I love this country. I love the fact that I can feel perfectly safe packing 2 little girls in the car with me and driving all the way across this country. What a great time and place we live in!
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Monday August 6, 2018
Reagan, Annabelle and I left Blackfoot Monday morning and drove straight through to Indiana with only a brief stop in Nebraska to sleep for a few hours. We arrived at Michelle and Kevin's in Center Point, Indiana around 8:15 Tuesday evening. They loved Great Aunt Michelle's house, especially her life size Barbie Doll. The doll was taller than Annabelle.
Wednesday morning I took the girls around to meet family they had never met before. First stop was at the Eppert Farms to see their Great-Great Uncle Ronald Eppert.
Uncle Ronald is the Uncle of my youth, He is my father's only brother and the Patriarch of the Eppert Clan.
He let the girls pet his Mediterranean Miniature Donkeys.
(You can read about them in this post.)
The girls immediately picked out their favorite donkeys..
for lots of petting and loving.
You can see the "cross" that is on all of their backs.
I didn't know if I was ever going to get them to leave the donkeys.
Annabelle captures another heart.
Love you Uncle Ronald!
When we left the farm I took the girls on a quick "Cemetery" tour to see where their ancestors are buried.
First stop was the Stunkard Cemetery North of Brazil, Indiana. Where my Grandma Eppert's parents, Charles Arthur and Edna Rowena Brenton Loughmiller are buried,
along with Charles's parents, John and Laura Loughmiller,
Next, we went to Cottage Hill Cemetery in Brazil to visit the graves of my Grandparents, great grandparents and family.
My Great-Grandparents Charles B. and Mary Elizabeth Eppert.
Their oldest son, George, who was killed during World War I.
He was killed on an airfield in France.
And my Grandpartents, John and Mildred Eppert...
We drove over to see where my Dad and his wife Louise were buried,
and I looked for and found the graves of my Uncle Roy and Aunt Mary Eppert McVey
We drove over to North Terre Haute and popped in on my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Bob Sampson for a quick visit,
The girls loved seeing all of the taxidermy animals in their house.
I showed them where my mother, their Great-Grandma Charlotte is laid to rest.
The best thing to do after a long day is to grab a bite to eat and take it to someplace cool to eat. We went to visit my sister Patty. The girls fed the fish in the fish pond...
Then patty put us in the 4 wheeler and took us out to the back 40 to see the cows.
We finally got back to Michelle and Kevin's in time for the kids to meet their 2nd cousins, Ava and Boone and Hallie and Emmie and to celebrate Boone's 2nd birthday.
Reagan said it was fun to meet family she didn't know she had, and she can't wait to do it again.
