And the winner is...

Kyle, of course!

But that's the end of the story. The beginning went something like, "Hey, John and Angie, let's go to the Olive Garden." "OK, small group. Sounds like fun." "Babysitters are at the church." "Excellent."

Who knew that such a nice group of church goers could be so sneaky? Tsk. We showed up to a whole lot of clapping and cheering and, my personal favourite, cameras. At least one, which is enough to send someone like me into hibernation, but I stayed. All for John, which totally proved worth it when Tyler made fun of him and played his John Close video. Well done, Tyler- you had John mannerisms (Johnerisms- there's a lot) that I hadn't even noticed before! Nice things were said, too (thanks Suneetha, Becky, Ty and Wayne), and John and I sat in front of everyone blubbering like babies. Embarrassing, yes, but in a really nice we feel loved sort of way.

I want to mention the magical tree, but John posted on that already. Check here, and then tell him that we're writing on our travel blog now. Let me just say that we were totally overwhelmed by our friend's generosity and we will now be making stops in Greece and Turkey, the two places we were most sad to pass up! And we'll be doing it in style, let me tell you. If we're capable of style, but I like to think we have it in us somewhere. We'll see.

A couple of other highlights: Stephanie heckling who ever was on mic, Sarah and Josiah exposing our vastly irresponsible natures (yeah, it was funny), John trying to climb a ladder hands free- that's my man! And then there was Hope's name that blog contest. Lots to chose from, so here's my runners up list:

1) Where are we? (Things like this are frequently said in our family)

2) I held it for 18 hours and other tales form the back of the chicken bus (of course this was in our top three)

3) European Your Pants (a bit of theme here- what vibe do we give off exactly?)

Sorry guys, we're just not going to do a pun on our name, which rules out about 80% of you. Maybe... next time?

Hope also mentioned a prize, and then informed us that we were in charge of figuring that out. No problem. We're still working on it, but I think it may involve Cooking for the Closes!!! or Close Kids Adventure!!! We'll get back to you, Kyle, but seriously- thanks for the title! And everyone- thanks so much for a very special night. We will never forget it!

Angie