Post #5- Visiting IL

We decided to head back to IL with our visitors for a couple weeks because Brad was going on a two week trip to FL so he would not be home and I needed to be back for a friends wedding the first of August anyway so it all worked out perfectly! We packed up Miss A and Bailey and headed West. Each time we drive to IL we get to stop at Brad's sister Ginger's house in Ohio. (Thanks Ging for your gracious hosting spot, we are gonna miss that!) This time around we were able to hang out for a day and visit a Conservatory that is near her house. The flowers and gardens were beautiful as was the glasswork that was displayed all over the place by the artist Dale Chihuly. They had a fun area for the kids to play so Miss A took advantage of that.

Once we got back to IL we hopped back and forth from Grandma and Papa's to Nana's house (it is nice our parents only live 25 minutes from one another). Miss A always does great moving back and forth as long as she has a place to eat, take her naps and have a good nights sleep, she is happy. Miss A got to swim in the pool her Daddy swam in as a boy, play with her cousins, Kara, Alyson, Ayreanna, Cecilia, and Ian. Hang out with all of her Aunts and Uncles and try out all of the food that our wonderful city of Springfield has to offer. For those of you familiar, Mel-O-Cream doughnuts and the good ol' horseshoe, she LOVED them both! It was a very quick few weeks but relaxing and enjoyable.

On my side of the family we have a total of 5 granddaughters (pictured below), so you know everyone is rooting for a boy. On Brad's side, there are 2 girls and 2 boys, so I am sure they are partial to either.....can not wait to find out!!


We went and visited my 'second Mom', Erc's lake house one day to relax and do some fishing, o.k., Erc did the fishing but we fed the fish and relaxed on the dock! Here is Miss A taking in her first fish on a hook. I think we might have a fisherman on our hands.

Love this picture, not sure where they are off to, but they know where they are going!

We got to visit with Papa Sparky while we were home too, he works out of town a lot and sometimes on our quick trips home we miss him, so we were very excited to be able to spend time with him. Miss A got the royal seat to travel around Papa's yard, she sat still for most of it but once she saw the big yard in the back all she wanted was out to run around.

Two more posts to wrap up our summer so far, hang in there. Keep your eyes posted for our introduction of Baby Darling #2 in the next few weeks!!