End of the road - for now

This was our last picture stop from our big road trip. Here we are at a Fort Massac in Southern Illinois.  They rebuilt a French fort from the 1700s.  Unfortunately, it was all locked up and we only got to look from outside the fence.  Fortunately, they had a playground, so it was still a nice break from the car.

Old and new friends

We stopped in Champaign to see, Jordan and Sarah, our friends from college and grad school.  We had a nice time at their awesome park/zoo and letting the kids hang out.

AA

Here is Arthur hanging out with Auntie Anne at her house.  One of the dogs, Kane, didn't really take to Arthur at first.  But they figured out a peace by  the end of the visit.  Taz (the other dog) didn't mind Arthur at all.

UE

Here is Arthur getting to know Uncle Emmett at the BBQ.  They had the same sense of humor!

New Park

We have been touring Atlanta parks over the last few weeks.  Here are pictures from one we enjoyed. It had good small play structures for Arthur, and shade for mom and dad.

weeeee

4th of July chair

Arthur climbed up into this chair himself.

Auntie Anne's BBQ

Here is the family at AA's 4th of July BBQ.  We had a great time!

Sox Game

The Sox lost at Arthur's first game, but they lost by less than usual. That's like a win.  They also had a nice fireworks show that night.

Szeszycki & Novak Lunch

Here we are with Mom's family.  We had yummy dumplings at Mabenkas.

Giraffes at the Zoo

The rain held off while we were at Brookfield Zoo.  We saw lots of animals including their baby giraffe.

Rainbow cone

The 5 flavors in a rainbow cone are Orange Sherbert, Strawberry, Palmer House, Pistachio, and Chocolate ice cream.  We went with Auntie Anne.

Field Museum

We went and saw dinos and gems.  The place was all decked out for the Blackhawks championship.

Downtown Chicago

Here we are walking over to the Field Museum.

MSI - Train hall

A few more pictures from the Museum of Science and Industry.

MSI

We didn't have tons of time for Arthur's first visit to the Museum of Science and Industry, but we still saw a lot.  Here are some of the highlights.

The picture below was taken in their exhibit on storms. I have no idea what this contraption was supposed to demonstrate, but you got to put a big heavy magnet on it.  Arthur loved it.

Train Ride - IN

We took a train ride in French Lick, IN.  It went for about 2 hours through the countryside.  We even went through a tunnel for a few minutes, which was, surprisingly, the quietest time for Arthur.

At the station

Riding

Uncle Bob's

We stopped in Loogootee, IN to visit with Uncle Bob.  In addition to a beautiful garden, Uncle Bob has one of the trees that we gave as wedding favors still growing there.   Here we are by it.

Lincoln Home - with Grandma

Gram E joined us on our drive up. She did a great job entertaining Arthur in the car and he missed her a bunch on our drive home.  Here are a few pictures of them at the Lincoln site.

Looking at the sheep on the historic farm. There were lots of lambs,

Lincoln Boyhood Home

We just got home from our roadtrip up to Chicago.  We will try to recreate it on the blog over the next week or so.

Here are pictures from one of our first stops - the Lincoln Boyhood Home National Memorial in southern Indiana.

He really liked walking in the grass out front.

Honest Wart

Cabin Foundation

$.88

We bought Arthur a tissue box of his very own.  It took him 10 minutes to get through it.  Best toy investment we've made yet!

Don't worry, we saved them when he was done.