Sibling Weekend, part one

This past weekend was AMAZING!!!  I got to spend it with my best friends in the world - my siblings!

We were going to be meeting in Manheim around 3:00  when we would be able to get into our Airbnb.  I left home at 8:30 in the morning and drove (two+ hours without a bathroom stop!!) to Pleasant View Retirement Community in Manheim to visit Grandma Arlene.  I had not seen her since Easter Sunday!  We had a nice visit in her apartment.  I showed her all my pictures from our trip to Florida and of course lots of pictures of Elizer.  We also talked a good bit about her right leg.  She has been struggling with pain and swelling, which they have determined to be lymphodema.  She will likely be getting started with physical therapy soon.  My sister-in-law Faye arrived with some groceries for her, and before we left we prayed over her leg.  It's so hard to see her struggling.  Here's a picture of her from our Easter visit.  Please pray for her when you read this.

When I left Arlene I drove to Ella's Place in Elizabethtown for a late lunch.  I had told Destiny ahead of time that I was on my way and that I would be ordering a BLT.  They had my table and food all ready for me when I arrived!  When Destiny was finished working we went to her place.  They have a puppy!  A Jack Russel/Beagle mix.  He's adorable!  Then we all left and took Alex to work.  After we dropped him off we went to That Fish place to get some things for the puppy.  Elizer was sitting in the cart in a daze.  He was so sleepy!

I took Destiny and Elizer home and then made my way to the Airbnb in Manheim.  

I gotta tell you about this place!  One evening a few months ago Mary Ellen, Doris, and I were texting each other with ideas about a place to stay.  We were looking online at hotels and Airbnb's.  After a while we got too sleepy and decided we would continue our search another time.  About 11 pm we got a text from Doris,  "Look at this house!  I think it's Norman Nauman's house!"  And it was!!  Without even consulting the other sisters I reserved it that night!  

Norman Nauman sold his farm to our parents in 1957 and built a house at the end of the road for him and his wife.   We often visited them.   All these years later that adorable Cape Cod is an Airbnb!  We could look out our second floor bathroom window and see our childhood farm!  

Five of us arrived at the house first - Mary Ellen, Doris, Barb, Rose, and I.  Barb had flown from Idaho the day before and had slept Thursday night at our brother's house.  Rose had flown from Georgia that morning.  Betty was driving from New Hampshire.  We hung out at the house for a while, then Mary Ellen left to go to our brother's house to help them get ready for the evening meal we would be having there.  

When the rest of us decided to head over to their place we realized that it was looking like a storm was coming.  And was it EVER!!  We ran out to Doris's minivan just in time before the wind and rain arrived.  And I mean WIND and RAIN!!!!  It was not safe to leave and it was not safe to go back into the house.  We sat out there in total disbelief.  Sometimes we laughed because we were in this ridiculous situation.  At one point Mary Ellen called and said we should wait because the storm was so bad at our brother's house too.  It was blowing so hard against the side of the van we truly feared that it would blow the van over!!   Like I said, sometimes we laughed - I guess here is proof! 

 

When it finally died down after about half an hour of sitting in the van we headed toward Dick and Nancy's place on the other side of Manheim.  At one point the water was getting so deep we turned off onto a side street and took a different route.  Manheim is notorious for flooding quickly.  

But Then!!!!  What an amazing rainbow!  We were sure it looked like the pot of gold would be right at Dick and Nancy's house, but alas it was not!  

Did we ever have a wonderful evening!   We had planned to eat on their lovely deck, but the rain ended that idea.  Nancy's lovely kitchen table (the very same table we had in our kitchen growing up!) seats all of us just fine.  We had potatoes that Dick had just dug from his garden that morning!  Also delicious corn on the cob and ham.  When he said that the ham was from their grandson Josh's farm I was afraid he was going to say that it had still been growing that morning like the potatoes, hahaha! 

We had fun trying our luck at corn hole after dinner.  Most of us are sadly lacking in athletic skills.  I did not have the streak of luck I'd had two years ago.  While we were playing Betty drove in!  We were so happy to see her!  

