The Adventurers Three Head East – Day 2

We headed south the next morning, explored a bit of Lafayette…just such a tiny bit. We  had the BEST BROWNIE EVER at The Lab and started getting curious about the Acadians and Evangeline and Louisiana history in general. It’s neat to travel with a search engine at your finger tips. Sarah and Anna took turns reading some of the poem out loud as we traveled past sugar cane fields by the mile. Stopped at a road side stand and discovered satsumas. Yum!!!

Eventually, we hit New Orleans. We went straight to the French Quarter…pretty chaotic and intimidating until we finally found a parking spot and started walking. It’s interesting to me that something can seem so overwhelming, and scary or dirty or undesirable from a distance…but when you get in the middle of it, all of that seems to go away, and everything seems more doable. We didn’t have much time, barely experienced it at all…but it was enough. We were glad to get into Mississippi.

It was dark before we got to Buccaneer State Park, and somehow we took quite the detours getting there, but we made it and pitched our tent, made our beds and laid ourselves down….just in time to discover we were VERY near a railroad track. Didn’t get much sleep that night! 😉

The Adventurers Three Head East – Day 1

Once upon a time….three sisters went on an adventure.

There were only three because one of the four was out in California having her own amazing adventure. And sometimes that happens. It’s okay.

But back to the three on an adventure…in their own words….

We started off meeting great friends for coffee at Junction Coffee, the double-decker bus in downtown Oklahoma City. I mean, seriously…how amazing is THAT?!?!

Then the adventure really began. Through perils of road work and construction. Pits and potholes. Semis and brainless maniacs in hot rods. Through traffic and stops and starts and tyrants and oppressors at every turn…
We made it through the Dallas area.

And on to the Land of Louisiana…Sarah’s first time in this state.

It seemed to take FOREVER to get to a campground. New perils of windy gravel roads that split through deep, black forests, lonely pull offs and signs warning us of alligators suddenly became made us aware that we are three defenseless females on a camping adventure….and wonder if Sarah was going to sleep with the Bowie

knife by her pillow…again.

GPS directions are challenging for some of us. Especially when there are two phones giving differing information. Anna was right. Sarah straightened us out eventually, but wouldn’t let me think aloud about creepy people who live in the woods or alligators or bears or swamps.

Arriving in the dark is always interesting. We pulled into a dark campsite and then these two pro-campers really kicked in. Head lamps on, tent set up, car unloaded. Sleeping bags, pillows, blankets, sheets, bam! Then dinner of veggies and crackers and cream cheese and salsa and canned meals of french bistro salmon and pasta and couscous. So GOOD!!! We were cozy in bed in no time. Only…it was warm. No fly on the tent. Closed screens to keep the skeeters out. But we woke to this……

Lovely.

And a cool breeze. And breakfast. AMAZING breakfast.

And now…we’re on our way for day two in THE ADVENTURERS THREE…..

Sister Togetherness…

Sometimes it’s too much chaos.

Sometimes it’s too many miles.

Sometimes it’s too much drama.

Sometimes it’s too many walls we build ourselves.

Sometimes we forget how important it is to just enjoy a gorgeous spring evening, some volleyball and laughter and realize how much we love each other and how blessed we are to be Sisters Four.

A Girls Trip

It seems like forever ago that we took a girls’ trip to Michigan. We met to do a blog update before even returning home. That didn’t happen. Here it is over 4 months later and maybe I’ll get it posted -just maybe.

We took a lot of pictures, so you will get a lot of pictures! Actually, maybe I will just post the pictures and then send a draft out so each sister can post any comments they have between pictures. I love that idea. Hope they will too. 😉

Very nice, Anna…way to get us all involved after all this time. I’ll do my notes in italics. That way we’ll know it’s me talking. ~sage

Thanks, Sage 🙂

Atlas is always a good place to start right? That is if you have a specific destination, which we did!

Our first stop was to pick up Sage. I love her lights all warm and welcoming.

Then we headed North!

Reflections are so useful, no?

Found a cute restaurant called Cafe Brio.

Amazing lunch, amazing colors, cute town!

It was Springfield, I believe. Would definitely be worth exploring more.

Ah yes, home of this guy… But we won’t talk about him. 😉

Stuck in traffic for a very long time. Which meant we were getting closer to Chicago!

Gayety’s Chocolate Shop.

Love the scriptures written all around the shop.

We are rather fond of sweet treats such as chocolate and ice-cream. 🙂 And we had heard that this place had the best ice cream in the state. That was questionable. But it was a neat place to stop.

Information anyone?

Our first destination was Holland, Michigan. Such a wonderful, fresh, clean, little place. After a good nights sleep we explored the town a little before continuing North to meet our relatives (Mom’s third cousin and her family) whom we had never met. (The main purpose of the trip.)

