whirl-wind #2....to Decatur

The week after Christmas, 7 of us ventured west to that land called Illinois.  We went for some family time (and there were some presents, too).  We left Andy home with the pets, our Christmas gift to him: silence.  Let me say, I really enjoyed travelling with the kids this time.  Having everyone a little older, especially Kinley, has made travelling much, much easier.  We stopped to get snacks before we headed out, and we only stopped once for a bathroom break.  Easy peasy.  We got to have a couple days with Andy's parents, brother and wife and kids.  The cousins hadn't seen each other in a while, so that was fun.  Even the little ones liked seeing their cousins.  I'm glad we got to go.

It's the classic cousin picture.  The only time they are all together and not moving.

We may have forced a board game on the cousins.  

My very favorite Christmas  decoration at Chris and Kim's house.  It's stupid that it makes me happy, but, it does.

We even got to spend New Year's Eve with everyone.  We stayed up till midnight, too.  And, went to bed right after the ball dropped.  Kella wowed everyone with her sense of style.

Liam snuggled down with Savannah and Marie.

And, the part that all the kids were waiting on-presents!

 I like to call this picture our New Year's Eve miracle:  all the cousins together and mostly looking at a camera.

Happy New Year!  

a Saturday trip

The Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, we went to Illinois for a memorial service for Andy's grandfather.  It was a beautiful day and we saw some interesting things on our trip.

Did you know that Casey, IL is home to several of the worlds largest things?  Our first stop was the World's Largest Wind Chime.  There was even bus parking for tour groups that fancied a stop.  You could pull on a line to make the chimes sound.  Even though the chimes looked pretty, they didn't sound pretty.  Very low, dull sounding tones.  We needed to change into "nice" clothes anyway.

That's right, I forced them all to pose for a picture.

Coming soon....right across the street from the wind chime.

While in the town of Hazel Dell, the boys got to play some kickball.  We always travel with at least one ball in the car. Mostly because we forget to take it out after a game.

Kinley was on her kind-of-best behavior.

We saw some of our favorite people.

We also stopped to see the World's Largest Golf Tee.  It was on the country club golf course in Casey.  Not as big as I thought it would be.  I guess compared to a normal size golf tee, this one is ginormous.  It did have an observation deck you could climb up.  5 of us got out of the van to see this sight.

Cale is so strong!  He can hold up the tee with his hand!

We saw some family and got to hang out.  It was a lovely day and the kids got to play outside a lot.  We left at 8pm local time and made it back to our house a little before midnight.  To be sure, everyone was exhausted.  But in a good way.

The annual cousins' reunion

2 weeks ago, we ventured back into Illinois.  This time we drove north, almost to Wisconsin, to go to a reunion on my side of the family.  We try to go every year.  It's the one time I get to see my aunts, uncles and cousins with their kids.  The cousins that host it have a nice, shady yard to hang out in and a pool to play in. It always makes for a relaxing afternoon of catching up with family.


The annual balloon toss.

Kinley, snoozing outside

The annual kids balloon toss

Kella and Aunt Sue.  Kella followed her all over and tried to go home with her.  We think it's because Aunt Sue has short hair and glasses like Grammy Pammy.  Kella was devastated when she got handed back to her actual family.

The annual piñata filled with Tootsie Roll candies

The kid cousins play so well together.  It's fun to see that they remember each other from year to year.  It's nice that they have cousins their age to play with when we come.  This year Joe taught our kids how to play bean bags (or cornhole as it is known here).  Marcus and Joey were on a team.

playing against Cale and Catherine

Another nice thing this year, was that our hotel was not that far away.  We did have to stop to get some sandals for Liam since he left his shoes at home (and his parents didn't check to see if he was wearing any before he got in the car).  We got two rooms again and everyone went to sleep earlier than the last time we were in a hotel.  Even Kella had a better night.

Kella and Liam chilling in bed, watching a video on the computer.  So glad we brought the computer to use in the hotel room.  Slowly, the kids are getting better and better to travel with.  I'm looking forward to many more trips in our future.