You know the old song, “Make new friends and keep the old, one is silver and the other is gold.” Well the end of our Midwest trip finished with leaving Kansas City and traveling northwest to Sutton, Nebraska. Sutton is home to our “old” friends Kurt and Danelle Andres. We met Kurt and Danelle when we first moved to Vancouver (actually a little prior to moving). Dana and Danelle were pregnant at the same time. In August of 2000 we had Dara and a week later Kurt and Danelle had twin boys, Nate and Ben. For four years we spent time together, raised our families and enjoyed taking turns watching the kids while we alternated having date nights. In 2004, Kurt was offered an executive position at his brother’s lumber treatment plant in Sutton, Nebraska and after prayerful consideration he accepted. So Kurt and Danelle packed up their family and moved to the midwest to start a new adventure. We missed our friends tremendously and they have come back to the Northwest to visit Danelle’s family a few times; but since we were in Kansas, we couldn’t resist the opportunity to step into their part of the world and see where their adventure led them! Here’s a pic of Kurt, Danelle, Nate, Ben and their daughter Karis outside their home in Sutton:
Sutton is in a very rural part of Nebraska- it boasts a population of 4000 people, many of which are farmers and do not live in the immediate city limits. Its neighborhoods are lined with farmhouses and a handful of country churches. We stayed at the Fox Hollow motel and got to venture over every day to see our friends and hang out, go swimming, and catch up. It was a refreshing way to end our vacation. Dara loved seeing the boys, and hit it off with Karis, their little sister. Karis and Dara busied themselves with dressing up, painting fingernails and playing Polly Pockets. We took all the kids to go swimming too- Sutton has an amazing pool with TWO giant twisty slides and a small third slide that goes into the deep end of the pool. That place was packed! Here are some picks of the kids swimming:
Dara, Nate and Ben
Dara and Karis
Everyone out of the pool for a candy break!
Kurt took me on a tour of the lumber treatment factory- which was very interesting. I think he has been very successful at adapting to his new responsibilities and with his faithful management I am sure that the family business will do very well! Dana and Danelle got to hang out too, talking about kids, motherhood, stamping, family and more. We enjoyed a special birthday dinner together in Danelle’s honor at Olive Garden in Lincoln, Nebraska and some great time just catching up and reminiscing about old times.
Finally, Saturday, we said our goodbyes, loaded up our car and made the trip to Omaha where we flew out. After a long day- we finally got home to Portland. We cheered when we landed knowing that our inviting home and comfy beds were waiting for us. Sure enough- Pop Pop was waiting to pick us up with our minivan to get us home. We loved our trip to the Midwest and were grateful for our special times with Dana’s grandparents, parents and our friends, the Andres!
