Splashing in Dixon, IL

We had an afternoon of no plans last weekend. With the severe heat we've had the past month, the kids & I haven't spent much time outside. You can imagine (esp. if you have young, energized kids like we do)that we were getting a bit stir-crazy! Matt suggested heading to Dixon, IL (a little more than an hour east of us) to see something that he thought we might like. He described the surprise to me, but I couldn't imagine it. So, we headed out to see this surprise. We drove to Dixon and ate lunch, then drove a bit further to Franklin Grove, IL to Franklin Creek Nature Preserve. While taking a lunch break a few years back, Matt took a short hike on a trail and came across a natural spring! We hiked down the paved path (about 1/3 mile) and came across this!

 Due to the lighting of the day, the pictures do this spring no justice!  You can't even tell that there is water under the rock that the kids are standing on.  The water is coming out of the rock/hole beside Katie (in pink) and flowing all the way down (see next picture).  Also notice (in this next picture), Will's boots.  The water is high enough to flow into his boots!

Soon after this picture was taken, Maddie announced that she needed to go to the bathroom.  If you know Maddie, this is typical for her!  We try to announce rest stops a few miles ahead - because she always says "no" initially...and then changes her mind as we get closer!  So, Matt left with Katie & Maddie to use the rest room at the foot of the trail.

Katie & Maddie in the water - very cold!!

 Will, Alex & I stayed behind to play in the water.  It was very cold water and Alex didn't have good shoes for playing in water (we will plan better next time!!), but Will had a blast!  He played in the water - throwing it in the air, building a rock dam, sitting in it (after being told not to since we didn't have a change of clothes or any towels!  Like I mentioned, we weren't prepared!)

Check out the water FLOWING from the boot!

Alex enjoyed climbing on the rocks and looking for little bugs. 

On our way back to the van, Matt snapped this shot under this cool tree!  Once at the van, I remembered that I still had an extra days worth of clothing from our Ohio trip - stored in the stow & go of the van!  I was pretty excited about this since I had nothing else for Will to sit on, change in to!

We drove back in to Dixon to get a special treat for the kids - ICEEs!  After the treat, we walked along the river to admire the beautiful work Dixon has done with their riverfront.

The kids with Abraham Lincoln

 The girls and I walked across the bridge to the other side of the river while Matt & Will drove the van around.  We "played" in the fountains (another 100 degree day!) and enjoyed reading the history of Dixon, IL along their river walk.

Across the street, the kids noticed this chicken.  They asked if they could have their picture taken in front of it (doing the chicken dance, of course!).

 While posing for the picture, the owner pulled in and told us that there was another chicken behind the dumpster, alongside the restaurant.  So all of the kids took a turn sitting on this chicken!

 All in all, it was a nice, impromptu outing.  We left late morning and got back home in time to get Katie to her evening party and the rest of us to a swimming party!

Ohio "Vacation"

We had been planning to head to Cincinnati, OH for our "big" vacation for the past year.  Our initial plan was to travel there over Spring Break (March).  Due to other committments, we decided to wait until summer to travel.  We now realize our mistake!  The week we traveled was one of the hottest on record!  With temps over 100 degrees every day, it was miserable!  We considered cancelling our hotel reservations and come home a day early...but decided to stick it out.  We are so thankful that God gave us some memories that we won't forget, even amid the heat and arguments!

We hit the road around 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 3.  We knew that we had a long day ahead of us and tried to get out as early as possible (without waking the kids up too early!).  We drove for a few hours, making our first stop around Champaign, IL.  We were "Looking for Lincoln"!  We were able to find a few in Mahamet, Danville and a few small surrounding towns.

We drove into this park (Lake of the Woods) and looked for a Lincoln sign.  Will was the first to spot it (the only one, actually!).  The sign was attached to the building.  Unfortunately, there was another sign/medallion INSIDE the building, but they weren't open.  I guess we'll be going back there another time!  Here is Will showing us the sign - with his sleeping mask on!

One of our traditions for vacations is a photo scavenger hunt.  Matt & I put together a list of things that the kids need to have their pictures taken with (or doing).  One of the pictures was "hugging, in front of a lake".  Here they are at Homer Lake, Homer, IL (after finding another Looking for Lincoln).

Mill Stone in Danville, IL

Onward to Indianapolis, IN.  We stopped to eat and find a few letterboxes - including a box to honor Peyton Manning.  We were bummed to find the box with no stamp in it - another stamp fallen prey to geocaching.

Almost to our hotel!  We stopped to find a letterbox in this bridge - once again with no luck!  It was a neat piece of history to drive across though! 

We ended our first day with checking in at the hotel, getting some dinner and driving around the southern part of Cincinnati/northern Kentucky.  We stayed up a bit to see if we could watch any fireworks from our upper level room.  We did get to see some, but nothing up close.

