Planes, Trains & Automobiles

We had a wonderful adventure to Illinois this past week. Here is our trip via the photos I was able to capture on my phone (not all are perfectly clear). 

 Watching airplanes and waiting for ours was so much better since we had doughnuts to snack on!

 Levi was nervous about flying - especially the take-off - so he was SURE to be buckled up.

 Ah, up in the air and with much less nervous energy from Levi.

 We spent time reading,

 and playing games on our phones...

 At O'Hare we quickly grabbed Subway sandwiches for supper and ate them on the L to Andy & Lia's house in Chicago!

 We slept and then used Uber to get a ride to Union Station. It worked out great and our driver Frank was a treat!

 All aboard! Making our way to Bloomington Normal!

 Tim picked us up from the train station and when we got to Grandma's the boys posed by her "tree"! :-)

 We kept busy with sewing,

 playing the game Apples-to-Apples - with Great Grandpa and Grandma, too!

 more sewing, playing the Wii, and helping cook.

 We celebrated Levi's 8th birthday! He made French toast for all of us for his birthday breakfast.

 It was an icy world outside while Levi cooked and the wind was howling, making the trees whip around.

Levi's such a sweet, enthusiastic, creative, and tender spirit. We LOVE him to pieces.

 That morning Noah was busy in the kitchen too! He helped Grandma by rolling and measuring out his favorite Peppermint Twist cookies. Plus, Levi helped make his birthday cake. Sue's kitchen was humming with activity!

 And then just before lunch, with all our baking complete, the power went out. So, we packed up our cake decorating supplies, Noah's Peppermint Twist Cookies and our phone chargers and headed for the church. On our way, we came across a crew working to restore the power so we pulled off the road and Sue delivered a bunch of cookies to their truck for them to enjoy.

 At the church we played basketball, tossed a Frisbee

 and Levi decorated his cake.

 We didn't do too bad following his design!

 Then we walked over to Lee & Mary Alice's place to relax and enjoy cake, coffee and warm chocolate.

 Happy Birthday Levi!

 We played a couple games of Quarkle and then got busy cooking supper.

 We enjoyed a grrrreat meal and were thankful for a warm space to gather together.

 We opted to spend the night at the Community Building by the church to avoid the pitch black house for the boys. They thoroughly enjoyed playing pool and the adventure of another new space to sleep in.
The next morning we met Tim and Sue at Bob Evan's for breakfast. It took us a little bit to wake up, but eventually we were all functioning at 100%.

 And, good news! The power came back on at Tim & Sue's. The boys got a lesson in Portuguese from Sue during one of our car rides. It was great to watch their faces as they watched and listened to her speak! I think they were mesmerized and they learned a couple words, too.

 The next day we went back to the train station to ride back to Chicago!

 The train was nearly out of food, so this was my lunch. Happy birthday to me, ha!

 Lia picked us up at Union Station and then we went out to Adler Planetarium.
We all enjoyed the Space Exploration part of the museum. I was thoroughly impressed with the bravery the first astronauts that went into space exhibited. Plus the genius scientists working behind the scenes, and the strength of families waiting on earth for their astronauts to return.

 We learned about the planets,

 and our home, Earth.

 There was an area about what early astronomers learned, about telescopes and more. Plus a kids area, which is what we ended with and what the boys might have enjoyed the most.

 When we walked out the door, this was our view. Not too bad!

 Lia skillfully drove us through rush-hour traffic back to their place, where we enjoyed a hearty beef stew for supper. The boys experienced playing Guitar Hero for the first time and Levi soaked in Andy and Lia's claw foot tub.
The next morning, we took the L back to O'Hare,

 and flew back to Wichita!

We had a great trip! Ben and I were thankful to get back to our own bed Thursday night. During our trip we never slept in the same bed for more than one night in a row....but we were certainly thankful for all the hospitality we received from our family in Illinois.