The Great Trek Northward
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Day 1 - November 19th:
We aim to leave at noon, but because we're the late Lofgrens that we are, we don't make it out the door until just before 2 p.m. We drive 3 hours to Maria and Ron Coble's house, than eat supper there. The parents talk for a while, so during that time I get to play with James and Sara! Sara however won't let me take her, until I just take her from Maria and walk off singing "Jesus Loves Me" to her. After that she is the sweetest she could be! I read and play toys with her, while also trying to play ball and things with James. We leave around 8 p.m. and drive 2 more hours into Mississippi before staying in a hotel for the night. It wasn't the best night though, for I could hear someone snoring.......
Day 2 - November 20th:
We get up and leave around 10 a.m. to drive the last 5 hours to Little Rock, Arkansas to see Luke's family. We finally get there (and are very glad to be out of the car!) and we get to see all our cute nephews and nieces! They've grown so much! Anyways, we got to open Christmas presents, and I got another Ballet Magnificat poster for my room. Yipeee!!!
Day 3 - November 21st:
We got to church with Luke and Michele, than after eating out at a Mexican restaurant, we travel 4-5 hours to my grandparents house. Now the car is REALLY tiring! We arrive around 8 p.m. , and get to play some “Sequence†before bed!
Day 4 - November 22nd:
Dad takes the grandparents to go buy a stove, and the rest of us relax in their house to wait for them to get back. They finally get back with a brand new stove, and we go out to a Chines buffet. Dad and Elijah stay at with the grandparents to install their stove, while, Mom, Jubilee, and I stay start the 2 hours to Tahlequah, Oklahoma to visit Auntie Sara (Mom's sister) and Uncle Dudley. Soon after we get there we go out to.... Chinese again! 2 Chinese buffets in one day! Now that was a bit much, but the food was still good, though it didn't hold as much appeal as lunch had. We go back to their house after supper, and Mom and Auntie Sara go to some meeting while Jubilee and I watch Lady and the Tramp 2.
Day 5 - November 23rd:
Our cousin Sara Heinad comes in the morning to pick us up and bring us to play with her 3 sons, David - 10, Jesse - 6, and Noah -4. We go shopping for hours after lunch at a Christian bookstore to find presents for all our cousins and aunts and uncles. We finally get home only to go to one of Auntie Sara's friends house after supper. Boy! These days sure have been packed!
Day 6: Wednesday, November 24th
We start out in the car once again, this time heading to Kansas City, Kansas. We had heard that it might have snowed there, and as we drove along we became more hopeful. First we'd see cars with snow piled high on the roofs, then we actually saw some snow! When we got to their house, their neighborhood was a beautiful white wonderland! It was gorgeous! We (Jubilee, Mom, and I) went inside and greeted our relatives. Grandpa and Grandma were there also, and Elijah and Dad had gone to pick up Miriam from the airport. Inside the house were Nehemiah, Hannah, Josiah, and Uncle Terry. Aunt Ruth had gone shopping and wasn't back yet. I stayed at the Roselle's house and played "Sequence" while Jubi and mom went shopping. Later in the day, Uncle Tim, Aunt Deb, Jinn, and Hope arrived and we had even more people to play games with! Elijah and I stayed up 'til 12:45 a.m. with Nehemiah, Hannah, and Josiah. We played 4 games of Clue, and I won 3 of them!
Day 7 - November 25th:
Today was Thanksgiving! We slept in from staying up late, (me - 8a.m., the cousins and Miriam - !0:45 a.m.!!!) We played more games, of rook, clue, sequence, speed and so on. We had snacks around noon, and then, after a fun walk in the snow, had Thanksgiving dinner around 4 p.m. Now, about that walk..... Our family went on a walk with Uncle Tim, Aunt Deb, Uncle Terry, Aunt Ruth, and the grandparents. Most of the time it was an all out war between Uncle Tim and us. He pushed us in the snowbanks a lot (which didn't hurt - there was that much snow!) and we pelted each other with snowballs. We even got Uncle Tim down a couple of times! When we got home we built a snow fort and had a snowball fight with the cousins - our first snowball fight using forts! (there isn't enough snow here ever to do that!) We even made real snow snow cones! We played even more games after Thanksgiving dinner, which by the way, I ate way to much, but the food was soo good! We stayed up 'til midnight again, this time playing dutch blitz. Miriam creamed me the first round, but I beat her the second. The first round was really hectic because we had 8 people playing!
Day 8 - November 26th:
Late the night before more cousins arrived, so now we had Aunt Kathy and Sarah, Ben, and Peter added to all the people at the Roselle's house. You can guess what we did.... that's right! Played more games! We went for another walk after lunch, but as the snow was all but gone, it wasn't as fun. The Tim Lofgrens left that afternoon, and we again stayed up 'til Midnight, though playing “Payday†this time.
Day 9 - November 27th:
Well, in one more day we were going to be home! We drove to the grandparent's house after lunch, about another 5 hours. We had supper, than watched a movie entitled "King of the Grizzlies". I had fun seeing what people said from home sweet home by watching over Elijah's shoulder while he chatted with Bekoh and Miriam. I couldn't wait to get home! We went to sleep earlier than we had been (10 p.m. - wow!) but it wasn't too comfortable because Jubilee and I shared a bed and the mattress we were on sloped down to the middle, so you had to fight to keep yourself from rolling on top of the other person.
Day 10 - November 28th:
The last day! We'd be home this night! however, we had 14 hours of driving between us and Wisteria Pines. We left the grandparent's house at 7:30 a.m. and drove straight through except for stops to eat and stops at gas stations. We finally got home around 9:30 p.m. and were again in sweet home Alabama! All the animals were VERY glad to see us, especially Socks! We had made it up north and back again, 10 days, and around 40 hours in the car!