4th of July Fun with Family

Amish buggies parked on the streets of Shipshewana

We had a couple of reasons why we wanted to come here to Amish country this week – one was to get back to some of our favorite shops, and the other was to be close to the campground where 2 of my sisters have seasonal sites, so we could spend some time with them.

On Saturday, we made plans to meet up with them in Shipshewana, and Tom and the boys and I got an early start so we could make a couple of stops first.  1st stop was for breakfast – rather than eating in the RV, we decided we we check out the ‘Rise ‘n’ Roll’.  We’ve driven by numerous times, and never stopped . . . now I’m not sure if we’ll ever be able to drive by without stopping again!  YUM! They have the BEST donuts!!

MMMMM . . . breakfast of champions!

Completely stuffed, our next stop was going to be at Lambright Comfort Chairs so Tom could see their recliners, but they aren’t open on Saturday, so we’ll have to come back during the week.  Next was Yoder Popcorn, where we stocked up on both microwave and air-popper popcorn.  They have the BEST popcorn!  There were 2 couples in there, visiting from Wisconsin, and they were taking home a 50 lb. bag of popcorn, along with several other smaller bags!

Yoder Popcorn has several varieties of kernels, and they are all really good!

We made a couple of other quick stops to look for some trailer parts Tom needs, and then it was time to meet up with my family.  We had planned to meet at Jo-Jo’s Pretzels in the Davis Mercantile . . . too bad we were still full from those donuts!  Oh well, another place we’ll have to visit during the week!

My sister, Diane, and brother-in-law, Danny, with Nick & Bryce

Another sister, Deby, and brother-in-law, Charlie

Another sister, Sandi, and my Mom with Tom

(Are you sensing a food theme??!!  It’s one of our favorite reasons to visit Shipshewana!)

After everybody finished their pretzels, we split up – the guys to check out “guy stuff”, and the girls to hit the quilt shops and other crafty shops!  I forgot to get any pictures in the shops, but Diane did, so you can hop over to Quiltin’ Dreams and check them out.  It was well into the 90s on Saturday, so after a few hours of walking through shops, we were ready to check out one of Shipshewana’s newest merchants, featuring shaved ice.  YUM!

Shaved ice really hits the spot on a 95 degree day!

We needed to get to the meat store before they closed at 5pm, so it was time to meet back up with the guys.  The Yoder Meat & Cheese Shoppe has the best grain-fed meat, and we stocked up meat to take homes, as well as some beef snack sticks that Tom and the boys love.  After the meat store, they all were headed to the Yoder Department Store, but we needed to run back to the campground to feed Casey and let her out for a bit, before meeting back up for dinner at Das Dutchman Essenhaus (Are you wondering how we could possibly eat dinner after all the snacking we did all day!?!).  Since nobody was starving, we opted to eat on the Menu side of the restaurant, rather than the Family Style side, where we could have smaller meals and still have room for pie!

After dinner, Deb and Charlie headed back to their campground, because they needed to stop at the grocery store on the way back.  Diane , Danny, Sandi &  my Mom stopped at our campground for a little bit, and checked out the modifications that we made to the RV last year, before heading back to their campground.  My Mom and Sandi were spending the night, and we were heading over there on Sunday to spend the day.

On Sunday, after mass at St. Joseph in White Pigeon, MI, we headed over to Manapogo Park to spend the day.  My niece, Kelly and her fiance, Josh came up for the day, also.  It was a relaxing day – just sitting around and visiting – except for Charlie, who was puttering around all day, planting flowers and putting together whirligigs that he bought in Shipshewana!  Danny took Tom, the boys, Grandma, Kelly and Josh out on his boat, where they went for a swim (intentionally), and almost sent Grandma into the water (unintentionally) when they hit a big wave!

After their swim, they gathered back at Diane’s trailer to play cards – “Sh__ on your Neighbor” – Bryce’s favorite game!

The card sharks were having a blast!

It was another day of food, with a big BBQ for dinner and s’mores and pudgy pies on the fire later.

Diane’s giant marshmallows were a big hit – so were the blueberry pies!

Casey even got to go with us today, and even though we had to keep her separated from Lola & Roxie (Kelly’s Yorkies), they had fun “talking” back and forth at each other.

Casey relaxing in the shade of the tree

We had a great day, but by evening we were getting tired and it was time to head back to our “home”.  Deby & Charlie were taking Mom home, too, so they were getting packed up and ready to leave.  We said our good-byes until we see everybody again at Kelly & Josh’s wedding in early August, and Nicolas took the wheel for the drive back to Eby Pines (getting in some of his ‘night driving’ requirement!).  We arrived safely back at our campground, watching all the fireworks in the distance, with only a few hundred bugs splattered on the truck’s windshield!