Enjoying Cooler Fall Weather

Ahhhh!  October has arrived!  With it comes the promise of cooler temps and beautiful trees!  We hit the road last Saturday - ready to enjoy FALL!  We drove to Dixon and took Route 2 along the Rock River.  Unfortunately, there weren't many fall trees yet...hopefully in a few more weeks.  We did enjoy cooler temps though! 

Our first stop on Route 2 was Castle Rock Overlook.  We Loved the view - not the 150 steps to get to the top!  Didn't seem to phase the kids though...most of them ran ahead!

Enjoying the view!

Maddie has a fear of heights and steps with open backs (you can see through and notice how high up you are).  When she froze in place at one point, Kaitee ran back and held her hand, encouraging her to keep moving.

Back at the parking lot, we took the short trail down to the river.  The kids enjoyed skipping (or at least trying to) rocks.  The beautiful rock outcropping in the next picture is also a scenic overlook (see the next picture of all 4 kids, they are on top of that outcropping).

Throughout the parks in this area, they have carved mushrooms out of tree stumps.  It is fun to look for them as you drive or hike through different parks. Will found this one and tried to climb it - with no luck!

We continued towards Rockford - making a stop in Lowden State Park to find a letterbox.  The city of Oregon was a bit busy thanks to their annual Fall Festival. 

We drove into Rockford and ate lunch at Five Guys - even ran into a fellow letterboxer there!  Thanks to Facebook, Matt recognized her right away and introduced us.

We had two quick boxes to find in Rockford before hitting the road to be back in the QC in time for church commitments.  We drove to Swanson Park East to find a new box by Trailrider.  We were successful and even found a few spots for some photo ops.

A fire hydrant - not something you see on a bike path too often!

"Look Mom, I'm a Farmer!"

We were getting ready to head back to the van when I glanced up the hill and found these huge rocks.  We climbed the hill and took some pictures.  It was the perfect setting!

Almost back to the car, the kids climbed under the bridge to get a bit closer to the water. 

We stopped at the other letterbox but couldn't find the box itself.  It was a magnetic box.  We looked all over with no luck...then Will held up a Hide-A-Key and said he found it!  We were shocked when Matt opened the box and found a KEY! It was a true Hide-A-Key!  We quickly put it back and hit the road for home.  We arrived home just in time to change and head to church for the evening.  Another great day of adventure and exploring for the Harts!

Playing in Dixon

The day promised to be a warm one, so we headed to the Dixon, IL area to find a letterbox and then cool off in the Franklin Grove Natural Spring.  We try to go here once a year - it is a bit out of our way. 

Our first stop was in White Pines State Park.  This is a fun park - driving through the fords is always a highlight.  The trails are great too!  We stopped and tried to find a newly planted letterbox with no luck.  We did find this huge tree though!  It must be used for photo ops often (and climbing) as there was a stepping stump right underneath it.

This log had so much moss covering it that it had started to grow weeds on it!

With no luck at the finding the letterbox, we loaded up and headed to Franklin Grove.  We weren't surprised when we saw a full parking lot!  It was a hot day AND it was a holiday weekend...

The kids got their swimsuits on and we headed back to the spring.  There were 3 or 4 other families already playing but that didn't deter our kids. The 3 kids jumped right in (well, it took them a bit of time to adjust to the cold water from the spring!). Kaitee opted to sit and watch this time.  The last time we had visited, we were bombarded by mosquitoes.  Learning our lesson, we sprayed the kids with bug spray and that seemed to help tremendously!

After a while, we were the only ones there (with the exception of the occasional hiker passing through). Maddie & Alex found a crawfish and after poking at it a bit, realized it was dead.  Will was able to pull it out with a stick and then held it up to show it off.

We left it on the picnic table for other kids to see then packed up and headed back to the van.  We stopped on the trail to take a few pictures...

We drove back in to Dixon for dinner then headed home - just in time for showers and bed.  What a treasure we have within an hours drive!  The kids love the natural spring and it is a fun getaway for the day.