Busy Days in Illinois

Story told by: Lainey

We’re still in Illinois, and have been having lots of fun with our family!

Uncle Matt, Aunt Elisa, and my cousin, Graham, arrived at Great Grandma and Great Grandpa’s house the day after Christmas! The weather was incredibly warm, so we made sure to get outside and enjoy ourselves.

I may have been a little much for Graham at times. I just have so much to say!

All of the guys were playing football, and Henry managed to snag the ball for a bit.

Henry sure loves Grandpa!

We took everyone to Bonkers the next day to get out some energy. (This was a much better option than breaking everything in Great Grandma and Great Grandpa’s house.)

Grandma even demonstrated her amazing flexibility by climbing up with me to ride on the swing.

On the day before we left Great Grandma and Great Grandpa’s house, we got some family pictures. In order to get Graham to sit still, he got a banana. People were trying to get me to smile, but I wouldn’t cooperate. Henry was the only one who was ready to go!

Uncle Matt, Uncle Jeff, Mommy, and Uncle Jared all got pictures together before we left!

Great Grandma unfortunately had to spend two days of our visit in the hospital for low potassium. She was such a trooper, though, and came home as soon as she could to jump right in to the chaos! She had enough of her spunk back to wear her Michigan hat in support of Coach Harbaugh coming back to coach Michigan. Go Blue!

It was so much fun to have everyone together! After this, Uncle Jeff flew home to Florida while Uncle Matt, Aunt Elisa, and Graham drove back to Chicago. Uncle Jared came with us back to Grandma and Grandpa’s house!

On the first night at Grandma and Grandpa’s house, they surprised me with a Frozen bed tent. I was in heaven!! I loved it, and couldn’t wait to go to bed. (Mommy and Daddy were big fans of this great attitude.)

The next day we went to Chuck E. Cheese. I was a little intimidated at first, but after eating lunch, I had warmed up enough to try out some rides.

I was an expert horse rider.

I loved going down the slide (with new friends close behind).

And Henry loved hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa.

Mommy and Daddy got some time in with skee ball. (Mommy beat Daddy a lot, but I promised that I wouldn’t write too much about that.)

Henry, Uncle Jared, and Ericka cheered on Mommy and Daddy.

We had another busy day today that started with a visit to the children’s museum.

I splashed a lot in the water works table.

While I ran around playing doctor and shopping in the store, Henry played in the baby section of the museum. He may have liked it a little.

Mommy and I made some quick deliveries around town!

Daddy and I played on the giant piano, but I wasn’t heavy enough to make the keys play. I had to really jump on them to make some music.

My favorite part of the museum was the painting section. I spent about 25 minutes here!

I learned that it’s encouraged to paint on the walls, so I can’t wait to try that out when I get home!

And while I painted, Henry naturally entertained himself with outlet covers in the floor.

And Grandma entertained him as well!

After a quick nap for Henry, and no nap for me (because I simply didn’t want to miss anything), we went bowling!

I’ve been bowling several times before, but I was very expressive this time. Any time I knocked down a pin, my shouts of glee could be heard halfway across the bowling alley.

The bowling crew! We went out for a fun dinner after this, and then we went to sleep at home without a peep. We are some tired kids, but we’re gearing up for a few more days of fun before we have to fly home!