We put the kids to bed and the four of us stayed up talking and sharing stories of how we met,our lives since and now. We all were tired but did not want to say goodnight.
Duane is a fabulous maker of home brewed beer and has another specialty home brewed sarsaparilla. It has a fabulous flavor tasting like root beer but with a kick. So we sampled some of that and bid each other goodnight.
The following morning was sad for all of us. Tracy and I took out time packing the car, Duane and Leann made a leisurely breakfast and the kids keep right on playing.
We had such a great time with Duane, Leann and Cooper and leaving was no fun at all. We had meet each other over three years ago kept in touch via e-mail and photos for all this time and finally got together again and no we had to leave, it is not right.
We loaded up the family truckster keep hugging each other until we felt like we had an ample supply until the next time and the loudamericans were off to Melbourne.
The Gertners were the most gracious hosts, having five people invade your home for 10 days is a lot and we can not thank them enough for their hospitality and friendship.
The drive to Melbourne was "interesting". We got lost twice and waited WAY to long to feed the kids so had to deal with crabby crabby kids in a restaruant. NOT a fun experience. But... we finally made it to the hotel.
While Tom was returning the car, Tracy took the kids on this VERY cool free train ride around the city. It seems that Melbourne runs a free train that circles the city and on Friday nights (which it was) private owners of these trains bring their trains out and run them. The trains are decorated in ALL different themes. The one we got on was an Indian theme and had a live 3 piece band playing on it. WAY cool. The kids were transfixed. A very cool way to see the city too. After Tom got back, we went hunting for dinner. I was craving Mexican. We walked and walked and walked and again waited to long to feed the kids. We FINALLY found a Greek/Turkish restaruant and had gryos. Again, crabby kids at dinner.
I did learn an important lesson though. American is the only place that markets Mexican food. I did a lot of thinking on this and my new theory makes sense. Since Mexico borders us and there are so many imigrants, they have brought their food culture into mainstream. Other countries dont have this blessing and so Mexican food is a rarity outside of North and South America. Bummer for me as I still have yet to have a good burrito, taco, fahita in the last 7 months. I am going crazy!!
Duane is a fabulous maker of home brewed beer and has another specialty home brewed sarsaparilla. It has a fabulous flavor tasting like root beer but with a kick. So we sampled some of that and bid each other goodnight.
The following morning was sad for all of us. Tracy and I took out time packing the car, Duane and Leann made a leisurely breakfast and the kids keep right on playing.
We had such a great time with Duane, Leann and Cooper and leaving was no fun at all. We had meet each other over three years ago kept in touch via e-mail and photos for all this time and finally got together again and no we had to leave, it is not right.
We loaded up the family truckster keep hugging each other until we felt like we had an ample supply until the next time and the loudamericans were off to Melbourne.
The Gertners were the most gracious hosts, having five people invade your home for 10 days is a lot and we can not thank them enough for their hospitality and friendship.
The drive to Melbourne was "interesting". We got lost twice and waited WAY to long to feed the kids so had to deal with crabby crabby kids in a restaruant. NOT a fun experience. But... we finally made it to the hotel.
While Tom was returning the car, Tracy took the kids on this VERY cool free train ride around the city. It seems that Melbourne runs a free train that circles the city and on Friday nights (which it was) private owners of these trains bring their trains out and run them. The trains are decorated in ALL different themes. The one we got on was an Indian theme and had a live 3 piece band playing on it. WAY cool. The kids were transfixed. A very cool way to see the city too. After Tom got back, we went hunting for dinner. I was craving Mexican. We walked and walked and walked and again waited to long to feed the kids. We FINALLY found a Greek/Turkish restaruant and had gryos. Again, crabby kids at dinner.
I did learn an important lesson though. American is the only place that markets Mexican food. I did a lot of thinking on this and my new theory makes sense. Since Mexico borders us and there are so many imigrants, they have brought their food culture into mainstream. Other countries dont have this blessing and so Mexican food is a rarity outside of North and South America. Bummer for me as I still have yet to have a good burrito, taco, fahita in the last 7 months. I am going crazy!!
