Pokagon 2013

Every other year we take the nontraditional route of going out of town for Thanksgiving.

We don't cook our feast of Thanksgiving food, or clean a single dish.

We just focus on holding sleeping babies while enjoying the food. (Ari kept telling me, "Mom, I can rock her and hold her for you so you can eat." Sweetest kid ever.)

Being away from home also means enjoying the luxuries of a swimming pool, hot tub, and sauna. The kids were swimming any moment they weren't sleeping or eating. Evangeline didn't think twice about jumping in and immediately making her way back out so she could jump back in again. It was like she was on auto-pilot. Jump in. Tip-toe to the stairs. Climb out. Find a spot along the edge. Jump. Repeat.

A luxury in our book is just being away from civilization. We took full advantage of going for a few hikes in the peace and quiet of the woods. No cars, no people, no noise. Just us and God's creation.

There's just something about being in the middle of nature that is calming and relaxing.

We took a stop at the Nature Center and learned about salamanders, turtles, snakes, bobcats, and bees.

We also took a trip to Shipshewana just to eat at the Blue Gate Restaurant.

And AJ happened to run in to some people from our church...while we were at this restaurant, hours and hours away from either of our hometowns. Such a small world.

We've always eaten lunch in Shipshewana, but this year we got there for dinner. Our drive back to Pokagon was beautiful with all the Christmas lights.

This was an attempt to get our children all together for a picture. Evangeline just kept petting the sheep and talking sweet nothings to it. "Awww, pretty sheep. I love her. She's so cute."

The day finally arrived when we were able to go on the toboggan run. Ari had been talking about it since our trip last year and telling Evangeline how much fun she was going to have.

There was no hesitation on her part. She loved it. Going 34 MPH down a 1/4 mile iced track is her new love language.

The climax of our trip had been fulfilled.

This day warmed up significantly that we were able to hike with Selah.

This lake was just stunning. The kids enjoyed throwing rocks and pieces of ice on it to hear it echo. I was even surprised to hear such a strange sound it made.

Before we headed home I tried to catch a snapshot of them with their cousin. So much for that!

We made sandwiches for the car ride since it was past her naptime. She fell asleep with her food in her hand. Papa tried to take it away and she instantly awoke saying "No, that's mine!" then fell back asleep. I guess the girl wasn't ready to part with her food.

It was a fun, exhausting, mini-vacation away from the everyday norm.