Day 6: Saying Goodbye

The one thing I wanted to do before we left was to find the letterbox that was hidden in Archbold. It was a great clue and an easy find. As much fun as we have finding letterboxes, there is an equal amount of drama over who is going to actually find the box and remove it. Today was no exception, in fact, it was worse than usual. BUT we found the box!

We visited with Grandma for a little bit. The children finished off the popsicles she had in the freezer for them. Aliza gave Grandma Rhoda the sweetest hug good bye. She will remember Grandma Rhoda now. It's always hard to say good bye to Grandma, but today was not the day for tears for me. Jeremy headed back to Detroit to the airport and Mom and the kids and I set off to Strausburg, Ohio.

Our destination was a short afternoon visit with Heather and her family. Heather was on the team that I went to Kenya with way back in 1998. We haven't seen each other in many, many years. Given the week we had, I thought of cancelling this visit. I'm glad I didn't. Heather and I had a lot in common and were able to reconnect. Heather has 4 children just a year or so older than mine. She filled us up with snacks and the kids got to run around.

We had to make it to Johnstown, PA that night. Johnstown was where our van was parked at the transmission shop and close to where we needed to return the rental car. From Strousburg to Johnstown we were not on the turnpike and it seemed like it took FOREVER to drive the 3 hours we had left. Our route took us through Pittsburg which was a fun little adventure for the children. I prefer to take them to the middle of nowhere. They haven't had city adventures yet.

We arrived at the hotel at 10:30--utterly exhausted. When we got to the room, Josiah promptly cut his foot on the bathroom door. It was bleeding. He was screaming. Mom had to go to the front desk for bandaids. Isaiah leaned over to look at Josiah's cut and the boys hit heads. Add Isaiah's screams to the mix. Then Anna decided she did not want to get ready for bed and she got in on the screaming. I thought about curling up in a ball, but that would have just made everyone scream louder.

One. More. Day.