Adventures in April

Wow, the month of April was a whirl-wind for sure!

April 1st we spent a fun family day at Sweet Berry Farm!
April 9th marked seven years since Clay proposed.
April 17th Oliver turned 2 and we celebrated his party on the 20th.
April 21st Jaycie was baptized!

April 21st we headed out for our first road trip family vacation!  Our trip went as follows:

We departed our home Sunday, April 21st around 9 AM.  Sadly we missed JC's baptism in Spring :(.  We thought sweet thoughts of her as we headed north, bound for Illinois.  Our car was loaded down with snacks, movies, people, pillows and memories were ready to be made.

We stopped for lunch in Hillsboro.  We ate our packed sandwiches in their city park.  Luralie ran and played and had so much fun!  Some of the locals were fishing in the small stream there and were catching crawfish.  Luralie was a little scared of them and called them lobsters.  Then we continued our trek north.  Luralie did SO well in the car.  She was curious as to where we were going and not-so-sure about sleeping all nigh in her carseat but when night fell we switched off her TV, said a night-night prayer and she was out.  We made a stop after she had fallen asleep and I took her in to go potty.  She was NOT happy to have been woken up and cried a little.  She went right back to sleep though.

Clay drove from 9 AM - Midnight then Christa took over.  She dove from 12-3 then I drove from 3-6.  We were nearing Chicago and I had a splitting headache so Clay took over.  L woke up during this driver change and we had to coax her to go back to sleep.  We drove into Downtown Chicago in search of a breakfast spot close to the Navy Pier.  We finally decided on some Dunkin Donuts.  Once our tummies were full and bladders empty we explored Navy Pier.  It was a beautiful sunny day!  First we L road a kiddie train then we all road the Ferris Wheel.  We explored a stain-glass museum on the pier then walked into downtown Chicago for some deep-dish pizza!  After lunch we loaded up in the car and drove to the Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower).  We road the elevator to the tip top; it was so high our ears popped!  We ended our day by checking into our hotel and having dinner at a local Chick-Fil-A (Clay took L as I was not feeling quite good). 

The next morning we toured Wrigley Field then took the L and visited the Shedd Aquarium.  It was an overcast morning and drizzled on us a bit in the afternoon.  We had breakfast at the hotel, lunch at 5 Guys, and dinner at Ditkas.

On our last day in Chicago Clay took L to swim in the hotel pool while Christa and I packed up our room.  We checked out then headed to the Field Museum.  We saw LOTS there and still didn't see everything.  Our primary reason for choosing this museum was to see the Tsavo Ghost and the Darkness Lions.  We at lunch at the museum then explored more of the exhibits.  We saw a 3d film on Suzie, a T-Rex that was on display there. 

When we were done we headed out of Chicago and to our good friend house in a near-by town.  We were so excited to see Don and Mary Lou!  We spent our days there relaxing, playing with toys, reading books, napping, eating yummy home-cooked meals, playing card games, and walking to their beautiful neighborhood park.  One day we went into Rockford together and toured its museum.  We saw a small exhibit on the Rockford Peaches!  While in Rockford we found a Mexican food restaurant for lunch and the food was not bad.  Clay and I spent our evenings playing racquetball with Mr. Don while Luralie read books with Mrs. Mary Lou.

Sadly, our time with our friends came to a close and we had to say goodbye.  Stubborn Clay drove most of the way.  We traveled via St. Louis in hopes of seeing the arches however it was too foggy and rainy for us to do so :(  We made it back to camp in time to join our camp family for a night of BUNCO!

We all rested the next day then it was back to work!