Since we have to go through Chicago when we travel nearly anywhere on Amtrak, a visit to family living in South Central Wisconsin is almost always in order. This trip was no different. We spent a few days catching up with my parents.

While visiting with Mom and Dad, my sister and her family and my brother’s daughter and her family came over for dinner, and we had one of the best family gatherings in a long time.

My mom had been working on a gorgeous Texas Star quilt for my husband for several years (hand-quilting — can you imagine?), and she had it finished for him.

  She surprised me with an afghan in a repeating cat pattern. (Dad got the only pictures of us together with the afghan.)

Mom also did a couple small sewing projects for me while we were there.

Dad has been working on family genealogy for many years. Over the last year or so, he’s been making quite a push to capture my husband’s family. My husband has most of his family background since they arrived in the United States, but he didn’t have the European background in any more than general terms. Dad presented us with a binder with the last twenty generations for both of us printed out. What an unexpected treat! He also discovered my husband and I are distantly related on my mom’s side. We got a laugh out of that.

Thank you for visiting for the April A-Z Blogging Challenge. Today’s entry is “Grand Tour”-themed, about our Amtrak trip we took last month. I’d love to hear your thoughts or questions in comments. If you don’t want to miss an entry, please enter your email address below, press sign-up, then check your inbox to click the validation link to get these blog posts in your inbox.