PREPARE YOURSELF FOR OUR LONGEST POST YET...
I, Mama Bear, made the decision early on that if Daddy Bear had to go away for school, then the rest of us would go back to the Midwest/South for a visit halfway through to break up the monotony and give us something to look forward to. Well, we're now over halfway!!!! And we are back home from our trip! We had a blast with our family in Kansas! How we love our "GUS and GAN!"
We got to enjoy beautiful warm weather,
and even fed baby goats at a local farm.
Then after a weekend of fun we loaded up and headed south to see our friends and "family" in Oklahoma.
The first stop was in a city of COWBOYS, bleh! But we were so excited to see friends that I was able to suck it up and look past the sea of orange. :)
Baby Sister got to meet her Godparents...
Madeline wasn't so sure she wanted BS snuggling with her mama.
Meanwhile Little Bear had a lot of fun playing with their older two.
We could've stayed with these friends for days but we had a tight schedule to keep. So next we headed to OKC to visit an overwhelming number of more fantastic friends!
We had breakfast with some very sweet Air Force friends that first morning in OKC.
Then spent the afternoon with my best friends from college.
That evening Baby Sister and I had dinner with some of my closest girlfriends from high school...
...while Little Bear played with his closest friend from babyhood/childhood and her little brother. LB and "Aubbie" are 4 days apart in age and have always had the GREATEST time together. We hadn't seen their family for a year but the kids didn't miss a beat! They had a fabulous time playing together (and I would be lying if I said we hadn't already started planning LB and Aubbie's wedding ;D)!
The next day was spent with some of the wonderful ladies from my OK Catholic Women's Group. At my request we enjoyed some grass-fed beef at my favorite burger place in OKC.
Then went back to one of their houses for the BEST cupcakes ever from my favorite cupcake place ever!! Mmmmmmmmm! Bliss! (You can see Baby Sis wanted a little taste of that heaven too.)
And we ended the day potlucking with an incredible group of friends we used to go to church with, several of whom were in our music ministry group.
The next day LB got to sit in my old chair at my old desk in my old classroom where I used to teach 4th graders. Awwwww, memories!
We visited with some of my old coworkers,
and had breakfast with a dear friend and retired teacher, AND the sweetest (and most talented) principal EVER!!!!
The kids posed for me in front of the church where their parents were married,
and then we dropped in to visit three of my sweet, sweet former students. Man I love these kids!
Next stop was our old neighborhood. LB and I took a picture in front of our first home as a Braun family (also the house we brought LB home to from the hospital).
We chatted with one of the kindest neighbors we could've asked for.
And headed to our destination for the rest of the afternoon and evening. Poor LB was wiped yet again!
Baby Sister got to play all evening long, with her sweet friend, Aubrey, only one week apart in age.
They had a great time together!
And LB had a lot of fun too!
And perhaps best of all, I got to catch up with another very dear old friend.
Sadly this was our last stop in Oklahoma and we headed back early Good Friday morning for more family time in Kansas. LB got some great grandma snuggles from his GJ (who we all ADORE).
And we even got to play with some of our sweet cousins from Iowa who drove down just to see us for Easter weekend!
Easter Sunday brought Mass, pretty clothes,...
...Easter egg hunts, ...
...and Easter presents.
With tears brimming we packed up our suitcases and headed to the airport for the long flight home. Luckily the Easter Bunny had found us at home too so we had one more Easter egg hunt before heading to bed for some MUCH NEEDED REST.
