This is our little nephew Ethan, and we had a blast babysitting him! Kyle was transformed into a jungle gym for the afternoon and I got a little bit of exercise chasing him all over the house!
You may be asking yourself, "Where is that child's pants??" Well, let me tell you. I changed his diaper, and he decided he would rather have no diaper or pants on so I told him run free, child!! So he did. Next thing we know, he decided he had to go to the bathroom again... right on the carpet! (no worries, it was only #1... sorry for the details...)
Here's a video of Ethan chasing a ball and then crash landing right into Uncle Kyle!
Reunion Time!
One thing I love about being home is being so close to friends and family. We definitely took advantage of being in the same country of our friends these past few weeks! First, I went to a little get-together with the girls from my college Bible study in Westerville. It was so good to be able to talk and catch up with every one in person, instead of through e-mail!
When we headed to Illinois, I went to a mini-reunion with girls from my sorority, Alpha Chi Omega. I hadn't seen some of these girls since we graduated!
I also went down to the city a day early to hang out with some of the AXO girls that also lived in Melee. I loved seeing them and catching up, especially since we've been spread all over the country & the world! Rachel lives in Cincinnati, Ellie & Kristen live together in Chicago, and Colleen was on a two-week break from Africa, where she serves in the Peace Corps.
Kyle was able to catch up with a lot of his friends as well (though we don't have any pictures to prove it!) He headed downtown Naperville one night to hang out with friends from high school, and then he also went to Chicago for somewhat of a fraternity reunion of his own!
Extreme Tubing Time!
We also had time to to spend a day at Kyle's Uncle Jim & Aunt Eileen's lake house at Lake Carrol in Illinois. We spent our time soaking up the sun, while Kyle skied and Kevin showed off is wake boarding skills.
Now, Uncle Jim is known for providing some crazy tube rides, so we braced ourselves before hopping in the water. Well, we should have prepared more because it was out of control - we still have the scrapes and bruises to prove it! Our hats go of to Andrea & Kevin because as we gripped onto those tubes for dear life, they acted like it was no big deal. Even when they sent one tube flying through the air over top of the other! Obviously, we had a blast!
Puppy Time!
Andrea's new favorite date: going to the pet store and playing with puppies! Most of our friends who are married now have puppy-additions in their family, and knowing this wouldn't be the greatest time for us to get a dog, there's no harm in going to look, right?
(Kyle's jokes that he knows one day we're going to go, and I'm going to fall in love with one of the pups, but luckily, it hasn't happened yet!)
But let me tell you, it is so good to be back in the amazing United States, home sweet home! And we were so happy to be able to celebrate our anniversary on August 25th back home!
We spent the day simply spending quality time together (which is definitely my love language!) We wandered around downtown Naperville stopping to have lunch, and of course, grab some ice cream!
Later than night we headed to Cheesecake Factory for a great, romantic dinner.
But that wasn't the end of our celebration...
Kyle knows me too well, and knows I love surprises. So before we went to bed that night, he handed me a card with two tickets to see Wicked in Chicago the next night! And to top it off, he made hotel reservations as well! I know, I'm spoiled! :) We loved the show and recommend that you see it!
We hope to continue the blog as we continue on with the next step of our journey! But we also want to thank you all so much for reading our adventures, and for our your thoughts and prayers for our first year of marriage. We have definitely been showered in blessings, and have loved that God hand-picked each of you to be in our lives!
