Second stop

After two nights in Columbus, IN, we hit the road and drove up to Warsaw, IN to Mike's parents' house. They still live in the same location where Mike holds many childhood memories, though the actual house has changed and grown quite a bit over the years. 

David and Juan like to skip rocks whenever we find a lake or any body of water, so they had fun skipping rocks on their grandpa's pond, especially since it was frozen! They eventually got bored with the rock skipping and decided to find the biggest and heaviest rocks around to see which  ones would break through the ice.

We visited with a lot of different family members during our few days in Warsaw, so we didn't have the opportunity to visit with friends as we would have liked (and then it snowed all day on our last day, so that took away our chances to squeeze in any last-minute visits, anyway). But thankfully my mother-in-law and I share a mutual friend, so we both went out to lunch with her on our second day in town while the boys and Mike went out to lunch with Mike's dad. We got to see my friend's daughter, too, because we went to her restaurant and she waited on us. :) She's an excellent waitress and super sweet. :)

Juan got his chance to start bonding with a few of his cousins. These two absolutely adored him, and he seemed to have a blast just hanging out with them. 

 My mother-in-law and I had a HUGE wrapping party. I loved seeing her get so excited about all the gifts she'd gotten her grandchildren.  She picked things out to fit each of their personalities and interests, and she couldn't wait to watch their eyes light up when they opened their gifts. I will have to say, it was one of the most bonding trips I've ever had with her, especially since we're both rather quiet people and have never been known to talk a lot. 

Our time in Warsaw gave us a chance to reconnect with my in-laws, visit with a friend, randomly run into two other friends in town, visit with Mike's brothers and their kids, and visit with Mike's grandma and aunt on his mom's side and then his aunt and uncle on his dad's side. We got to go to a Christmas Eve service at Mike's parents' church after it had snowed ALL DAY LONG and continued to snow while we were there. 

Mike and I both agreed, it was a restful, relaxing time at his parents' house and likely one of our best trips back to Warsaw. Definitely one to cherish. 

Next stop: Fort Wayne, IN