Pumpkin Cousins

Last weekend we did something we never imagined we'd be able to do.  We drove to see the other Fays.  And it only took 2 hours. And we made it a day trip. Being a family in the ministry means sacrificing some things. Our call to ministry may take us hundreds (hopefully not thousands) of miles away from family and friends.  When we received our call to Davenport we were ecstatic to be only a mere 6 hours away from Nana and Papa and only 20 minutes from Uncle Paul. Wow, we're so close to family compared to some of our friends in the ministry. However, we knew that the likelihood of us living within driving distance of another ministry family like the Fay cousins was going to be a long shot.  And yet, God gives awesome gifts sometimes.

Since Kory and Cara were moving into an unfurnished apartment for the first time in a long time, they needed some basic furniture items.  Yes! Treasure hunting for Kendra! I managed to find a dining room table and chairs from a friend for $50. Conveniently it fit in the back of the van along with the extra play kitchen we had at church that was needing a new home. Leaving super early in the morning gave Karl and I the opportunity to sit in the van and talk for 2 hours straight while the kids slept. I can't remember the last time we had that much of an occasion to just talk about nothing - and to dream dreams of the future. How refreshing.

Once we were in Aurora, it was as if we've always lived this close to the cousins. Lucy greets us on the front stoop yelling, "Aunt Kendra, Aunt Kendra, I'm Lucy, I'm two!" The kids took right up playing while Karl and Kory unloaded the furniture.  June and Lucy are at that age where they would love to play with other two year olds as long as those two year olds don't act like two year olds.  In other words, Cara and I spent a lot of time saying, "you need to share that."

Off to the pumpkin patch went the whole group.  Two Honda Odysseys full of kids and adults ready to explore the sights around Aurora. As soon as we pull into the pumpkin patch parking lot it starts raining.  Oh well, we played in some grain bins and went through a hay bale maze to waste some time then split some pizza slices and apples for lunch.

Finally, the rain stops enough for us to load the big kids into a wheel barrow and strap the babies on our backs (and fronts), and head off to the patch.  We had every intention of picking out 2-3 small pumpkins, but the patch only had gigantic monster pumpkins. We had great fun picking through the very muddy and very full pumpkin patch looking for any pumpkins smaller than a Volkswagen. Sam was very good at finding the small green starts of pumpkins.  Lucy and June were paired with Karl and Kory and covered a lot of ground but it was finally June who found a suitably small pumpkin with Kory. We picked our way out of the patch and headed back to the main barn.  Thankfully, they had mini pumpkins at the front so each kid still felt like they walked away with something.  A quick stop to see if we could get a picture of all five of them sitting still (this is incredibly difficult).

Home for naps (June and Lucy slept hard up in the kids room. Ruben slept on two bean bag chairs in the living room) After a few trips to the grocery store (that is what we get for sending the guys), we went to the cutest little zoo I've ever seen, then enjoyed some dinner together.  After such a full day, the two hour drive home was a little long but well worth it!