After breakfast the next morning, we loaded up and headed to the Creation Museum.  The Creation Museum is a "70,000 sq ft museum that brings the pages of the Bible to life"!  We were very impressed with the museum - it was beautiful with amazing displays/exhibits.  We spent the better part of Wed, July 4th at the museum.  We enjoyed the exhibits, ate lunch and walked the botanical garden area. 

Alex & Katie running from the dinosaur...Maddie doesn't seem to be phased by it!

God's Word = The Truth

Will - checking out the water / waterfall

The Dinosaurs were amazing!

The kids sat at this well for quit a while.  The water flowed down the wall (in front of the kids) and into the pool below.  Very relaxing!

Katie - wishing she could add these to her rock collection!

Um, Alex - Don't look now!!

Time for lunch at Noah's Cafe.  It was over 100 degrees at this point in the day, but the kids were tired of being cold!  So, we sacrificed and ate out on the deck and admired the gardens while we ate. 

Enjoying the Botanical Garden - it was BEAUTIFUL!!!

One of the many neat bridges

Maddie looking for fish

We asked the kids to sit along the railing and get a picture.  Even with the heat, 3 of the 4 complied...unfortunately, it takes one to "ruin it" for the others! 

A beautiful butterfly along the walkway!

We left the Creation Museum and headed back to the hotel for dinner and swimming.  After the kids were in bed, I got on the computer and soon heard some loud booms outside.  I peaked out the window to see fireworks.  The girls weren't sleeping yet, so they came over and watched the display.  I tried to wake Will but he was out for the night!

Thursday, July 5th...we spent the day letterboxing.  The majority of our time was spent in Spring Grove Cemetery (2nd largest cemetery in the US).  With over 50 boxes in this cemetery, we knew that we would be busy for the day.  We ended up just finding a handful (15?) due to the heat.  We also decided to look for driveby boxes that would show us more of the city.  So, the remainder of our afternoon was spent throughout the city.  Our evening ended with swimming and dinner.

Friday, July 6th...we traveled 2 hours southeast to Red River Gorge, Kentucky.  We drove through the 900 foot, one lane, rock Nada Tunnel...CRAZINESS!!  We loved it (after an initial scare of no lights!).
 
 
 We hiked a bit to find another box that eluded us...but got to watch some rock jumpers and walk across a swinging bridge.

We found another photo scavenger hunt item!  Picture with a bear!  The kids loved these miniature bears - esp. the one with the binky!

We ended our day at Big Bone Lick State Park.  Again - very hot!!  I took a picture of the car thermometer at this point!  There were some great statues at this park - including the one below.

We were all ready for bed that night!  We got back to the hotel and packed up for our trip home, then fell asleep.

We didn't end up spending much time in the downtown Cincinnati area.  We really aren't big city people.  We don't mind driving through to see things, but we'd rather be out in the country!  With this said, we checked out of our hotel on Saturday morning and headed north.  Our goal for the day was to go to the National Air Museum in Dayton, OH.  We stopped along the way to walk on the Purple People Bridge.  This bridge is a pedestrian only bridge that connects Newport, KY with Cincinnati, OH (over the Ohio River).  We got to the bridge around 9 that morning and it was already 90 degrees!  We walked about halfway across, took some pictures and headed back to the van.

We stopped for 3 boxes along the way to Dayton.  "WKRP" - a Barman family favorite!  We were able to find both of these boxes...after a very long hunt!  Our next box was "IKEA"...Matt granted me permission to head in to IKEA for a short shopping trip! : )  I was in search of some wall boxes that Bolingbrook was out of when I last visited.  I was so happy when I found them!  We went ahead and had a cheap hot dog lunch and hit the road for Dayton.

Our first stop in Dayton was at the Woodland Cemetery to find a letterbox in memory of the Wright Brothers.  Here are Katie & Alex sitting beside the Orville & Wilbur's hats!

Our destination for the day - The National Air Museum in Dayton.

This museum is FREE!  It is a wonderful museum - well laid out with lots of old planes and history!  Well worth the trip if you ever decide to do that.  I love to see the kids getting along (on this trip, it wasn't very often...as you can tell from the next picture!!)

No, I want to go this way!!

Katie had received a book about Amelia Earheart from the library reading program.  She had been reading it on the drive and was so excited to see the pictures of Amelia throughout the museum.

Another photo scavenger hunt pic - reflections of the kids!

Scavenger hunt - "I can't believe we all fit in here!!"

After the museum, we hit the road.  After a long drive home, we arrived home around 1 am (2 am Ohio time!).  Here's how we all felt...And very happy to be home!