Summer Time Fun - 2026

With everyone working full time jobs, we don't really get a summer break anymore. It's definitely different!

We were able to get away for some day trips and weekend overnights.

Our summer wouldn't be complete without a day spent in Freeport. We've been visiting Freeport annually before the kids were born. It's a nice city with some great city parks and a great ice cream shop. This year, our day away was a warm one! We enjoyed the carousel, paddleboats (Matt opted to stay on land and take pictures) and then played a round of miniature golf. By the end of the golfing, we were all toast. Definitely time for Union Dairy!

This is why everyone is laughing in the above picture...

From Union Dairy, we headed East to Rockford. Maddie wanted to show Micah the gardens at Sinnissippi Park (always a family favorite stop) and then we finished our day at Giordano's Pizza.

Notice the duck under the fountain...

We witnessed a marriage proposal while at the park!

My sister, Teri, was home for a week in July. During that time we spent a lot of time with my family. As per usual, we ate lots, shopped, and laughed til our sides hurt. We celebrated summer birthdays with the extended family one evening at Happy Joe's. Mom must've been avoiding my camera!

Breakfast with Willy & Dad (the birthday boy)

Lunch with Teri, Mom & Dad before Teri headed home.

Matt & I were able to get away for a few afternoon drives - Dubuque (St Donatus), Galena, and Muscatine. We spent a few weekends traveling Route 66 through IL and then a full week (while Kaitee was in Washington DC) on Route 66 through Missouri, Kansas & half of Oklahoma. I'll be doing separate blog posts for those trips.

The DeSoto House in Galena is the oldest operating hotel in Illinois (opening in 1855). Both Lincoln & Douglas gave speeches from the hotel's balconies and Ulysses S Grant used 3 of the rooms for his presidential election campaign headquarters. It's a beautiful hotel - right on Main Street! It is just as beautiful on the outside, but we didn't think to snap a picture.

Kaitee joined us in Clinton one afternoon as we shopped at their Goodwill and ate dinner at Manny's. Matt remembered that Clinton had 3 new trolls, so we hunted them down too. So impressive!

Kaitee had the splendid idea of rolling down this hill. Okay - fun idea in theory. Not so fun in real life. So dizzy! And my shoulder was bruised for a week afterwards! I'm too old to roll down hills. Kaitee on the other hand, had a blast and was no worse for the wear.

Maddie and Micah attended the fireworks display on July 4th, only to be rained on - Drenched is more like it! They also took a few day trips to Turkey Run State Park (Indiana) and Devils Lake State Park (Wisconsin). Her big news for the summer was a new car!

We also celebrated Father's Day with Mom & Dad - a nice dinner with just us 6 adults. 

We attended a couple of QC River Bandits baseball games (thank you, work!). The River Bandits are a single A minor league affiliate for the KC Royals. With the Mississippi River flowing just beyond the outfield fence, the ballpark is a great spot to watch some baseball on a beautiful summer evening!

Will opted to not take any summer classes and enjoyed his quiet summer of just working (full time hours). His big news - 2 turtles! Shreader and Splinter have taken over the basement and we all enjoy watching them swim around and sun themselves.

I had hummingbirds consistently through the summer. We love to watch them! 

Unfortunately, we found a broken feeder on the back deck one morning. I thought that a storm had come through and knocked it off the hook. I used a backup feeder the next night and caught the culprit in the act. Little bugger! Needless to say, the feeders now come in every night!

I drove Kaitee to Eldridge one Friday evening to attend a musical at the high school. I then ran a few errands while I waited for pick up time. When I saw the Balloon Festival, I pulled over into a parking lot and watched them glow. Such a beautiful, peaceful evening.

Kaitee and I hit up the Geneseo Goodwill one afternoon and then drove a bit further to Paxton's Corner Coop to grab some of their super yummy Cinnamon Rolls. Their shop is such a fun stop, lots of photo ops and their treats are worth the drive!!

August - we traveled (in 2 vehicles) to Kansas City to watch the Cubs play the Royals. We spent the night in KC and then parted ways the next morning (Jacob, Alex, Kaitee & Will left early to head to Des Moines for a day at Adventureland and Matt, Maddie & I, slept in a bit before hitting the road for home). Maddie had planned on going to Adventureland but was fighting a head cold and wasn't up for doing the rides and being out in the heat all day. 

We stopped at the Missouri welcome center to see if they had any Rt 66 maps for our upcoming trip. While I ran inside, Matt & Maddie walked the prairie path and spotted some buffalo.

Arriving in KC, we found lunch (Whataburger!!), checked in to our hotel and walked around Bass Pro Shop before heading to Kauffman Stadium for the baseball game. 

Once at the park, we all went our separate ways - exploring, eating, etc. The fountains were amazing and there were a lot of photo ops that we all took advantage of! Also, the amount of Cub Fans in attendance was INSANE! Unfortunately, that didn't help our Cubbies pull out a win. 

We found a Kaitee! Crazy to think that we were among 32,000 fans and we literally ran in to one of the kids while walking around!

In this picture, you might think that Matt was in trouble...that is actually far from the truth! He was the only one who was healthy, ha! Maddie & Will were both under the weather with head colds, so Matt is trying to protect himself by staying as far away as possible from them and their germs!

As we left town, we spotted this roadside park "Pioneer Crossing Park".

And a few pictures from their day at Adventureland...

Happy Hands Club from Napoleon Dynamite, ha!

Matt's dad, Ken, flew in from Oregon for a visit in August. Thanks to a lot of rain, we didn't do much...but we enjoyed our time with him. Lots of hanging out at the house and of course, lots of Whiteys! Everyone was able to get together for a meal to celebrate Matt's birthday (Happy #50!). Ken asked us to snap a few pictures of him with the kids - I'm so glad that he did. We don't get everyone together too often and definitely don't get pictures when we do. 

It's the end of summer already, not sure how that happened. Kaitee headed to Washington DC for a week of vacation. She took the Amtrak from Galesburg to Chicago to DC. It was a long time of being on the train, but she loved her time in DC - lots of walking, museums and exploring. Her top highlight was visiting Ford's Theater and seeing "Come From Away", one of her favorite musicals.

Coming into Chicago (Union Station)

She opted to go the scenic route, which took a lot longer, but she loved seeing the countryside! She texted this picture and asked if we knew where she was. My guess was Harpers Ferry and that was correct! We walked across the bridge in this picture. Pretty cool that she got to see it from the train!

Kaitee and me on the above bridge - 2023

Leaving the train station, she saw the Capital Building off in the distance.

Amelia's Lockheed that she flew across the Atlantic as well as the US.

The White House had a large security fence around it (much further away than when we visited in 2017.

June of this year, the Lincoln Memorial Undercroft opened to the public. This is located under the Lincoln Memorial. Kaitee was thrilled to find out about this and enjoyed her time walking through.

Kaitee danced her tail off to earn this National Archives Medallion! She had to complete 5 arcade games that related to US history and government. She jokingly texted "For the cheap price of your dignity, you can get this coin for free! They have a room full of educational games where if you play each one, it's logged with your ticket barcode and adds up to get this...One's kinda like Just Dance, and I genuinely hope they go through and watch that footage at the end of each day.🤣"

And summer comes to an end. Leaves are falling, temps are cooling and days are much shorter. Summer, we are sad to see you go.