This morning I met Mom and Dad for breakfast at the American Table. We had a leisurely breakfast and then headed back to the apartment. I tried to talk Mom into using Picasa for organizing her photos at home – we’ll see if she goes through with the downloading and installing!

When Jess got home after lunch, we headed to Elkart County to their Visitor’s Bureau to pick up a 3+ hour audio tour that covers 90-miles of Northern Indiana Amish country. It was quite an entertaining endeavor. When we finally found the Visitor’s Bureau, we got the CD, headed out on our tour and enjoyed some pretty interesting facts while we drove.

One stop that was quite interesting was the Bonneyville Mill.

The Bonneyville Mill is an old, but still-working Grist Mill that we stumbled upon and had a hands-on tour of. One of the workers even took the opportunity to show us personally how the milling process works. It was seriously the highlight of the day for us all!

After the mill, we got back onto the “Heritage Trail” tour and headed towards Shipshewana – where we spent much of the afternoon yesterday. We ended our portion of the tour in Shipshe. We drove around the already-finished flea market, ate supper at the 5 & 20 Restaurant, and then Dad somehow found the same place we played tetherball yesterday. Of course I wanted a rematch, so play we did.

Somehow, my father managed to beat me TWICE more at tetherball tonight. Sadly I was a defeated son with little pride left to keep me going. We also managed to knock the ball off the string and then rip the string off the pole while playing tonight – both of which we fixed gladly in order to keep playing. Did I mention that the store where this tetherball was set up was CLOSED!?! We had a blast – even though I will forever be labeled as losing to my father (again and again!)As soon as I can, I will upload a clip of my tetherball episodes versus my father to my Vimeo account.

A long ride home provided some good chances to talk with my parents and to enjoy eachothers company.

It was another great day of adventure for the Sheets families!

The full Shipshewana, Day 2 photoset is uploaded and ready for your viewing pleasure here.

Thirty years ago, today, my parents – Paul & Sally (Miller) Sheets were wed on a HOT August Saturday. (so I’ve heard)

This post is a thanks-to-God statement – a thanks that He ordained that day since the beginning! I have the greatest parents in the world and I’m not afraid to admit it!

I pray that my relationship with my wife can continuously blossom into the marriage that I see from my parents!

Happy anniversary Dad and Mom!

This afternoon, Jess and I joined my parents on an out-of-the-way excursion to lovely Shipshewana, Indiana.

What a fun afternoon we all had!

The drive itself proved exciting with numerous sights along the way including an Amish buggy with an attached boat trailer – a sight we had yet to see in our lifetimes.

One shop where we stopped had the great-American game of Teatherball, so of course I attempted to school my father in “my sport”. He beat me, 2 to 1.

I thought I was going to cry.

I didn’t. (much)

He DID, however, manage to rub it in throughout the evening and I’m guessing it will come up a couple hundred times tomorrow as well.

We’re going back to Shipshe tomorrow for Mom and Dad’s 30th anniversary. We’ll take in more of the same and hopefully some NEW sights, sounds, and smells! (I’m also going to show dad what a “works bomb” is!)

Full 41-picture photoset is available by clicking THIS.

Wanted to share with everyone one of my favorite photos from last night.

A couple more photos available @ my Flickr account.