Holland is a cool little town. Would definitely love to spend more time there.

Breakfast at the Konditori.

It was  really good… I don’t know what it was about the ceilings where we ate. 😉

Land of the Dutch people.

Felt amazing to get out of the car and run up these steps to the top of a sand dune. And the view was incredible. I (we all) absolutely LOVE the ocean and Lake Michigan was almost as good. (Just as a side note…not all of us “ran” up those steps. Some of us walked. Some of us crawled. But it was worth it!)

These little heart shaped leaves where everywhere, a reminder of love.

The time had come to meet our long lost relations. I’m pretty sure they are one of the sweetest couples you could ever meet.

Their home was right on a gorgeous, quaint little lake -absolutely lovely! Wasn’t everything just perfect!

Was a little chilly but the water felt amazing to our feet!

But beware! There are leeches lurking in the sand! Eek! Have you ever pulled a leech our of your foot? Kind of, umm…different.

Touring the lake with our Captain.

Beginning of a new day.

God blesses abundantly and always gives hope and encouragement.

We went to the beach. I can never, ever get enough of the beach.

I just hate to leave it every time. But life must go on.

Our visit was very nice and sweet and such stuff as that. 😉

After leaving Mom’s cousin’s we stopped at a roadside market to buy apples…

The farmers’ markets and produce stands were so, so lovely!

The most delicious and fresh apples that we had ever tasted. Oklahoma just doesn’t even hardly have fresh apples.

We wanted to spend more time at the beach and more time in Holland and I’m so glad we could. I’d go back in a heart beat.

Art.

Artist.

Yes, coffee is rather huge too. 🙂 And we found many wonderful coffee shops!

So many amazing things to see and taste and feel and experience.

Wooden shoes! We stopped in at the wooden shoe factory and also bought a whole bunch of tulip bulbs to take home with us. Tulips are a favorite! Can’t wait to see them bloom in the spring.

We kind of love yarn shops too.

So much potential for warmness.

“Let’s go to the lighthouse.”

One for each of us.

Too bad they were soaking wet!

Don’t forget it!

And to the beach one last time.

So these next few pictures are kind of fun. Tera was trying out her model abilities. I think she’s got it! Yeah?

Absolutely, she got it. She missed her calling! Or…maybe it’s not too late!

Mhm, the wide eyes and everything!

Mouth slightly open. Yep! 😉

The sun glasses helped a little to get the right color. 

It was so beautiful!! Can’t wait for next time..

We’re all in the glasses!

Oh more coffee!

Homeward bound.

Projects.

Good morning in Effington. 🙂

And good bye. Until next time. ❤ us

Always.

Teatime

Today three of the Sisters Four and Mom went to lunch with some dear friends of ours. This has been on the board for months to go do, we finally got it together and away we went…

First a scone with lemon curd.

Pink lemonade for the princess…

Her food on a three tiered tray…

Until next time….sip tea with a friend, eat a scone with a sister, and don’t forget the cream.

Thanks to Mom for the pics!

Wherein Tera Goes Into Hysterics As We Try To Title This Post

We wonder…if the average person has any hint of an idea what it’s like for The Sisters Four to get a photograph together that each of The Sisters Four is happy with? We hope not.

But our incredible family photographer did make it easier. And out of the 14,538 pictures…we picked out two that we could tolerate. Hurray for Jeremy!!! Thank you!

So, we posted them here, and we’ll find some other way to use them too. Doesn’t the bottom one look like a bookmark? What do you think? Should we go into the bookmark business?

That was a joke.

And now….a moment in the life of:

Sarah is in the kitchen making dinner. Bet you never would have guessed that! Have you seen her new blog? Beautiful!!!

Anna is in the laundry room talking to Mom. That isn’t normal. It’s just what happens to be happening at this moment.

Sage and Tera are sitting on the couch trying to be inspired to write a blog post for this blog. How are we doing?

Oh! Tera mailed her preliminary final test to BRIGHTON, ENGLAND this morning!!! Isn’t that exciting?!?! I think it is….SUPER exciting. Guess because that has absolutely never happened in our lives before.

Sage was supposed to go to Arkansas today, but didn’t. Guess that will happen tomorrow.

And Sarah just whipped together some amazing ginger oatmeal cookies. Tera says I’m getting her keyboard greasy…but I wiped my fingers very well on my jeans before I started typing again. She worried for nothing.

So there you have it. A new post on The Sisters Four.

Sharing A Post From Candle

This post is about four sisters, but a different four sisters than us. When I read it though, I had to share it. And it seemed to fit well the theme of this blog. We haven’t experienced this form of change…yet. But Candle did such an amazing job writing this. Touched my heart, and I want to give you the opportunity enjoy. Be sure to listen to the song at the end.

