Tati visits

L's friend, Tati, jas been bisiting her. Here they are with friend J and roommate T at Universal. (Not sure about that shirt L is wearing).

W couldn't join them at Universal because he had to work the next day but over weekend he went with the girls to Disney.

He bought L a pair of Coach sunglasses ...

and a nifty pair for himself.

He looks pretty happy with this Pirates of the Caribbean light-up sword. (Someone must have had a payday).

Here they are on one of my favorite rides. Hopefully, I'll be on it soon!

Pretty sure Tati went along for L's Halloween-decoration shopping and helped decirate the apartment.

Mahjong hat trick

Andy was lucky last night at mahjong. We played four games - one was a wall game (no winner) and Andy won the other three.

Apparently winning three games in a night is a hat trick so he got three ducks and one of those is wearing a hat.

We were playing with Allison's newest set which apparently was lucky ... at least for Andy.

Back to the city

Here's the retreat gang posing for an after-breakfast group shot Sunday morning.

We had breakfast, loaded up the car, decided to skip worship and were on our way home.

We made a quick stop in New Buffalo, Mich., to see the lake since we didn't walk to the beach from camp.

Then we made a quick detour to the Albanese candy shop where we got a huge bag of gummi bears for $10. Andy bought a bag to take into work too.

Back in Chicago.

Full retreat day

Saturday morning started with breakfast followed by our one "churchy" activity. Afterward Andy and I went to the local thrift and antique stores but didn't find any treasurer.

We went into Sawyer to a produce store. Aren't these flowers pretty?

We bought some honeycrisp apples and triple berry jam.

Lunch was a salad, grilled chicken fingers, roasyed sweet potatoes, and mac and cheese. It was ok but it was better than dinner - salad, veggie lasagne, garlic bread and corn chowder. I had the salad and bread. And no dessert? Fortunately, a church member provided dessert later so I got my chocolate fix.

After lunch we drove to Watermark Brewing Co., in Stevensville, just north of our camp.

We enjoyed a beer in their large beer garden.

I wanted to see the lake without walking, if possible, so we drove to Glenlord Beach Park in Stevensville. There was free parking but no beach access. Boo.

We found a Meijer grocery store so I convinced Andy to stop so I could get some Diet Coke. We also bought Jiffy Pop popcorn for 25 cents. I miss having a Meijer store nearby. I didn't buy these but how cute a football-shaped chocolate chips?

Back at camp, we had a (cold) outdoor happy hour, the bad dinner then played a trivia game. My team lost.

We finished the game time with my friend Maureen explaining the directions to a balloon game. Our team won that one but another team claimed victory too so we had to share the honors. Let's just say some people are way too competitive.

Then it was time for Andy to start the campfire! I didn't last outside for long because it was pretty cold and I was wearing a T-shirt, flannel shirt and sweatshirt. THe low temperature was 42 to 45. Brrr. The good thing, though, was that B called.

Retreating time

We left about 1 p.m. for our annual church retreat in Michigan. The one good thing about driving through Indiana is lower gas prices.

Our first Michigan stop was the Church Brewery in New Buffalo, Mich.

We drove our friend Leslie to the retreat and here we are enjoying our first drink. Cheers! Her husband went to camp a few days earlier to help with some landscaping so he drove over and joined us.

We checked in at camp then went to the Red Arrow Roadhouse for dinner.

I had the beer special - an Alaskan amber - just like I had on the Alaskan cruise.

We're staying with Leslie and Byron in a cabin with a full kitchen ...

it's nice because we have a comfortable sitting where we can all relax and talk.

Thursday sunrise

Andy left early for work on Thursday and sent this picture of the sunrise from the train station.

Seeing double

I was looking through my stash of puzzles to decide which I should do next and noticed I had this puzzle twice. At least the boxes are different.

It did come in handy when a neighbor asked for a trade for, yes, another cat puzzle.

This is art?

Driving on Lake Street yesterday I saw this huge construction cone. It's either an art sculpture or a sign of some really big construction coming lol.

Back home

I left Darla's Monday morning for my drive back. The temperatures took a deep divee and it was a bit drizzly most of the way home. This was leaving Worden. I like to see the corn!

I had to stop at Avanti's in Normal to get gondolas for dinner. I could have driven back Sunday but Avanti's is closed on Sundays, and I didn't think Darla was too tired of me yet, so I stayed. It was a better drive with overcast clouds than it would have been on Sunday.

I veered off of Main Street/Illinois 51 to find Route 66 in Normal so I could see Sprague's Super Service station. I saw the Route 66 sign and the service station was just beyond it.

It is in a part of Normal north of the campus area so in all the years I was there for school, I never knew where Route 66 was. During my time I think the station was out of business and likely an eyesore. It was purchased in 2006, fixed up and listed on the National Register of Historic Places two years later. It's now owned by the Town of Normal and is a local landmark too.

It was neat to see though I didn't go inside where there's a gift shop and visitors center.

Unpacking at home, I almost forgot I picked up these seeds from a U of I Extension Service booth at the honey festival we stopped at. I put three kids through U of I, the least I can do is take their freebies. The cats grabbed the jar opener, though, and chewed it up.

Yikes.

One last day

Darla and I left the Shawnee area Sunday morning, stopping in Edwardsville on the way back to get some pumpkins to decorate her front porch for fall.

Darla surprised me by getting me this Shawnee Hills Wine Trail T-shirt. She got one for herself too so we can be twins if the mood strikes us.

The back has logos of all the various wineries. We visited six of them. On the drive back to her house we started brainstorming next year's girls trip - Route 66 from St. Louis westward? Bentonville, Ark.? Memphis? Cape Girardeau, Mo.? New Orleans? Georgia? Maybe a route that hits a few of the towns?

Darla made a yummy taco salad for dinner and then Seymour finally came out of the bedroom and started sniffing around my things. He had been staying in their bedroom to hide from me but even played with me a bit.

I'd say this holds true.