Next Destination, please!!!

It was time to leave Minneapolis and our sweet quarantine apartment space in St. Paul, and head down to Indiana where Barb’s family hangs out.  Because, well…we like to hang out with our families!  And there had been a seismic shift that had happened in our thoughts about being in exile in the US…we were going to be able to attend the wedding of one of Barb’s nephews in Indiana, thanks to the fact that we were now in the US in November and 20 November was their date!

So we loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly...Hills that is....well, not quite as the song goes!  But it did take a few trips with the elevator to get all our suitcases, food, cold food, presents, games and assorted things that we were beginning to acquire along the way down from the 21st floor to the car ~ and thus began another part of the journey...

 

You might not recognize us, but we are the proud aunties of the groom ~

The drive between MN and IN is really quite fun ~ trust us when we say this, since we’ve done this particular drive numerous times over the 16 years that we’ve been married!  It was so “covid pandemic weird”, though, not to stop along the way in some of our usual spots in Wisconsin.  There was just so much covid going on in Wisconsin at the time that all we wanted to do was stop for gas and bathroom breaks ~ with our masks on and plenty of hand sanitizer readily available…wash your hands in the bathroom, swish a little hand sanitizer as you paid for the gas, again when you got in the car…we were being careful.

 

Because...we wanted to arrive safely ~ and without covid ~ as we entered another home and started hanging out with Barb’s family.  Lots of games and laughter around meals and deep conversations.  We “went” to church in Indiana, in Chicago, and of course in Sweden every Sunday.  Guess you might call that a pandemic perk to be able to go to so many worship services all in one day!  We even managed to sneak out a ride to the Indiana sand dunes and national park, and the sun and blue skies were out in great abundance that day.

It was a glorious day to enjoy Lake Michigan and the Indiana Sand Dunes ~ and we got in the park for free!!!  One of those things that happens when you're there in November :-)

Just amazing what a little sunshine can bring out!

 

Ryan and Heather tied the knot in a quiet ceremony with 50 of us in attendance.  Though their hearts were disappointed that their 225+ friends couldn’t come, we were thankful to be among the 50 that were able to be in attendance to celebrate.  And celebrate well we sure did!

It was definitely a day to remember ~ so thankful that we could be there, as Steve was the pastor officiating and auntie Barb (also known as Ryan's godmother) got the chance to pray over the newlyweds.

My beautiful family ~

This was super pretty...and super yummy!

Proud aunties and one proud uncle!

Thanksgiving is one of those American holidays that everyone else in the world is so curious to know about, so of course we have roasted turkeys and baked pumpkin pies in every corner of the world we have lived in ~ Berlin, Karawa (Congo), Yaloké (Central African Republic), Antwerp, Belgium and now Malmö, Sweden will never be the same as thanksgiving traditions have been introduced in their neighborhoods.  But you haven’t really celebrated Thanksgiving until you’ve done it at Barb’s sister’s home, where you can have your turkey smoked, deep fried, or baked in the oven.  So thankful to give thanks with just 10 people at social distanced safe spaces.

Oops….someone tested positive for covid, so we decided to quarantine for 10 days in Indiana.  We weren’t positive for any virus, just positive about another 10 days with family and friends.

By this time, we knew we had residency permits and they were in the mail, registered mail, as in we paid extra kronor for those permits to arrive safely to the US. So we started our journey back up to Minnesota…

Destination number.....sometimes it's just better not to count!