A Trip to Milwaukee and Some Much-Needed Sister Time

One of the many blessings of working at Northland and having no children is that we often get to make little trips on Northland-business that are basically all-expense-paid by Northland. The only drawback is that we usually have to drive a large van, often carting a trailer, and are somewhat limited as to time. But, generally these little trips (usually airport "runs") turn out to be a good excuse to see the inside of a mall or eat at a restaurant (things that rarely happen when one lives at Northland!). Of course, my shopping sprees are unfortunately not covered by Northland! ;)

So this past weekend, it just so happened that someone was needed to pick up a group of volunteer workers at the airport down in Milwaukee! Now, usually, our airport runs only take us to Green Bay, so I was pretty excited to be able to go to Milwaukee! I mean, Green Bay is merely a small village compared to Milwaukee! And, to top it off, the group was flying into the airport early Saturday morning, which meant that we would have to either spend Friday night down there or leave Northland at 5 Saturday morning. Hmmm...it was not a difficult decision! Haha! So, Friday afternoon found us on the road to Milwaukee!! I must say, that although neither of us can stand the 'city driving' (slow rush hour traffic - yuck!), I absolutely love the city lights and sights! I can hardly get enough of them!!! We met our good friend Ross Olson for supper. Our hotel was within "walking distance" (Some people's idea of 'walking distance' is very different from mine! Let's just say that it's a good thing it wasn't any colder out!) of several good restaurants. We tried a couple, but finally settled on Houlihan's because there was no wait for a table! :) It turned out to be great food! I had 'Chipotle-Smoked Chicken Enchilada's.' Yummy!

Julie drove over from Maranatha to spend the evening with us too! She arrived just as we were finishing supper and then she and I got to spend a couple hours shopping together. Can I just stop here to say that there are precious few things that are better than shopping with sisters?! Honestly, sometimes I just ache for it! We had so much fun looking at clothes together, knowing exactly what the other likes, and which stores we each like to go to! Praise God for sisters!! Julie helped me purchase some decor from Yankee Candle with the help of a coupon I had to that wonderful store (I have a border-line fetish with candles!); and I know I probably would never have found such beautiful things without her expert-quality taste! After about an hour of shopping, Julie was getting pretty hungry, poor girl. Thankfully there was a Cinnabun in the Food Court to remedy that little problem. :) We had a good talk and then went over to Barnes & Noble's for about another hour. Julie is becoming quite an expert on children's books and authors. It's so fun to talk to her and get the inside scoop on all things pertaining to early childhood education! I've always had an interest in teaching, and it's fun to hear her talk about all the methods, resources, and philosophy behind it. She's going to be such an amazing teacher!


Well, while we were shopping, Jordan and Ross had gone back to our hotel to swim and watch TV and just hang out. So, Julie and I decided that we should probably get going so they wouldn't be worried about us being out so late without a male chaperon! ;) Julie stayed until 11, and then she had to go back to Maranatha. Jordan and I thoroughly enjoyed our night of luxury in our lovely hotel room! King-size bed, flat panel TV, comfy couch, and modern decor (no big-flowered bedspreads! Woohoo!)...it was so fun! This picture is not quite what our room looked like...we didn't have any drinks. ;)

Saturday morning, we picked up the men and lady at the airport. What a great group of people! They were such a blessing to talk to as we made the trip back to Northland! Being able to meet so many wonderful people is definitely another perk about living at Northland that we will miss when we leave!