Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Sister Road Trip Recap

This is the story of two sisters who were greatly missing their cousin beloved. Cousin dear lived in the faraway land of Manitoba Canada and it had been two whole years (since this time) that the three had been together, just them. 
Because the sisters loved roadtrips and loved their cousin...well, the natural thing to do was to plan a visit. 
Details came together last-minute and on October 13th, at 4:15am, they set off. 
Sixteen hours and many adventures later, they arrived in the faraway land of Neepawa, Manitoba!
And thus began the time of all times....
Meals were scrumptious, plenteous, and very relaxed.
The past years weeks had been very VERY busy + intense, so the sisters decided this would be a vacation. 
It was hard for them to transition at first to no schedule for three days, but they got the hang of things quickly. =)
On the first day they practiced hairstyle options for an upcoming wedding.
Much time was spent in cousin's lovely little coffee-themed kitchen.
this trio...such a wild group they are. =)
There were long conversations over big mugs of coffee. There was sharing of the deep + hard things in life. There were times of prayer together. There were makeovers and manicures. There was music and music and more music. There was dancing and peals upon peals of laughter. There was an abundance of quoting from all things Jane Austen + Audrey Hepburn. There was much reminiscing over old memories + escapades. 
There was lots of cooking + eating. There was joy and love and all things feminine. 
These pumpkin crepes were...well, the LAST WORD in crepes. Cousin + younger sister made them and older sister took pictures + sampled the cream to make sure it was suitable. {ahem}
Can't you almost taste them?
Ready to dig in! The cousins ate these while watching the BBC Persuasion. In the middle of the morning. It was definitely out of the ordinary for them and felt quite odd to be sitting and doing nothing profitable in the middle of the day. But it was fun to do, just once. =)
Music was played. And played. And played. Such great memories. This is what the cousins used to do all the time when they were together.
The little house rang with the piano duets and accompanying violin. Everything was played, from "Come Thou Fount" to "Jingle Bells".
One day the ladies went out and strolled around the little town of Neepawa. They admired lovely things at shops where things were way beyond their budget. Then they also visited a junky little thrift store where they were right at home and found some amazing treasures.
THIS PLAQUE.
It was found at one of the shops. It had BONTRAGER written all over it. =) The sisters decided they were going to go home and paint this outside their house, and in their house, and on all the barns...because they really felt that the quote was written with their family in mind. =)
At another shop they found these boots. Older sister fell in love, although she did not purchase them.
And then she saw these and she really could hardly handle all that loveliness, so they had to quickly leave before she was tempted to spend waaaaay too much for two pairs of red shoes. =)
Browsing books at a musty old used book shop.
Ah!! It twas just like old times. So so SOO wonderful to be together again! These cousins have been besties for years, although they had all sorts of drama + full blown arguments along the way. =) You'd never know it.
Back at home again, there were dishes to be done...
But there was no need to stay focused. =)
And then one afternoon they all went to Tim Hortons, because the sisters had given that as their only request of things they felt they "had" to do whilest in Canada. =) And while they were there, they helped cousin set up her new blog, Loewens in Love. (visit it if you haven't already!)
This was purchased. =)
Then younger sister performed a dramatic makeover for cousin dear.
The Marissa cousin is such an amazing + lovely lady!
Perfect hostess, kindred spirit, and confidante...all rolled into one.
Older sister loved the charming little white dishes that cousin had. So much so, that she took to drinking cheddar bunnies out of them. Please, don't judge...
Diligently purusing their stack of library books about Kate Middleton + Prince William.
Younger sister made these little cheesecakes one night. They may or may not have been finished off in record time.
This is very possibly the ladies at their worst, doing face masks one morning.
Trim Healthy Mama pancakes...DELICIOUS!
One morning cinnamon twists were made.
The finished product.
And then some self timer portraits were taken

