June Travels

We took advantage of Andy's time between schools to take some leave and visit family in Tennessee and Illinois. The kids really did great with all the driving, the abnormal schedules, different places, and new people. We visited with Grandma in TN for a short weekend and got to celebrate her birthday with her while there. Alex and Charlie the bird did not get along too well this time, as Alex got scared and upset when the bird would screech. He did however love to hear and see the trains and airplanes nearby. We visited a great park with a running path and playgrounds so Alex could show Grandma all his latest accomplishments with playground equipment.

We spent about a week in Illinois, where we got to introduce Evelyn to her cousins, aunts, uncles, great-grandparents, and friends. Alex had a blast riding on tractors, catching lightning bugs, petting the new farm kittens, and otherwise entertaining anybody who would watch with his never-ending energy. He helped Pop prep his airplane to fly to a Father's Day breakfast fly-in at a nearby airport. We enjoyed Club 41 onion rings (twice!), a Dallefeld family brunch, and cookies with Great-Gram. The grandparents took care of the kiddos while Andy and I got an afternoon and night (yes, whole NIGHT) away together. We visited the Kickapoo Creek Winery, and spent the evening in Peoria at the Mark Twain Hotel. We went back to Peoria early Saturday morning to run the Steamboat Classic. Andy placed first in his age group for the 4-miler with a 23:05, running alongside (well, just slightly behind) several Olympians and other elite athletes from all corners of the world. I finished Illinois' toughest 15K (9.3 miles) in 1:22:50--surviving the hills in the big park not once but twice.
We saved the longest drive for the way home, and luckily had time left before Andy had to go back to work to recover from this trip!! Here are almost all of the rest of the June pictures that were not included in the last post. The last few pictures had to go into yet another album, so there are just a couple random pictures from June here too.