Today, the three of us traveled back to Champaign to stir up some memories from when we were first married.
After morning Mass, we headed off on I-74. Joseph fell asleep as soon as we hit the road. Megan and I talked about old memories, and listened to cartoons on the radio. After driving through Peoria Joseph woke up, so Megan crawled into the back to feed him. The drive was nice and clear without much traffic congestion.
We arrived in Champaign, took Neil Street to get to campus. Many familiar things started coming back. We drove to our first apartment on 6th street, and parked in the free parking lot next to it. We saw a woman (who lived down the hall from us) tending to her plants like she had the first summer we were married. We strolled off to the Church across the street to see the new renovations that had been completed last August. It was nice seeing the place where we were married.
It was past noon, and Megan and I were both hungry. We decided to walk down the street to eat at Panera Bread. When we were still on campus Megan and I enjoyed taking a walk to Panera to eat lunch from time to time.
We then took a walk over to the Quad. We retraced paths that we had walked almost every day while we were on campus. The familiar graffiti on the quad was just where it had been. We headed over to our second apartment on Green Street... what Megan and I called our tree house apartment! It seems like we just moved out yesterday.
We headed back to the quad and let Joseph out of his stroller to play a bit. After watching many people go buy we headed to Marrow’s plots and the underground library! We were all string to get tired, and we were ready to head back. We stopped by Newman one last time, and I mentioned how without the people something from our visit seemed to be missing.
Before we left, we surprisingly ran into a handful of people who we haven’t seen since we left. (They too were visiting campus!)
Before we left, we made a quick stop to pickup some a couple bottle of Belgium beer that seems impossible to get up here in the QCs.
Again, shortly after we got fueled up and on the road, Joseph went out like a light, and didn’t wake up until after we got through Peoria.
Beautiful day for a drive!
[back]Last Friday Megan, Joseph and I were able to take some time away from work, and our daily routine to travel to see our family in North Carolina. Miriam (my sister-in-law) was being confirmed, and chose Megan to be her sponsor.
After much crazy airport happenings (note: Joseph did fine on the plane), we were picked up from the airport by the Dick, Diane, Miriam and Molly! After a long drive from the airport we arrived safely at the McDonalds House. Matt had stayed home to clean house... and did a wonderful job of hiding everything under couches and in closets ;-). Michael, and his new (and very nice) fiancée Kate had also spent the day traveling and had arrived shortly before we got home. It was late, and everyone was tired, so after talking for a just a couple hours most of us headed off for bed.
Saturday morning we visited with Aunt "Cookie" and Uncle Chuck. The weather was nice outside so we spent a lot of time on the deck talking. The green clouds of evergreen pollen /spores were beautiful to watch but didn’t do so well up the nose. Aunt Peggy and Uncle Bob stopped by to visit, and brought with them a new experience called "The Wonderful Pizzelle" (actually I added the first part.) A pizzelle is a cookie-waffle like Italian desert. That night we were treated to lasagna, and were able to eat and talk outside. Joseph spent most of the day dancing / bouncing / crumpling papers and saying "tis tis" We think that translates to "Who is this?" and "What is this?"
We were up early for Sunday Mass, and for breakfast we had waffles with Kate’s maple syrup that she had brought from her home in Maine. That afternoon there was a party for people to come and visit. Megan and I were married, and had Joseph... Michael and Kate were engaged, and Miriam was being confirmed. A lot of people came by. I met a lot of people, and saw a lot of familiar faces. Joseph loved the attention and let everyone know when he wasn’t getting enough! That night after everything had settled down we all watched the new peter pan movie on Molly’s computer... it was pretty good. Oh yeah, how could I forget the evil dead ground squirrel head that was left (by Matt) boiling on the stove in the kitchen for Megan to find!!! (We all know Michael told him to do it!)
I was very tired Monday. I slept in, so I missed a bit in the morning. We went shopping for steaks wine and baby cloths... which in my opinion.... is a very good combination. However... shopping always drains me, so after we got home, I sat down for a few minutes only to wake up a couple hours later. ?!?! I did wake up in time to eat a very tasty steak for dinner. That night was Miriam’s confirmation. Miriam and about 16 others received the Sacrament. It is always a good day to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit. (Congratulations Again!) When we came home we opened the bottle of wine we got earlier... it was very good... I had plenty... that was the end of that day.
We got up Tuesday morning to go to Mass. When we got home, we started packing, and getting everything together. Aunt "Cookie" brought over another new experience called "The Wonderful Whoopee Pie" (yeah I know... real creative Adam!) Anyway... I think I have Megan convinced to make whoopee pies too! After saying some goodbyes, (Kate and Michael were heading back too) we headed back to the airport with Dick and Diane, and Kate and Michael following. I didn’t like the second airport experience all that much. That’s all I have to say about that. We said our final goodbyes (Joseph waved the way he does), and we made our way through the gauntlet of security apes. The flight home had some beautiful scenery and Joseph thought so to, because he decided not to sleep at all. My folks were at Moline to pick us up, and were very happy to see Megan, Joseph, and I... but mostly Joseph!
Home again home again... refreshed and ready to get back into the routine again!
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