. Their daughter, Alissa, was in my WYLD Life group when I lived in State College and we were always very close. It was a treat to see Betty, Chuck & Kyle on our quick trip through...they are such loving people!

So, after hours of driving we arrived back in Raleigh at 4:30am Monday morning....and my Tommy was exhausted....