Folson Crue

(I wrote this post several weeks ago, but just getting around to adding all the pictures and publishing it).

There are so many references to the Foleys on this blog that I won't bother linking to them. They have become family to us since we met during our first stay in Hershey back in 2011. We do so many things together that it's become laborious to say "the Foley's and the Johnson's" so we refer to the 10 of us (including dogs) as "The Folsons." We use it for wait lists at restaurants and for reservations, and just in general conversation.

In all their glory

So our anniversary of meeting them three years ago was on February 22, 2011 (give or take a day or a week - Stacy will correct me in the comments if I'm wrong. Because I'm horrible, horrible, horrible, at remembering dates as can be attested to by all of you who have received birthday wishes from me on the wrong day, week, or even month. Why can I retain the names of all 17 members of Yes since 1968 as well as the release date for all 19 albums, their producers, road crew managers, and who wrote each of the gabillion songs, yet have trouble remembering anniversaries and birthdays? Yes, I suck). We know it's our anniversary because there was an INCH homeschool activity that day - one of the first we attended after settling in for a three month stay back then.

We talked a bit at the roller skating rink while the kids did their thing and realized we had A LOT in common. On our way out, they recommended a nearby Japanese place for lunch, but alas, couldn't join us because they had out-of-town company in tow. They've mentioned many times that they wish they could have/would have just went with us and spent the day. Us too.

So for our Folson anniversary, we decided to recreate the day, and right the wrong. We started with lunch at Tokyo Diner, the place they recommended that day. Much sushi was eaten. We went a little nuts.

After that, back to the same skating rink where we met. We stayed for about an hour.

Kate always looks out for Brennan like a big sister. He thinks she is the greatest person on the planet.

We even took a picture in the same booth where we first met.

 

 

The Foley's have kind of sucked us into board gaming, and we really love all the new, creative games being published. After years of boredom with Clue and Monopoly, we've finally discovered a whole new world of strategy board gaming that's right up our alley. So as an anniversary gift, we made a Folson board game for them. Knowing we desperately need more recent family photos, they bought us a session with a local photographer that we are very impressed with. Can't wait!

The game board is comprised of pictures from various Folson trips, the player pieces have everyone's face on them, and the cards are all made up of locations where each of us have lived or traveled to at one time, as well as penalty and bonus cards from some of our shared experiences, and likes and dislikes. 

Full and skated-out, we headed back to our house to play the Folson game and a few others. 

It was getting late and we were hungry again (we're ALWAYS hungry), so we headed back to Hershey to eat unhealthy food at Red Robin, another favorite haunt of ours. It was great to just have a whole day together since we've all been so busy lately. We used to have days like this all the time when we lived here before or when we'd visit -meaning the Foley's would have to cram everything they put off into the next week. It's nice now not to have to pack everything in over a weekend, but days like this are much needed, and we had a great time just being together. We're so thankful for friends, that our kids get along, that we like some of the same things, tolerate each other's quirks, and enjoy each other's company. We feel often that the relationship is one-sided because they do so much to help us out when I'm in the hospital or having a bad week - Mark is always willing to pick up the boys for INCH activities, Stacy always invites them to come play so I can rest, and their home is still open to us even though we live here now. We appreciate them more than we can say. Our lives have become intertwined is so many ways. We cook for each other, give each other much-needed breaks from the day-to-day, date nights for the parents, play days for the kids...the list goes on and on. This time last year, our one wish was that we could live closer to them. Now we're here, six minutes away - and I'm receiving the best medical care of my life to boot. In the immortal words of Ross Gellar, "Everything's just WERKIN' OUT!" It really is. We are all FINE.