The Rickers visited us this past week, and we had soooooooooooooo much fun. I took over 150 pictures. Michael fell in love with Lucas (4) and Hannah (2 1/2), and the three of them played from dawn to dusk; there were several wrestling matches, and Hannah touched my heart when she declared, "I love Michael!" We kept very busy, having adventure after adventure. The Rickers drove the 10 hours (that turn into 12 with the kids) from Atlanta, showing up Friday afternoon. Saturday morning, we began the festivities with the Farmers Market. It was hot, but that didn't stop us.
Friends already!
After stopping by a local hobby store with an AWESOME model train (because Lucas loves trains too), we went home to cool off in the backyard pool and sprinkler.
I named this picture "Man vs. Sprinkler."
After naps, we went to the pool in the evening. What a perfect pool day!
We got up for church Sunday morning.
After an early lunch, we headed on our bikes to the art festival in Uptown Normal.
The clouds really cooled everything off even though it still hasn't rained.
After naps, we relaxed a bit before heading to the park.
After-dinner popcicles at the park.
Monday morning, after checking out the local windmills and the dairy farm, we went to the zoo.
We had a picnic lunch outside the zoo, and Michael wanted to see what it would be like to be a canon ball.
After naps, we took a ride around town and ended up on the ISU campus where there was a concert. The musicians were Bavarian polka players, and they were hilarious (by accident). The kids totally ignored them and just ran around having fun.
Tuesday, JD and Steve went mountain-biking while Laurie and I took the kids to the lake park. We all enjoyed the Discovery Museum and Garlic Press for lunch before heading home for naps. We closed out Tuesday by returning to the pool.
What a fabulous four days! We can't say enough how grateful we are that the Rickers spent their time off with us, especially when most people don't think of Illinois as a summer vacation destination! We sure do miss having them nearby.
2 comments:
We had so much fun with you guys. Thanks for showing us all the fun stuff in Normal - it seems like such a great place to live. The kids had a blast and we loved getting to spend time with Michael - he is so cute. Steve and I were a bit sad when we left as we really wish we lived closer to you guys so we could visit more often. If you could handle us taking over your house again, we may just have to consider another vacation to Illinois next year. Thanks for such a great trip!
Love,
Laurie, Steve and the kiddos too
those group snuggles are precious! hope to meet the fam on the next trip :)
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