Bloomington Fun

We had a wonderful side trip to Bloomington last weekend/beginning of this week. We got into town Sunday and did brunch (Village Deli), some shopping, and checked into our hotel. We chose a hotel downtown which was very convenient--Em and I walked to get bagels for everyone at BBC (Bloomington Bagel Company...our old love) both mornings, and we were all able to walk to restaurants and WonderLab. They still had the square strung with lights for Christmas, which used to be one of my favorite sights to see. It was a great time to visit, too, because IU was still on winter break.

Back to Sunday, we first headed out to Ben, Adie, and Gordon's house, and then we all headed to Gene and Donna's house for dinner with them and with Joan and Joe (all friends from Waycross). We talked about getting together back at Gordon's baptism in November, especially since they hadn't seen Emily in years. I'm so glad that it all worked out for us to go--it was so great to see everyone and to catch up.

Juni, Lewis, and Jaden (G&D's grandson) playing well together, at first. :)

Notice how tidy all of the Legos are, too, in that bucket. Soon the bucket was totally empty, thanks to Big Lew.

 Soon, I walked in to find Jaden and Juni, barring Lewis from stepping anywhere near the Lego table. :)

I think Jaden said Lewis was just too messy...Lew WAS dumping out Legos everywhere and then shuffling them around the floor with his feet, so I don't blame J&J for taking a stand. it was pretty funny. Later, Adie found Lewis crying in Jaden's room where they were all playing...apparently, Juni had shut Lewis in the closet in Jaden's room. Poor buddy--I couldn't stop laughing. :)

Gordon and Ben watching football

I mainly took this picture because G was wearing the shirt I made him back at his baby shower last year (er, technically the year before that...December 2012)! Hard to believe he'll be ONE this month! 

So that evening was awesome. We'd planned to go to WonderLab on Monday morning, but I found out Sunday evening that it isn't open on Mondays. Instead, we went to a bouncy place that Adie had told us about last time we were in town. It was awesome and huge! They had a toddler area, separate from the big kid area, and lots of arcade games. Juni and Lewis sufficiently ran around and bounced and did all of the slides. They then discovered the awesomeness of arcade games and winning tickets, so we spent the rest of our time helping them win enough tickets for some crappy loot and Dum Dum suckers. :)

 Bouncing Together

 Sliding Together

After the bouncy place, we met Adie for lunch/beer at Upland while Ben had to do some work. I made a mistake and ordered a funky non-Upland beer. It was the strangest-tasting beer I've ever had in my life...Emily thought it tasted like Fresca. It was kind of gin+tonic-y/Pine Sol-y to me, too. Just strange. I think it was a Berliner Weisse--wikipedia says that usually it's served with something else to counteract the sourness. That sounds about right! I should have gone with something I know. Oh well. :)

 Juni, holding hands with the boys at lunch

My sweet buddies, Gordon and Otis, chilling back at the hotel :) 

Swimming! Haha...I was trying to take a pic of Lewis jumping in and got Kevin's awesome reaction, instead. Golden. :)

Otis and I hung out on the sidelines while everyone else swam. He got in for a few minutes (1st time!), but he wasn't a fan. Auntie Schwee (me) was happy to hang out with him, poolside. :) 

Ben and Adie were heading out, so someone suggested we take a group picture. We all piled on the bed and set the timer for four attempts. Of course none of them captured all of us smiling/looking at the camera/eyes open/etc., but they're still pretty good, considering the number/ages of people, I'd say: 

 

 

 

I almost peed my pants, seeing Joe's face in the last two. :) He pulled that stunt a few years ago, too, and it's still funny now. I just now noticed that Juni's eyes are closed in 3 of the 4...now I'm laughing and almost crying. :) Good times.

After B&A&G left, we walked to Trojan Horse for dinner. We were crammed into a very small booth because that's all they have, but the food was good: 

 Our basketcase

Otis tasting a lemon :)

Our last morning, we headed out to WonderLab (science/children's museum). It's pretty small (compared to ours), and it was very, very busy that day, probably because it was a very cold day. I even recognized a few parents from the bouncy place the day before!

 Cousins watching the Chuckwalla (lizard)

 Dada's Head on a Platter

Their special exhibit was about mirrors, and I must say, the first time I walked by this, I did a double-take to figure out how/why someone's head was sitting on a platter. Lewis thought it was pretty funny.

Microscope Lessons with Auntie Schwee (Em)

One last stop for lunch at Macri's before heading our separate ways:

 

Juni and Lewis' goodbye on the floor sums up how they seemed to feel about each other most of our visit. Tension/tears one minute and the sweetest hug the next. :) To be fair, I think they might have fallen over each other to the floor this time, causing the tears. But, still. :)

For Otis, Lew reserved a light smack to the face. :)

It was very gentle, actually. More like a laying of the hand.

We had such a nice time. It had been 13 months since we'd seen the Bergstroms, so the goal is to not let that much time pass before the next visit. Hopefully we can get out to Idaho (or elsewhere, West) to see them this summer. Until then, I will fantasize about living a few minutes away from each other, dropping in whenever we feel like chatting or need a break from our kids...