{a treat of a day}

My wonderful friend Julie lives in Canada and comes to Illinois every other year. I always do my best to spend time with her while she is here, but this year was just a little tricky to make work. The first part of her visit was spent with her family in Chicago and the last part of her visit didn't work for me. I was feeling a little sad to think of missing the chance to spend some time with her when my sweet, sweet husband offered to take the day off so that Katie and I could drive to Decatur to see her.

On Wednesday afternoon I surprised Gracie by asking her if she would like to play hooky from school on Thursday to go along with us. We packed an overnight bag and left as soon as Ben got home from work. The drive was pretty great. I loved having two and a half hours to talk and sing with my little girls. We arrived at my parent's house in just enough time to cheer for the Cardinal's big win.

Thursday was just an all around great day. We spent the morning with Julie and her girls at Rock Springs Nature Center. The girls had a ball together and I loved, loved the chance to catch up with my old friend. There is such a comfort and familiarity that goes along with a twenty year friendship; we greeted one another with a big hug and then jumped right into conversation. It was great to look up at one point and spot our little girls holding hands with one another.

After a few hours in the sunshine, we left the Ghodsian girls and took some lunch to my grandma.  We enjoyed our Krekel's burgers and shakes with her and laughed together at some of Katie's silly antics. It was great to see my grandma so happy to see Katie. She kept telling Gracie that Katie looks just like her and that both of the girls looked just like me. She asked both of the girls for many hugs. Every time that Gracie hugged her gently, my grandma would say, "I'm not gonna break! You can hug me harder than that!" We enjoyed sitting in the sunshine on her front porch swing and hearing about a camping trip that she took with me when I was Katie's age.

Katie was just confused by the Krekel's car. 

After leaving my grandma, my mom was home from work for the day and she and I offered to take Gracie out to the mall for a bit. She was thrilled! She was even more excited when my dad and my niece met us there. We didn't have much time, but Gracie and Addi enjoyed shopping together at Claire's... and I think Gram enjoyed the chance to spoil them just a little bit. After lots of penny wishes at the fountain, we left the mall with little girls decked out with new jewelry.

After the mall, it was time for Gracie and Katie to get to spend a fun evening with the Hedenbergs while I met Julie and another friend from high school for dinner. My girls had a fun couple of hours playing Barbies, jumping on the trampoline, and playing with a neighbor's puppy while I enjoyed a good meal and great conversation with two old friends.

We intended to drive back to St. Louis after dinner, but as it got later in the evening, it got harder to be excited about a long drive so late at night. The busy day was catching up with me and I was feeling pretty sleepy.  We ended up crashing at my parent's house and getting up super early this morning to make the drive. Even the drive itself surprised me by being pretty okay. The girls slept the whole way and I got two quiet hours to think and sip coffee and listen to music and watch the sunrise- not a bad way to start a day, even if it is 4:45 when that day has to start.

All in all, it was just a great little trip. I loved the extra time with my little girls. I loved seeing my grandma. I loved the extra time with our family. I loved the chance to catch up with old friends. I loved the sunshine and the pretty Midwestern fall weather.

What a treat of a day.