Loving Life

Welcome back to part two of our vacation! Once the kids had sufficiently dried out to just being damp, we allowed them back in the van where we went back to the hotel to shower and properly dry off from the big lake adventure.  We nibbled on some snacks on our way down to Kenosha, WI where we toured the Jelly Belly factory.  They have free tours available.  They didn't take you to see any of the actual production, but you got to ride on a little train and watch various clips about how they make Jelly Bellys.  It was pretty interesting.  We each got a free small bag of jelly belly's to take home with us too.  And of course you also had the option of spending your life savings on Jelly Belly's in their store once the tour was over.  We each had a dollar to spend, and found several small bags of candy on sale that we bought.  After that tour, we ended up at a Civil War Museum - this was mainly for Aaron's enjoyment, but the rest of us enjoyed it as ...

Did you miss me? We were on vacation last week! We had an awesome time together, but it sure is always good to come back home.  We spent the week exploring parts of Wisconsin.  Originally, we were planning on camping out for most of it as we usually do.  However, the weekend before we left, I came down with a nasty kidney infection - definitely not fun and was pretty scary as I was having what felt like fairly regular contractions.  Ended up going into the OB unit to figure out what was going on with me.  Baby was doing just fine and they gave me a jump start on antibiotics with a shot in each hip.  Saturday and Sunday were supposed to be my big preparation days for getting ready for vacation, but the kidney infection completely wiped out any energy I had.  I spent most of the day sleeping and lying down.  This would not bode well for camping preparations.  On our way to the hospital Friday night, we called a friend to be praying for us ...

... but didn't take any pictures.  Last week, the kids and I took a little trip out to visit friends and family in Indiana.  I had a great time.  Here are things I could have taken pictures of, but failed to do so: visiting Aaron's grandma visits with Grandma Kay & Grandpa Tom (Aaron's folks) and their cute little apartment 1st birthday party of my only niece on Aaron's side very delicious family meals staying with Aaron's aunt visiting with several good friends eating ice cream making noodles for the first time fun vehicle trips to and from Indiana I decided if I ever need a retreat time, I will go to Indiana now that Aaron's folks are out there.  I arrived and dropped my kids off for several days.  I popped in and out for meals and to say good morning and good night to the kids.  There is enough family out there now for the kids to be spoken for most days.  We did one day of school while "on vacation".  I hung out with friends I ha...

We're ready for day three of our glorious vacation!  Aren't you excited?  While it was still very hot this day, it didn't feel quite as oppressive as the two previous days.  We started our day off right by cooling down in a cave - Spook Cave.  This cave is toured completely by boat with cheesy monologue from the guide.  The kids still thought it was pretty cool though.  And we remembered how to feel cold and goosebumpy again in the cool 47 degree air.  Here is David pretending to be thoroughly impressed by all he hears. They had more cheesy cutouts to pose in saying how much you loved Spook Cave.  Ana loved it.  :) David too! We had a picnic lunch at the campsite near the cave and went on to visit the Effigy Mounds.  David, Ana, and I had been there last year on a school field trip.  We enjoyed the hike and learning a little more about some history.  Abby unfortunately declared herself VERY tired and VERY thirsty about thr...

Day two started off sort of groggy due to the nasty night of "sleep" the night before.  However, the kids were delighted to get up and enjoy special camping breakfast.  I indulge them for breakfast when we camp by buying things I never buy on normal days - poptarts and small individual boxes of sugar cereal.  Mmmm.  They were so excited to wake up and have their breakfast.  Once we cleaned up from that, we went on a morning exploratory trip around the park.  There are some good hiking trails that we all enjoyed.  David and Ana especially enjoyed exploring all the little side trails that veered a little too close to the edge of the bluffs for my comfort.  We happily hiked along, with David and Ana running on ahead of us.  Abby was content to stay with us.  We kept exploring the park and found a cave.  It felt so gloriously cool after our very hot and sticky morning hike.  Here the fog in the bottom of the picture is the...

So I had meant to let you know that I wouldn't be posting for a week or so since we would be on vacation.  Obviously, I failed to do that.  So I'll let you know in retrospect that we were gone on vacation.  Unfortunately, we picked the hottest week of the summer to be gone.  At this point in our lives, our vacations mean camping and doing lots of outdoor activities since they are all either free or very low cost.  You will be happy to know that not only did I take our camera along on our trip, but I also took pictures!   So in order to not overwhelm you with the volume of pictures, I will break our vacation down into chunks so you can enjoy our vacation in installments. Day One:  We left Monday morning once we got the van quickly packed.  Our goal was to be out the door by 9:00.  We were in the van and ready to go by 8:48.  Woohoo!  We had an uneventful drive to Dubuque that included a coffee and donut stop along the way.  We ...