By mommie2zs in Coffee — Feb 8, 2020

Virginia Visit For Two

Kate and Bets had two days off school, so Yessa and I took the opportunity to pop up to Virginia for a surprise visit. (We tried to surprise them, but they both suspected.)

Both of them reached out to tell me how sorry they were when my brother died, without prompting from their moms, and their kindness touched my heart. They mean so very much to our whole family, and I love when we have the chance to hang out, watch them play basketball, play games, and visit. This was my chance to heal my heart by time with Kel and Paula, while the girls’ giggles and antics washed over me.

We left bright and early on Friday morning.

I asked Yessa to take the picture below, which intrigued us both.

The SUV in the front of the left lane is a police officer, and all the rest of us lined up like the cars at the Indy 500 since no one wanted to test the limits by zooming past the officer.

The girls had an overnight birthday party at Great Wolf Lodge, leaving right from school on Friday afternoon, so Yessa and I spent Friday evening and Saturday morning relaxing and visiting.

Yessa helping Kel with technology needs.

A group from the girls’ old elementary school had a fundraiser for animal rescue in Australia.

The time for the girls to return home finally arrived, and we were increasingly excited.

Finally they arrived!

And with their arrival we all settled into that comfortable friendship that makes it feel like no time has passed since the last time we were together.

Saturday evening we watched some of our favorite Netflix show, Just Add Magic and just enjoyed being together.

Sunday we ditched church in favor of being together, baking, basketball, laughter, and relaxation.

The girls had basketball (a victory!), and Kel and PJP had a bowling fundraiser, so Yessa and I stayed at home to get through some work, then we picked the girls up from the bowling alley. We stopped by the grocery store to get the supplies the girls needed to make the brookie ice cream sandwiches they had been dreaming of, plus anything else they needed for making dinner on Monday night after their moms got home from work.

At the grocery store I pretended not to know them as they meandered down the aisles, and tried to stuff each other in the ice coolers.

They are just so darn lovable.

Back at home they whipped up the brownies and we played around until the bowling event was complete and we headed out for a celebratory sushi dinner together.

Monday morning the moms were off to work and the rest of us settled in for a delicious day.

When we are all together, even breakfast prep brings laughter.

They do put together some gorgeous food.

The day flew by, and as darkness began to creep in with the setting sun, the fearless trio got to work on dinner prep.

They pulled off a delicious meal of avocado toast, pancakes, bacon, and scrambley eggs.

And then off to basketball most of us went.

Kel got in a little tag before the official game began.

Another victory under their belts, we headed home for another sleep.

Tuesday morning was a beautiful day, and Kel stayed home from work to play with us.

We had a quick walk to get Della’s nails done at the salon.

Then we played a version of Uno that was new to us: Uno Dare.

Hilarity ensued.

Having these great, responsible, grown-up kiddos, Kel and I headed off for dinner and conversation, just the two of us. We enjoyed a delicious dinner at True Foods.

And then I almost killed us both by making Kelly laugh so hard while she was driving. I was simply explaining to her about how I talk to myself to process the voices in my head, and it struck her as so funny she began to cry with laughter, clutching her stomach, and I had to follow suit.

We did manage to make it home safely.

We also discovered that we had each purchased new shoes that we didn’t care for, but were trying to love, and as soon as we swapped them we both had happy feet.

Then we both took the same picture of the shoes.