Adventures Were Had by All

So, yesterday, I woke up, rolled over and said in my best morning voice, "Hey honey, I want to have an adventure today. Let's go to Ikea, and we can have lunch with Kirk & Missy." I wasn't expecting such a quick agreement, but honey said, "Ok. But I have to take a shower first." Well, duh.

So we drove out towards Pittsburgh and met Kirk, Missy, Cade and Kylie at Bahama Breeze (which is fast becoming "our" place with Kirk & Missy) for lunch. The kids were funny. They had just seen Uncle Chad a few weeks ago, so they knew who he was. I was more of a mystery though. They called me "Miss Ally" all day, even though we all tried to convince them that I am truly "Aunt Ally." And they asked Chad, right off the bat, "Where are your kids?" because I think they've been told about our plans to foster and adopt. We had to tell them that we don't have them yet, but they are still very interested in their future cousins. After about fifteen minutes, Kylie decided that I was OK, and she kept leaning over her booster seat to hug me and plant wet kisses on my face.

After lunch, we braved the ENORMOUS crowds at Ikea. We found most of what we were looking for, but they were sold out of the main thing I went there for (large food storage containers.) Oh well, I guess we'll have to go back again. Shoot!

Kirk and Missy wanted to show us the new church where Kirk is now working, so we headed south a bit. It's a huge, beautiful building, but I opted to stay with Missy while the guys checked it out. Kylie had sort of passed out:

Cade was still trying to understand my role in his life. I snapped this photo, and then he asked, "What is your name?"

They drove us by the house they've just bought, an adorable little house on a nice lot in a lovely neighborhood. I'm so happy for them in their new life!

When it was time to say goodbye, Cade had finally warmed up to me:

Kylie was awake:

And Uncle Chad and Cade were still best buds:

Chad and Kirk were talking football or something, and Cade really wanted to tell Chad something, so he asked me to get his attention. Then he smiled and said, "Hey Miss Ally, you could say 'Uncle Chad, you're being paged.'"

We drove home, tired, hot, happy, and somewhat in a hurry. We picked up Linda and went to a local Mexican restaurant for dinner. I unwisely imbibed a very large and quite strong margarita and so entertained Chad and Linda for the rest of the meal. Note to self: avoid large margaritas, or just tequila in general. I get too giggly and remind myself of my dad. Scary.

So this morning, I'm feeling slow, sleepy, and my tummy is burbly. I'm blaming the all the rich, copious amounts of food I consumed yesterday during our adventure.  Was it worth it? YES!