We make this trip several times a year, and have established a little routine with it now.

Thursday evening we left after Blake and Grant got home from work, and headed straight to our favorite hotel in Peoria, Illinois.

We made it safely!

But not until almost midnight!

I cannot tell you how grateful I am that our big kiddos join us on these trips when they can!

It means so much to me and even more to their grandparents!

Grant joined us this time, which means we split up into two rooms – one for the girls and one for the boys.

That gave me a very quiet spot since I only had Eliza in my room!

It made for a wonderful quiet morning reading my Bible with a nightlight.

We travel with food, of course, and had breakfast in our room before heading out for our first visit.

There also was a coffee stop, just saying!

The photo below is of Grant’s drink, but it was just so much prettier than mine!!

We had a wonderful, wonderful time with Grandpa and Grandma Nettell!

I literally leave a piece of my heart there every time we drive away.

We pack a lot of conversation into our visits!

Next we headed to Morton, Illinois, which is where Blake and I spent the first thirteen years of our marriage.

Our big kids have memories from there too!

They were eight, four, and three when we moved to Wisconsin.

Ok, back to that Friday…we met Blake’s Mom at our favorite coffee shop for a late afternoon treat and coffee.

It was wonderful, as always!

And we saw our neighbor who lived next to us thirty years ago!!

I can’t believe I recognized her!!

In all of the visiting that was going on, I only took these two photos, good grief.

Our third stop was very anticipated for the lady who is typing these words.

We were meeting a college friend of mine and her husband for dinner in Bloomington, Illinois, on our way to Indianapolis Friday evening!!

Seriously, you all.

Do you have friends in your life where no matter how long you have been apart it is like you have NEVER been apart??

That is my friend Diane for me.

It was the BEST evening and we vowed to see each other more often now – because friendships are PRECIOUS and life is SHORT.

Our whole evening kind of looked like this first photo!!

Did my heart SO good!!

We got to Indianapolis about 11 p.m. Indy time on Friday night.

We had beautiful rooms at our favorite hotel there too!

We woke Saturday morning to a extremely windy and rainy day.

I got to hug my mom on Saturday!!

We headed to my brother and mom’s place after our coffee run and we had breakfast with them.

Since the weather was so terrible, we headed to the grocery store in the morning to get some lunch and a new water bottle for Lane because he forgot his at home.

It was a nice outing and we enjoyed walking around Meijers with my brother and mom!

We hung out after lunch for awhile and then headed out to wander more stores in the late afternoon.

It started clearing off right at sunset, and we witnessed the most BEAUTIFUL sky!

We were tired, so we left my brother and mom’s place pretty early to get everyone showered and ready for a good night’s sleep.

Eliza and I snacked and watched a cooking show, Blake stayed with Tate in their room because he was asleep by 7 p.m., and Grant and Lane went and took advantage of the gym in the hotel!

How thankful I was when we woke up Sunday and I saw the weather out the window!!

The flag was not even moving – which meant that terrible wind was gone!

The nice weather also meant we could be outside at my mom’s, which is my favorite place to be there.

We went for a long walk after breakfast that morning!

By 11:30 Indy time it was time to get on the road.

We had a super long drive back home to Wisconsin that day!

We arrived home safely late in the evening on Sunday and got unloaded and ready for the week ahead.

Yes, these weekends are a whirlwind!

But it is what works and it is SO WORTH IT!!

Looking very forward to many more visits this way, Lord willing!!

We enjoy every minute!!

Ok, maybe not the entire drive all the way back home – it is long!

But we enjoy every minute we have with our family.

It would only be better if they ALL lived HERE and we could see them all the time!

I am thankful for where the Lord has us, but it is hard to be so far from family for sure.

Looking forward to our next trip already!!

You were good to us Illinois and Indianapolis!

See you again soon!