Visiting Muncie

     Today Jim and I both had things we wanted to do in Muncie.  We haven't been able to make it there that much this summer, except for the Fourth of July, which we had a lot of fun that day.  Granny has a fun playground in the backyard, which the girls call a park.  This was the first time they were actually attempting and able to climb up the slide and the stairs in the back.  They had a lot of fun playing on the "park" and swinging on the swings.  We unfortunately had some car trouble on the way to Muncie, so we're going to have to return in a few days to pick up our car.  I'm sure the girls won't mind having some more fun.

Ohio

     Jim's sister, Kelly, and her family moved to Ohio last year.  Between Jim and my work schedule, we have not really had an opportunity to make it there to visit.  It's difficult when Jim works throughout the week, and I work every weekend.  However, I recently dropped my Monday nights, so I feel a little bit more "normal" when trying to sleep; thus giving me more energy.  Jim was able to go to Ohio a few weekends ago, and I was able to do a short visit last week with Susan.

     It was very nice to get to visit with the Gnap family; they were very gracious hosts.  All of the kids were very sweet with the girls.  Katie and Jubilee really enjoy playing with their cousins.  The girls had two firsts.  The first one being that they had their first takeout Chinese food, and it was the first time they were allowed to eat ice cream out of a cone!  They naturally loved both. lol.  Even though we were only able to stay one night, it was still a very nice visit.

     On the way home we stopped at a Mennonite produce store that I instantly fell in love with.  For about a month I have been slowly trying to cut out most processed foods from our diet.  These have been little subtle changes, but this store provided a way for me to get a lot of shopping done at once.  For instance, we had always purchased margarine.  At the store they had Amish rolled butter, which has turned out better than I expected because I have never really enjoyed real butter.  I also decided to cut out pre-shredded cheese from our diet; I wanted to buy block cheese and shred/grate it at home.  This store not only had block cheese, but this cheese is AMAZING.  It has been difficult to not eat it all at once.  I was also able to get great prices on whole-wheat flour and quinoa (which I have never cooked with so that should be interesting).  As soon as I got home, I researched to see if we had any stores like that in our area.  Luckily, at Shipshewana, IN (a place known for it's amazing marketplace), they have a store just like it!  Even though the drive there is longer, it is definitely going to be worth it.