Beautiful job, Candle! Thank you for sharing this expression of love.

http://between7and8.blogspot.com/2011/12/together-dedicated-to-sisterhood.html

Sisters Four…together again

We’re all four home together for the first time in months. It’s only for a few days…one of us will be leaving soon. Maybe that’s what makes it easier to not take our “sisterhood” for granted. Knowing that we have only a limited time to enjoy each others company…frankly…makes us nicer to each other! Not that we are EVER NOT nice to each other…noooo…not us.

Being surrounded by sisters is a beautiful thing. And the older we get the more I think we realize what amazing individuals we have for sisters. Each of us have different strengths…and weaknesses. Each of us have different talents and gifts. And working together…it all comes close to a pretty neat whole. It’s really lovely being able to depend on a helping hand or opinion or advise. It’s very special to be able to talk together about our hopes and fears and thrills and dreads. And it’s especially nice to know that we each have three sisters that will love us…even when we drive each other crazy.

I pray that we will be close for the rest of our lives…that we will never be too afraid to ask “What’s going on?” or too distant to answer. I hope that we will learn to ALWAYS appreciate each other for what we are…and be understanding when that falls short of what we should be.

And I thank God for my sisters.

From Sea to…Home. With Such AMAZINGNESS in between.

And then…of course….we got behind on the blog. So all we can give you now is a quick overview…and 454, 235 pictures. (Just kidding…not that many pictures.)

We were so happy to see the D’s again. Tera and I haven’t seen most of them since they were all here in Oklahoma….6 years ago. They are just as they were…only more grown-up. Still the lovable, adorable, friendly, wonderful, sweet, hospitable, REAL people that we remember. But some of them are SO much taller!

They  showed us where we would be staying in their wonderful, comfortable guest room and we all started talking…yes, all at the same time…just as we remembered.

We had a great time with them, going to a special Chinese restaurant,  visiting T- in her adorable little home with her adorable little children, going to San Onofre Beach and watching the sunset, eating hot dogs Will roasted for us over the fire they built, watching them surf till dark. The rocks on the beach make a beautiful sound when the waves roll in and out again.  It was all lovely.

And in between those lovely times, we visited our cousin D- and had a delicious dinner while our hearts were encouraged by the faith and love she shared.  The next day we visited our cousin Alex and Aunt Kim in downtown LA. So fun to see them, and the apartment they are fixing into something really cool. And lunch in Little Tokyo was fun!

LA is big…..like…HUGE!!! We couldn’t get used to how big it is, really. Just because something is on the other side of town doesn’t compute to be HOURS away in our Oklahoma mindset. But in LA…it is. Lesson learned. Be careful planning next time and it will feel like you have more time. Tera did an incredible job as navigator, and God answered our prays and kept a bubble around our truck the entire time. It was good.

We were sad to leave everyone…and realized that there is a lot we’d like to see in that area someday. So hopefully…we’ll be back.

Driving out of the complexity that is LA and into the vastness of the desert was an awesome contrast. Such openness…such simpleness…for so long! Lesson of the desert….fill up your gas tank before you head through…cause that gas station out there in the middle of nowhere is out to GET YOU! $$$$

When we planned our day, we had forgotten that even though we didn’t go through a time change…it was definitely darker earlier by the time we arrived at the Grand Canyon. After debating and discussing…we decided to stay the night there and see the Canyon the next day. Good decision!!! Read more about those adventures here:  Overwhelmed

That morning…waking up to a snowy wonderland and seeing the awesomeness of the Grand Canyon…which no photo or film could ever do justice…driving through the desert and into Flagstaff…those mountains in the swirling clouds…it was all so beautiful. So perfect.

We didn’t make it all the way to Albuquerque that night, which ended up saving us two hours of sitting in traffic, but the next day’s drive was uneventful…aside from being pushed off the road by a semi that was determined to change lanes no matter what.  We listened to a mystery story from Libre Vox, and the time went pretty quickly…but we were SO happy to be pulling into our driveway…and home.

Home.

On the way down to LA…

Just a short post with a few pictures from our drive down to LA. We took Highway 1….wow, so impressive! Through the fields of strawberries, artichokes, brussel sprouts, and being smacked hard with the overpowering smell of garlic in Gilroy. We stopped and saw elephant seals at Piedras Blancas It was fascinating! We did realize that we were the only two people that seemed to be trying to hold our noses…wow, all those seals stink! The variations of the landscape as we made our way south with the salty air of the ocean and the anticipation of seeing our friends, made the drive a pleasant one. I must admit though, when we lost sight of the ocean we were both sad, and kept looking for glimpses of that ever intriguing body of water. As you can tell, we can’t get enough of the waves, the smell, the sand, the feel of the ocean.