Tuesday, July 17, turned out to be a very long day since we tried to travel a little farther than was reasonable and see more people then was realistic. But we had a wonderful time in Detroit -- Joshua didn't want to leave his cousins Baker, Regan and Riley -- so we were very glad to have added that portion of our trip.
We left Detroit around 9:00 a.m. and headed to South Bend, IN, where our friends Bill and Lisa live. I have known Bill since I was in 3rd grade in the Philippines where both of our parents were missionaries. I met Lisa in the 80s when we all attended Trinity Presbyterian Church together. They have lived in South Bend since Bill was accepted for his PhD at Notre Dame and then became a prof at St. Mary's. We had a quick driving tour of the Notre Dame campus and a great late lunch on a restaurant patio overlooking the river while the clouds threatened to rain, but didn't. Joshua has been thrilled to wear his Notre Dame T-shirt once he found out that he is part Irish, but our die-hard USC friends here in Southern California may not be as pleased.
We left South Bend around 2:00 and headed for Bloomington, IL. We drove south of Chicago and were fortunate not to hit too much afternoon traffic. With the added hour -- driving from the eastern to central time zone -- we were able to get to our friends Jeff and Pam's home for a late dinner around 6:30. Jeff and I were math majors together at Biola, but I didn't really get to know him until after college when we were both involved at Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton. That is also where Jon and Jeff became good friends as well. Jeff and Pam have four children and Joshua was thrilled to learn new games and run around in the backyard even when it started to sprinkle.
We had a few hours Wednesday morning to hang out in Bloomington before Jeff headed to work -- he is a prof at the University of Illinois and is actually using his math major -- amazing. We headed back to route 66 but got lost in some corn fields looking for Funks Grove, so we headed on down the road to Springfield, IL, where we truly enjoyed walking around down town and touring the Lincoln Presidential Museum. Can you tell which person in the picture does not belong to the Lincoln family?
We ended the day in St. Louis, MO, with Bobbie and John Lautenschlager -- great name, isn't it? Jon met them when he was a Marine Security Guard in Sierra Leon, West Africa, and they were missionaries there. I had met Bobbie and John in 1991 when I drove with Jon out to Southern California. We had discovered then, but I had forgotten, that John, who grew up in Terra Bella, California, a few miles from where my dad grew up on the France Family Farm, was actually taught to fly by my uncle Paul France. Talk about a small world. Oh, yeah, and my OBGyn when Joshua was born knew John from when they both were interns at the same hospital in St. Louis. So we have lots of connections to this wonderful couple. They treated us to a home-cooked meal and then a driving tour of St. Louis. We discovered that there are many great kid-friendly activities in the city and so need to plan another trip out some day.
We left Detroit around 9:00 a.m. and headed to South Bend, IN, where our friends Bill and Lisa live. I have known Bill since I was in 3rd grade in the Philippines where both of our parents were missionaries. I met Lisa in the 80s when we all attended Trinity Presbyterian Church together. They have lived in South Bend since Bill was accepted for his PhD at Notre Dame and then became a prof at St. Mary's. We had a quick driving tour of the Notre Dame campus and a great late lunch on a restaurant patio overlooking the river while the clouds threatened to rain, but didn't. Joshua has been thrilled to wear his Notre Dame T-shirt once he found out that he is part Irish, but our die-hard USC friends here in Southern California may not be as pleased.
We left South Bend around 2:00 and headed for Bloomington, IL. We drove south of Chicago and were fortunate not to hit too much afternoon traffic. With the added hour -- driving from the eastern to central time zone -- we were able to get to our friends Jeff and Pam's home for a late dinner around 6:30. Jeff and I were math majors together at Biola, but I didn't really get to know him until after college when we were both involved at Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton. That is also where Jon and Jeff became good friends as well. Jeff and Pam have four children and Joshua was thrilled to learn new games and run around in the backyard even when it started to sprinkle.
We had a few hours Wednesday morning to hang out in Bloomington before Jeff headed to work -- he is a prof at the University of Illinois and is actually using his math major -- amazing. We headed back to route 66 but got lost in some corn fields looking for Funks Grove, so we headed on down the road to Springfield, IL, where we truly enjoyed walking around down town and touring the Lincoln Presidential Museum. Can you tell which person in the picture does not belong to the Lincoln family?
We ended the day in St. Louis, MO, with Bobbie and John Lautenschlager -- great name, isn't it? Jon met them when he was a Marine Security Guard in Sierra Leon, West Africa, and they were missionaries there. I had met Bobbie and John in 1991 when I drove with Jon out to Southern California. We had discovered then, but I had forgotten, that John, who grew up in Terra Bella, California, a few miles from where my dad grew up on the France Family Farm, was actually taught to fly by my uncle Paul France. Talk about a small world. Oh, yeah, and my OBGyn when Joshua was born knew John from when they both were interns at the same hospital in St. Louis. So we have lots of connections to this wonderful couple. They treated us to a home-cooked meal and then a driving tour of St. Louis. We discovered that there are many great kid-friendly activities in the city and so need to plan another trip out some day.
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