When we left Omaha the next morning, we knew the next stop would be Indiana by dinner time. But having a 20 hour drive the day before really took it's toll on us and we ended up sleeping longer than we thought we would and then the trailer took longer to collapse than we though it would as well. Combined with losing hours as we drove East, we were falling further and further behind.
Somewhere across Iowa we started noticing the windmills scattered across the horizon. As we got closer we couldn't believe the farm land out there would have all these huge modern looking windmills! They were huge and beautiful and gave us something to look at for the next hour or so. 
We made a stop at one of my childhood homes in Illinois. The town was right off the freeway and we just wanted to do a drive by to take a picture of the house. We only lived there for five years, but the house was beautiful and we loved our neighbors, one who still lived there (the Strohman's)and the other (the Wright's) who had moved a few minutes away years ago. When we pulled on the street we saw Mrs Strohman outside of her house! My mom jumped out of the car so excited to see her and we all were hugging and saying our hellos when a car pulled on the street and it was Mrs Wright!
It was such an awesome surprise to get to see them when we were just expecting to be happy enough with taking a picture of our old house. Mrs Wright coming by was a complete chance happening and we were all so happy and giddy. About a half hour later we left with a beach ball from Mr. Wright's work and got back on the interstate with Indiana on the Tom Tom. 
Just as it was getting dark we pulled up to my Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Harry's house. The boys were ready to break free out of the car and meet Jayson and Tyler, and get a little something in their tummies. After a delicious pizza dinner where the boys warmed up to one another, it was like a switch had been turned on. Outside they went and all five of them just ran around and around, wrestling, playing tag, hiding and scaring each other non stop for over an hour. 
They laughed, giggled and screeched so loud I thought for sure the neighbors would complain (it was about 10 pm there!) but luckily no one seemed to mind. I loved that the boys had never met their cousins before but since they all knew they were family all five of them just opened up and had so much fun together. All the play time gave my mom a chance to catch up with my Aunt and Uncle, and Emily and I got to catch up too! The whole day had been full of driving, but seeing our old neighbors (who we hadn't seen since Don and I my wedding almost 10 years ago!), my Aunt and Uncle, and Emily and her family (who we had never even got to meet her family before!) made all the driving so worth while. What an awesome trip this was so far!
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