Memorial Day Fun! (warning...it's a long one)

Memorial Day Weekend (yes, I know this is a little late) was amazing!  We shared the weekend with many of our best and favorite friends.  First, Jacob won free bowling for 20 people at Freeway Lanes in Mentor.  We invited a bunch of people from our church and we had a great time knocking down a few pins with friends.

Second, my best friend from Montana came to visit with her family.  Laurie and Kevin live about 4 hours away and they will be moving away soon, so this was our only chance to see them.  It had been over 2 years since we had seen each other last; on the way out of town in Utah when we were moving to California and they had just had their beautiful baby girl, Brynley.  Claire LOVED Brynley, she kept trying to climb up on her to stand and would consequently pull down Brynley's pants.  Thanks for being so patient Byrnley!

During Laurie and Kevin's stay we went to Geauga County Amish Community.  It was so fun to see all the buggy's and horses right on the road with us.  They actually get moving pretty fast, but we still had to pass them  because traffic would get backed up.  Here is a picture from behind a buggy and another picture of a massive amount of buggy's.  The Amish Community was having some sort of auction and they were all assembled together.

We also went to Middlefield Cheese factory where we learned how to make Swiss cheese and we got to sit in an Amish buggy that they had for show.  Then we ate at Mary Yoder's Amish Kitchen which was home-style Amish cooking.  The food was quite delicious. 

We ended the weekend with swimming at our apartment on Saturday, then church and dinner on Sunday.  Jacob and I were sad to see Laurie, Kevin, and Brynley go as we had a wonderfully fun weekend together and it felt like having family come see us.  Thank you to the Anderson family and we miss you already!

Third, on Monday, the same Amish Community was having an Amish Appreciation day so we decided to go again with our friends, the Tam's and Rich's since they had not been yet.  We had a blast playing tour guides since we had already been there and we could show them the sites.  We went to a petting zoo (which really consisted of two scared pygmy goats, two roosters we couldn't touch, and a bunny that stayed on the far side of the fence) and to a bunch of touristy stores at a place called Settler's Village.  It had a huge cow, you will see what I mean below...

             

We also got a young Amish teenage boy to show us his buggy and horse.  He was helpful in showing us all about the buggy's.

This was Claire, Coulson, and Lo on an adorable mini horse and carriage!

We again went to the Cheese Factory and to Mary Yoder's Amish Kitchen.  We didn't seem to do very much, but we all had babies 1 year and under so we had to think of them first.  During lunch, it began to pour down rain, so not very many of the Amish people were out, so we didn't see as many people out as we did the first time.  We still had a great time and thank you to the Tam's and Rich's for the memories!

And Fourth, we went to a BBQ at the house of some friends at our church later that day.  The rain quit and we had a great time eating and talking as well as zip-lining across the river behind their home.  It was AMAZING!!

We are so blessed to have so many wonderful friends in our life.  It makes being so far away from family a little easier!!