Wow, it's been a little while since I've posted on here. It has been crazy! During the beginning of Brady's Spring Break we decided to take a quick trip to IL to visit family. It had been WAY to long since we had gotten back there. We had a wonderful time(minus the not-so-fun cold I decided to obtain).
We were able to see both sides of my family. We went over to my Aunt Patty's house and spend time with her family as well as my grandpa and grandpa Cherry. We hadn't met my cousin Sara's daughter Ellie yet. She is such a cutie and a little pistol! My cousin Tracy's daughter Brooke was there also, it was amazing to see how tall she was! We missed Clayten he was at a sleepover at a friends house. It was so great just to sit with them and catch up on stuff. We missed my other Aunts and cousins but we hope to see them really soon!!
Tracy, Ellie, and Patty
Patty, Tracy, Ellie, and Bethany
We then decide to try and take in one Lincoln Site since we didn't have time to do all of them. So we went over to Lincoln's Tomb. In the parking lot we got an extra treat though! A mini Oscar Mayer Weiner Mobile had stopped so we got our picture taken by it. We walked on up to the tomb and walked around, Brady seemed pretty interested. We each took turns rubbing Abe's nose for good luck and snapped some pictures. A nice man even took our very first family of 5 photograph!! :)
Lincoln's Tomb
Kirk and Brady rubbing Honest Abe's nose
Bethany rubbing Abe's nose(well kinda)
"Angry" Georgia with Abe (she'll like it when she's older)
Family of 5!!
After we went site-seeing we headed over to meet the Birches for dinner. Almost everyone was there, except my Aunt Barb and Uncle Dean and their kids David, Val and Sarah, and Nathan(my Uncle Jeff's son) wasn't there , Oh and Holly and Aaron BUT we'll get to those two in a few. We were able to finally meet Nevan, Stephanie's son-can you say Wild Man! haha He's a cutie!!
The kids had a blast running around with him and playing with Pappy's tractors and trucks. Grandma had a nice spread as always. Yeah my dairy-free diet went right out the door(luckily we had the ok)!
The next day we went out to eat with Grandma and Pappy and then went over to see Tim and Lana's new house and then over to Jeff's new house. Both were very nice!! We then headed out to the farm and went to the new shed/building that Jeff built. Wow, it's huge! So great! Brady got a ride with Uncle Jeff from the farm to the shed on a BIG tractor, he was in heaven!! Once they got to the shed they sat on every tractor, truck, 4-wheeler you name it! I wish we were closer so Brady could be out there more, he loves it. I remember my memories of the farm and riding with Pappy in the tractors, I think I rode more than I walked!!! It was great!
Jeff and Brady
Jeff and Bethany
Once we left the farm it was time to start heading homeward. We headed over to my cousin Holly and her husband Aaron's house in Champaign to spend the night. On the way we ran up on fields of wind turbines. It was so Awesome! We have always seen them on tv but never up close. There were so many and so many more being built! We took some pictures.
We had a nice visit with Holly and Aaron, they happened to be pet-sitting another dog too(they have 2 dogs themselves). It was crazy, the kids loved it though! haha We were able to go out to eat dinner with them and saw Elvis re-incarnated at the local Walgreens. I wish I had my camera!
Before we left for Ohio the next morning we drove around U of I and then went to IHOP for breakfast. This was Brady's one request for our mini vacation. I don't think he realizes that IHOPS are in OH too, he just remembers going there when we were at David and Val's wedding a few years back. Anyway, we went had some yummy pancakes and then headed home.
We had a terrific time with everyone. We wish we had more time to stay longer but hopefully we will be able to make it back this summer for an extended time. There are so many family and friends we still need to see and want to see again.
We love you all very much!!!
