Quincy

We packed our bags and headed for the 3 hour road trip to Quincy.  My prayers were answered with this trip.  Caleb slept the first 1.5 hours and we stopped in Springfield to nurse.  He went back to sleep the rest of the way there!  It was a sweet, peaceful ride!

When we arrived, we got to say hi briefly to everyone before heading back out the door to visit great-grandma Ruth in the hospital.  She recently fell and broke her hip and had hip surgery.  She wasn't doing too great when we got there but I think family visits helped her spirit.  She seemed to do better July 5th.

After our brief visit, we got to see our family and spend time with them.  Cathy and Rich prepared an amazing dinner.  I haven't eaten that well in weeks!!  Ribs, potato salad, beans, fruit, corn on the cob and much more, yum!  We watched people go by on some sort of parasails as the kiddos gave us a live show.

The girls made a fruit flag

The kids parade

Chris went on with the niece and nephew and crew while Aunt Stephanie and cousin Josh came back to the house where we watched the fireworks from Bob & Ruth's amazing view of the river.  We saw probably 3-4 town's fireworks over the river (mosquito-free).  I got Caleb down to sleep and we stayed up late talking with M&S.

Saturday was nice too, Caleb and I got up early with great-grandpa Bob.  We watched as the water started flooding into the road.  We got to take a nap and when we got up the second time, Caleb's cousins were awake and ready to play.

Because it was Josh' second birthday we had another big family meal and chocolate cake too!!  Everyone had a good time and I was amazed that the little ones had the will power not to blow those party favor whistles that they got!!

birthday party fun

Panorama of the trail by their house

Josh you are too cute for words and your aunt loves you more than words can express!!!

The drive back was pretty good but we didn't time it as well. I fed him about an hour before we left so there we weren't close to anything when he got hungry on the way back.  We drove a bit out of the way to Jacksonville where we ordered at Sonic.  We had some fun taking goofy pictures of Caleb and talking in the car.  We made it back with time for mommy to get herself a treat from DQ drive through (certainly not a healthy day) but I loved Star Kisses as a child and still do now.  What a better way to indulge in a non-dairy treat?!

We gave Caleb a bath because he needed to wind down from the day and he was all smiles for his daddy.  It was a good trip and Cooper was beyond happy to have us home!!!