Stop me if you think that you've heard this one before...

Do you ever visit us here at The Johnsons in Wisconsin only to leave thinking haven't I read that post before?

I admit our lives are pretty redundant. We do the same things, go the same places, and hang with the same people, over and over again. I also admit that for the most part I LOVE the redundancy of my life. I do the same things over and over because they are the things I love to do. But there is one storyline that I wish would QUIT replaying. The one where my friends move away!

Five more families just moved out of our Ward, including The Hawleys, which officially brings my friends who I regularly hang out with in person count down to ZERO! I already had a good cry about it after we said goodbye last night, so today I am just going to have a look back at the last of the good times with the Hawleys.

A few weeks ago, we inherited Annie and Mimi for a few days while Mike and Jen went up to South Dakota to take care of some things at the new office. I got to try my hand at being a 5 kid mom, running kids to two different schools, picking up from two different bus stops and bathing 5 kids on a school night. Oh, and I got to play ice skating mom too. On Saturday Annie and Mimi had pictures for their skate show and rehearsal. We ran like mad the whole time, but we survived and even managed to have a good time. These kiddos have become like cousins to my kids and I will miss having "family" nearby.

Playing spy kids

After the kids got their extended sleepover farewell we figured the adults should have a parting celebration as well so we headed off to Bob Chinn's for crab legs. When we got back to town we realized that it was still early and decided to take a walk down by the harbor and then head over to Applebee's for dessert. When you don't get a babysitter often, you have to cram a few dates into one night.

And then for one last family outing we spent this Tuesday at Six Flags. Our season passes came with 5 free tickets good between June 13-17, and 5 that are good in late August (when my mom, two sisters, niece and nephew will be here). We decided to drag The Hawleys away from days and days of packing to play. Lucky for us, Tuesday was the only warmish, non-rainy day all week. In fact, it was perfect. Right about 70 degrees, not terribly busy and tons of fun! After Six Flags we headed over to The Hawleys house so Seth could help pack and the rest of us could get in the way, because we didn't want to say goodbye to our friends.

Look closely and you can find Alex and Mimi and Alyssa and Annie

Alex always begs for these sand art candy tubes and finally got one.

In line for the Demon. It goes upside down 4 times and all these little ones can ride. Crazy!

Matching brown eyes and blue tongues

Jen had some more coaster shots, but I will have to wait for her to get settled in her new home and e-mail them to me. We actually took this group shot as we were leaving the park and had been doused on the log ride.

And now, our friends are gone! However, one thing I know about The Hawleys is that they keep in touch with just about everyone they have ever met, so I am confident that this friendship will continue through the distance. But I will miss my lunch date and field trip buddies. And now I must go because I feel the tears getting ready to brim over again.

Good Luck Hawley Family! Thanks for hanging out. It was a great 3 years!