Final Week in America

Our final destination before our flight out was Columbia, Missouri.  We arrived to find a happy dog waiting to play with us.  Jasper had been a puppy the last time Lindsay saw him, so his size was her first surprise.  The second was his amazing ability to chase (sometimes catch), gather, and stack frisbees in his mouth.  Throughout our time there, Jasper and I had many frisbee sessions.  Jasper also showed us that Lindsay's parents had gifts for us in the bedroom: t-shirts of our favorite restaurant, HuHot.  Later that night, after the parents came home, we all went out for a wonderful evening meal at HuHot, with Lindsay and me wearing our shirts.

That day, we also got a chance to go see some of Lindsay's friends.  We saw Jessica, David, and their newest addition, Isabella.  Of course we wanted to hear all about what it was like going through childbirth, so they obliged and told their story.  We stayed until Izzy got hungry, then said our farewells.

We went down to Jefferson City to visit Amy in her apartment, and got "the special treatment" when we arrived.  We had Italian for lunch and had a nice long chat with Amy.  She really is doing well, and it was fun to hang out with her again.

On Friday, we made the trip towards St Louis to see my buddy James and his wife Kristin.  We hadn't seen James since his visit back home after his boot camp, so we had lots of catching up to do.  He said he had two dogs, one husky and one tiny, toy mutt named Dozer (how ironic).  Well, he was slightly off, turned out to be the largest, most gentle dog I've ever met.  We met Kristin and went out for a night on the town, Smithton, Illinois style.  After the visit, we hit the road back to Columbia.

On Saturday, Chuck and Lisa hosted a Mizzou football game party and we got to see all sorts of old friends.  Jane came from next door to share photos and family updates.  Dawn was there along with Daniel, Alison, and her parents.  The Butchers were also there to enjoy the company and game.  Even Amy came to play with Daniel for awhile.  Mizzou didn't win, but we could blame the Obermiers - they were at the game cheering along in the crowd.  Obviously they weren't loud enough :)

For Halloween, we spent all day decorating the house and carving pumpkins.  This was my first time, and I have to say, mine turned out pretty well.  I made a spooky owl and Lindsay made a vampire bat.  Tons of fun!  Kids came and went, and we watched The Rocky Horror Picture Show on streaming Netflix.

Our time in Missouri went by too fast it seemed.  The morning that Chuck and Lisa drove us to the airport was a sad one.  We said farewell at the airport and parted ways... then they went out and had a day of fun in St Louis.  Goodbye America, we'll see you in a few.  Onward to ENGLAND!!

~Blake