HOME SWEET HOME ~ Day Six & Seven

The movie, "The Ultimate Gift," was awesome!  If you have not seen it, I highly recommend it.  It's a typical "Hallmark" movie with a great message.    It was worth staying up for.  In fact, Linda and I stayed up until 3am watching movies.  It was great - just like old times when we'd have slumber parties. 

So, day 6.   I had the whole day until 5:30pm to myself.  So I took myself on a "trip down memory lane" adventure.  After sleeping in until 11am - since I stayed up until 3am - I found a comfy Starbucks and hung out with my computer for an hour.  Then I began my adventure.  I drove to one of the neighborhoods I grew up in.  We moved there when I was in the 6th grade.  I started at my old home.  Took some pictures and walked around the area a bit.  When I got back to my car, the owner of the house was out watering the yard.  Of course I had to stop and say hello.  We chatted for a bit and she extended an invite for me to see the inside.  I didn't take her up on it at this time - but she told me to come back if I wanted to see the inside. 

This was the best house - lots of good memories

We had lots of youth functions in this room

 After our visit, I drove down the street to my elementary school.  The school sits on the other side of Indian Trail Park.  I loved that park.  We would ride our bikes through the "trails" area of the park all the time.  Back then, the trail seemed huge and full of big mounds of dirt we called hills.  Racing through there was an absolute blast!  Today, the hills are not so big.  Funny how that works.  I drove around the school and up and around the neighborhood some more; being sure to seek out the houses of friends I hung out with.   I actually squealed out loud when I came across the streets that were named after me and my best friend, Kathleen.  OK, they probably weren't named specifically after us - but it was really, really cool that they were right next to each other.   We would ride our bikes over to those streets all summer long; always talking about how cool it was that our "streets" were right next to each other - and we were best friends.  

Indian Trail Park - bike trails

My sixth grade classroom

Our sledding hill that stretched three blocks!

There was a community yard sale happening in the old neighborhood!  So, I parked on one end of the street and walked my way down one side, and back up the other.  Stopping and chatting with folks.  I also bought a few treasures along the way.

My next stop was my Jr. High School, the pizza hang out place, and the place I worked my first job.  After that, I headed North to the place that probably holds the most memories from Jr. & Sr. high school.   Pattison's North Roller Rink.  We spent almost every Monday night at the skating rink with all the other area youth groups.  Best rope licorice ever! And the dill pickles were huge!  But my favorite part of the night, ladies speed skate, and, ladies choice couples skate.  

Salk Jr. High School

My first job -at the time it was Corky's - famous for banana splits

 5:30 pm finally came and it was time for dinner with 2 more life-long friends, JoAnne & Nikki.  JoAnne made us a wonderful dinner.  We ate, sipped wine, caught up on family life, and shared dreams.  We topped the night off at FroYo's, a frozen yogurt shop.  (The best coconut & caramel yogurt ever!)

Me with JoAnne & Nikki

DAY SEVEN ~

Sunday!!  It was so good to be back at Lake City Community Church.  We were involved at this church when we lived in Coeur d'Alene.  I sang on the worship team, and Doug was the Alpha Director.  Since we have moved away, a new building has been added to the campus and it is absolutely stunning.  

After church, we met my sister & brother-in-law for lunch to celebrate John's birthday.  (from day two)  We hung out until about 4:30pm and now, my mom and I are chilling on the couch getting ready to watch a Hallmark movie!!  We are both exhausted.  Looking forward to the down time this evening.  I'm sure my mom will put me to work tomorrow.