What Happens in Ft. Wayne Stays in Ft. Wayne!

This past weekend Danny and I traveled to Indiana for a wedding. Months ago, Danny's good friend/ASU classmate, Jeremy, invited Danny to be an usher in his Lutheran wedding held in Indianapolis. We made plans, of course, for a little get away and hoped to stay at the Garns' (my sister and her family) house in Ann Arbor, MI and drive down to Indianapolis for the wedding that Saturday. It turns out that Ann Arbor is a good 5 hours from Indianapolis, so my Michelle suggested that they join us somewhere in the middle for a couple of days without their kids. At first I thought she wasn't serious and that it'd never happen. But then plans really began to come together and from there it snowballed into my other sister, Jennifer, and her husband, David, joining us. From there it snowballed into my mom coming as well. It was going to be a long-awaited couples trip with some of my side of the family (it took a while for all of us to get married and then for some to get out of school and actually be making a decent income)! Ft. Wayne, IN is the midpoint between Ann Arbor and Indianapolis, so that's where we decided to meet. On Thursday,Danny and I flew into Indianapolis, then drove to up Ft. Wayne. My mom, Jennifer, and David all flew into Detroit, where Byron and Michelle picked them up at the airport, and then they all drove together down to Ft. Wayne that same day. So, we had Thursday evening, all of Friday, and Saturday morning together and it was BEYOND FUN to have just us adults!! No nap/feeding schedules to work around, no crying/whining kids, no waking up at the crack of dawn get the kids fed. Just us adults to do whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. It was GREAT and we lived it up the best we could in the short time we had. We're so glad everyone joined us and we had the best time! A big thank-you goes to my wonderful in-laws for tending our kids for us! Oh, a quick post-script: we had some good laughs as Danny and I drove through Gas City. We called the other car on their way to Ft. Wayne and made lots of jokes about it. Mostly, though, it reminded us how much we'd miss Brian and Heidi on the trip.

Our first night we went out to a local Italian restaurant. It was so tasty! Left to right: me, Danny, Byron, Michelle, Jennifer, David, and Mom.

The "mango". Okay, it's really the loaf of bread Jennifer used to demonstrate to all of us uneducated people how to cut up a mango.











Mom with her favorite sons-in-law. Sorry Byron - sucka!!

We shared a hotel room with Byron and Michelle. They kindly volunteered to sleep on the sofa bed. We hope their backs aren't jacked up.

Heading off to bed for some much needed sleep after staying up way too late.

In the morning down stairs enjoying our free continental breakfast.

After breakfast we hung out in David, Jennifer, and Mom's room deciding what to do after Plan I (touring a pickle factory) fell through. David was actually being productive on his computer.

Everyone else just hung around. Danny and Mom doing a Sudoku puzzle.

Byron and Jennifer shooting the breeze.

Michelle doing a Sudoku puzzle.

The sisters. We don't look that much alike, do we?

So, since Ft. Wayne isn't so much a tourist city like, say San Francisco or NYC, we decided to, yes, go goofy golfing. But it was so much fun because it was just us grown-ups.

Here we are. The weather was just right.

We liked teasing Mom about her unique stance with her feet spread way apart, her knees locked, and her toes pointed out. Good form, Mom!

Four!!

Us girls. We chose to play the "Safari Course".

Byron and Jennifer celebrating their holes in one. Michelle felt she deserved to be part of the picture even though she only got a fake hole in one. Typical. :)

Here's where we stopped for lunch after golfing. No, it's not a store where one can purchase granite for a counter top or something. It's an exclusively Mid-western restaurant where they serve superbly delicious food.

Friday night we went to a play in downtown Ft. Wayne at the Civic Center. We even got front row seats. Overall, we thought it was kind of weird, too long, and not quite what we were expecting. It was still fun, though, to spend a night out on the town just because we could.

Byron and Michelle in front of the stage. Unfortunately, the picture doesn't show the background well enough for Eunice the pianist or Tom the bass player to be seen. They were interesting folks.