These cousins are professionals at consuming oreos. 
Healthy ones, that is. Newman O's, to be exact.
Lovely dinners were had with cousin, her husband, and the sisters. On this night, they had steak, fettichini aalfredo, salad, and fizzy raspberry drinks.
The sisters were introduced to THE BEAN GAME by cousin + her husband. They were instantly hooked...such a fun game!
They got to play by candlelight since the electricity randomly went out during the game. #memories
On the way home, the sisters drove through Lowe Farm, Manitoba and spent a few minutes with this dear friend + her daughter. The time was short but sweet and more memories were made over lattes and meaningful conversation.
In Grand Forks, the sisters stopped for lunch at Qdobas. As they were exiting, older sister heard someone calling her name. And lo and behold who should be there but this sweet friend, whom older sister hadn't seen since the friend's wedding last year, and didn't even know lived close by!! What a surprise...the world is truly small.
As they were nearing the cities, the sisters got stuck in a rather large traffic jam. Older sister took advantage of the stopped time to snap a few pictures of the beautiful scenery. 
Finally, Friday night, there was one last stop near Minneapolis to surprise a dear friend on her thirtieth birthday!!
And finally the roadtripping sisters arrived home on Saturday night, just in time for dinner with their family.
The trip was a success. Many, MANY (2,000+) miles were covered, and many memories made, to be cherished for years to come.

The end. Til next time! =)

-Chels

21 comments:

  1. oh man, LOVED this. also, that picture of you with the cheddar bunnies. #bestduckfaceever #LOVE

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  2. What a neat post, Chelsy! I love all the pictures and how you wrote your adventure in 'story form'! And you remind me of myself with taking advantage of every photo opportunity! Love photography! And LOVE Trim Healthy Mama pancakes!:-D
    ~ Morgan

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  3. AHH! The BEAN GAME!!!!! Dustin and Hannah introduced it to us when we went up there!! We .love . it.
    Looks like a very fun trip! =)

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  4. Lovely post

    Is Allison wearing pants under her dress? If so, I like the modest look of her outfit. I have fairly recently moved from being skirts only to occasional pants wearer and am always looking out for ideas on increasing my modesty when wearing pants in public

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    1. Yes, she is wearing skinny jeans with her dress!

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  5. I love love love Tim Hortons! So jealous of you! =D

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  6. You're hair is absolutely stunning! :)
    Looks like fun, sisters are so awesome aren't they?

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  7. Such a fun post! Looks like you all had a lovely time! Enjoyed seeing the photos + hearing about your time together! LOVE the Bean Game!! :)

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  8. Where on earth did you find that yellow hat?! I love it!!! Not too many people look amazing in yellow, but WOW! You sure pulled it off!

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    1. It was a gift from a friend. =) I LOVE mustard yellow...I wear it alot!

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  9. Great Trip. I love Jane Austen and Persuasion is my favorite book and I love the three movies based on it.

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  10. Hey I've read your blog a few times and I love it. I live in Manitoba too! So that's pretty neat to read this post. We go through neepawa a lot. ;-) I LOVE the red boots & shoes!!

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  11. And the yellow looks great on you! I love all the posts on outfits, clothes, thrift stores etc

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  12. How fun! I love your cousins Coffee themed kitchen.:) It sounds like you had a lot of fun.

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  13. LOVE it! Glad you got to see your cousin and a friend too. Lowe Farm is closer to the big city where I live. Never been there, but when I worked at a Bible camp in the vicinity(closer to the Winkler/Morden area), there were campers and staff from Lowe Farm. Neepawa is still a few hours away, but not far from where my family spent a long weekend every year for many years. Small towns, and even small cities, are so nice to visit.
    Anyway, looking forward to more posts this month. Or next, if there's slower times in there. I see you have a FAQ section that you haven't been able to start; hope to see that too.

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  14. Oh me oh my. I loved this post so much! And to think we did nothing "productive" all week! *snicker* I miss you two!
    And just for the record, I'm so glad we're still besties despite our all-out spats. Haha! :) I love us!

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  15. Chels... you. are. so. adorable and gorgeous and funny and everything else lovely! Hannah, girl, you took the words right out of my mouth... #cutestduckfaceever. What?? What is this!?!?... Alli looks like she has a dimple on her left cheek!? #it'sadorbsanyhoo

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  16. Wow, what a fun looking road trip!! And those cinnamon twists...must.have.recipe. Can't believe we ran into each other at Qdoba!! So awesome!!

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  17. Such a special adventure it must have been :D Love this!

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  18. wow! looks like ya'll had a great time! and even with the masks on you still look beautifull! Ans now that I think of it I have never seen you w/out makeup on!

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