Later we gathered around the kitchen table again for pie and ice cream.  Nancy had made a cherry pie and a blueberry pie.  They were scrumptious!!  

Then we sisters headed back to our Airbnb.  It had a big table too.  It became grand central station all weekend long.  We sat around that table talking until well past midnight.

There was plenty of room to sleep when we finally went to bed.  Mary Ellen and I shared a second floor bedroom, Rose slept in the other one.  Betty had the main floor bedroom.  Doris and Barb slept on comfy sofas in the basement family rooms.  The house had central AC and was extremely comfortable.  

On Saturday morning we gradually got awake and hit the kitchen for some coffee.  I made scrambled eggs with fried potatoes, bacon, onions and peppers served with English muffins.  Once again we sat around that table and talked and talked and talked and talked.  Literally for hours.  Our only agenda for the day was that we wanted to go to Hilltop Acres (a very popular country store up the road) before they would close at 4:00.  In addition to my breakfast we had the peanut butter Rice Krispie treats I had brought, the cookies and peanut butter bars Mary Ellen had brought.  

Eventually we got ourselves showered and ready to go.  There were two half baths and one whole bathroom with a shower, so we had to take turns with that.  We remembered having just one bathroom in the house with all us girls.  Poor Dad and brother Dick!

We went up the road to Hilltop Acres.  Surprisingly we saw only a few people we knew.  

After we finished shopping we drove slowly by the farm our parents had owned from 1957 to 1963.  Not very long.  During the time we lived there our dad was ordained to the ministry at our church, and it was too difficult to raise a big family, run a farm, and pastor a church.  So they sold it all, including the dairy cows.  It was a hard time for my parents, but I was too young to really understand it.  

Next we decided to go to Prussian Arcade in downtown Manheim.  This place was a potato chip factory in its previous life!  We took our good old time strolling through all the little shops. 

I was intrigued by this unique use of music pages!  Something for me to do with the hymnals that line my bookshelves - in all my spare time!  The sweater in the lower left photo had been made into a pillow!  

By the time we got to this shop our lack of sleep was showing.  We were laughing way too much, haha!

Outside the arcade was this lovely place to sit in the shade of a big umbrella.  It was a very hot day, but felt lovely here.  Doris read to us a children's book she had bought, "I Hope You Dance."  We loved it.  

From there we decided to drive on some more back roads from the days of our youth.  We reminisced accidents (!!), places people lived, etc.  

At one point I got a text message from Betty's husband Scott, thanking us for our Happy Birthday rendition.  What???  We had no idea what he was talking about.  It WAS his birthday that day, but we had not sent him anything.  We decided he must be fishing for a Happy Birthday, so we made a silly video right then and there and sent it to him.   (Later we found out he had gotten a video from his niece whose name is similar to mine and he thought it had been from me, hahahaha!!)  

One of the places we passed was this house to which we moved in 1963 after our parents sold the farm. Rose, our youngest sister,  was born the year after we moved here.  After our mother died in 1982 Dad invited Doris and her little family to move in with him and Rose.  A year later, when Dad married Mary, they bought their own place and Dad sold this place to Doris and Dale.  So it holds many memories for all of us, especially for Doris and her family.  They sold it a few years ago.

At last we went back to the Airbnb and sat around that table again!  Doris had prepared pulled chicken, complete with cole slaw and potato salad from Hilltop Acres.  And FRUIT!!  Oh, and a wonderful chocolate cake.  

Later that evening we changed locations and went down to the comfy sofa in the basement.  And guess what?  We talked and talked and talked and talked!!  I also read some sister trip stories I had written years ago, and we laughed till our bellies hurt.  We reminisced our oldest sister's life and death and wept.  How we STILL miss her after 17 almost years!  

This was us in 2004, our last sister weekend with Janet.  Unfortunately, Barb was not able to come from Idaho for that weekend.  Janet is on the far left.  This is why we especially cherish our time together!

That's all for this post.  But I've got two more days to write about!!