Visiting Illinois

The first weekend of August, Jack and mommy went to Illinois to visit Great-Grandma, Grandma and Grandpa, and Sara, Madelyn and Dylan.  It was very hot and very dry.  Everything was dead including the crops.  This was the first time Jack went to Champaign.  Mommy had not been back since Sara got married 6 years ago.  It will probably be at least 6 years before I go back.  We did have a nice visit with the family though.  We spent a few hours with Great-Grandma after we landed at O'hare.  Then we drove the 3.5 hours to Champaign.  Jack was really good on the drive down.  Then we went to the park when it was a little cooler (a little) to get some exercise.  Sara and the cousins arrived late Friday night.

In the living room was a ride on horse that I got for Christmas when I was 2.5 years old.  It's on springs and is a couple feet off the ground.  Jack was on it all the time.  First, he was really good and would sit on it and ride it like he was supposed to.  Then he stood on the saddle and rocked holding on to the handles.  Apparently that wasn't enough of a thrill, so eventually he would stand on the saddle, stare right at me with a smile on his face, and let go of the handles, balancing on the back.  I would make him immediately sit down but then that turned into part of the fun.  Grandma thought he was quite a daredevil.

The next day the kids played in the yard.

Then we went to the Urbana Farmers Market and Lincoln Square.  Lincoln Square used to the be the Mall in Urbana and had a Carson Prairie Scott.  Now it's half abandoned and filled with strange nick-knacks.  But it was cool and no one was in it so the kids could run around and stay cool. 

The next day we all went to the park in the morning.  In the afternoon we went to Prairie Farms where the kids could see and pet some farm animals.  For some reason, the kids were freaked out in the petting zoo despite being petting zoo veterans.  They liked looking at all the animals though.

Looking at chickens.

The big turkey freaked Jack out a bit.

Little ponies

Hot Jack looking longingly at the water park next door.

Playing in the playground at Prairie Farms.

On the way home, we saw a John Deer tractor so we had to stop and let Jack sit on it.

The next day we went to the park again and then went to Custard Cup for frozen yogurt.

Jack took one bite of chocolate custard and then would not eat another bite but he liked playing with the cup and spoon.   We were going to go to the park but it was too hot and the playground was in the sun.  Instead we went to Champaign's mall which is very much improved since I lived there.  They have a little kids play area that the kids loved playing on.

Jack loves motorcycles.  Hopefully he gets over that before he's 16.

The mall even has a carousel in it.  Jack rode on one for the first time.  Jack of course picked the bunny.  I had to go with him and was very scared I was going to get sick since it looked fast.  I was ok though and Jack had a great time.

On Tuesday, we drove back up to great-grandma's and spent the day up there.  Then Jack and I flew out at 5:30.  He was really good on the plane too.  We got home at 7:30 PST which was 9:30 CST.  Jack fell asleep 15 minutes before the plane landed and woke up right as we got to daddy.  Then he was so happy to see daddy he stayed awake until we got home.  Then he really woke up when he saw Packer and all his toys!