Kentucky Reunion 2016

As you can see, the blog has a new title and a new look to fit our new home!  While we no longer live in the "Land of Enchantment", we find our new home quite enchanting in its own way...so that part of the blog title remains.

The past three weeks have been filled with tears, adjustments, and many, many, MANY miles of travel.  We drove three days across the country to North Carolina, where we stayed with Jonathan's parents for a few nights before driving the remaining 6 miles north to Maryland (and here I must pause for a few adorable photos of Benji and his cousin Knox...)

After four days of furious unpacking and trying to settle into our new house, we were back on the road again, heading to the Chicago area for the wedding of Michael and Laura Ippel and the 2016 gathering of the Kentucky Reunion.

The KY Reunion group keeps growing every year!

Mom, Dad, niece Caroline and nephew Andrew were our travel buddies out to Illinois.  We spent one night along the way in the Amish country of Indiana, at a cool hotel called the Blue Gate Garden Inn.  Benji's favorite part was the pool...Mine was the amazing breakfast!

The wedding was beautiful in every way--we love Michael and Laura and who they are as a couple!  My favorite part of the ceremony was the foot-washing that they did for each other.  The reception took place at Abbey Farms in a big barn-style building (Benji was a huge fan of the tractor parked outside!)

From the wedding location, our Kentucky group drove a few hours to Camp Mennohaven in southwestern Illinois.  It was a beautiful spot, with wooded trails and even a little lake.

 Some of the most memorable moments of the reunion week included:

- A hayrack ride that was more exciting than originally planned (the tractor took a wrong turn and the men had to unhitch the wagon and turn it around in the middle of the woods!)

- A trip to town to watch Finding Dory in our own private movie theater

Photo credit to Jessica Bender!

- Fun afternoons down at the pool

Photo credit to Jessica again!

- Playing lots and lots of games

- Watching the skies during a tornado warning!

- Benji's discovery of Play-doh, thanks to Aunt Emily

- Creating the annual adventure race around camp

Overall, it was a wonderful week, even though we were pretty travel-weary by the time we got back home.  And call us crazy, but we're hoping to drive down to Figure 8 Island for the Fourth of July next weekend!  Maybe one day all of these boxes will be unpacked...Until then, we're learning to live with a little more chaos than usual  :)

Benji has become a big fan of Cracker Barrel in all of his cross-country travels!