We're home from another fantastic trip to the land of corn and beans, my birthplace, Streator, Illinois. We wedged A TON of visiting into five short days and the girls are in serious attention-detox-mode while Doug and I are in serious dead-tired-just-trying-to-function-enough-to-not-let-our-children-seriously-injure-themselves-mode!
It's been four years since our last visit and it was great ti see our Illinois family. It's nice to escape the Richmond Rat Race for a while in a comforting small Midwestern town.
Some of my favorite memories from this trip were going to church with my Grandma at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, telling the girls all about my late Grandpa Bob and how loved he was by the town, watching the fireflies while eating icecream on the front porch swing of the Baldwin House with my girls and enjoying family dinners with four generations of family present. There are too many memories to count and I'm so thankful to be part of such a strong family bond.
Our Trip in Pictures:
Traveling Fun!
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| Probably the three most excited people in the airport that morning! |
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| They loved the free cookies and unlimited cups of "weegles!" |
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| We were happy to have Uncle Poogie and Emily on the same flight as us to help out! |
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| Uncle Poogie, Emily and the crazies! |
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| Waiting to pick up or Illinois ride! |
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| We toured the land of corn and bean fields in style! |
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| A much needed nap before the marathon week of family visiting began! |
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| Mini people in the minivan! |
Welcome to Streator
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| Look out Streator! A whole lot of cuteness just came to town! |
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| It was fun showing the girls where Mommy spent the first few years of my life and every summer thereafter! |
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| Smiling with Great Grandma Gautschy before we went to church with her at St. Paul's Lutheran Church. |
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| Outside Great Gigi's house (Great Grandma Gautschy). |
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| Hailey was anxious to see if her sidewalk art was still there from our last visit 4 years ago. |
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| Hailey, July 2012 |
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| Posing in front of their names in the sidewalk outside Great Gigi's house. |
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| My grandma's wagon trike has always been a hit! |
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| Lulu 2012. |
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| Me and Uncle Poogie, 1987. |
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| Visiting my favorite icecream shop, Time-Out Icecream. A block away from Grandma's house. |
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| I was happy the girls shared the same affection for it! |
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| One (of many!) stops to watch the trains go by. |
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| Lounging at Great Gigi's house. |
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| Gigi outside of her high school place of employment, The Majestic Theater. Sadly, I had to take a picture, because if it's following the same path as most of the other beautiful old buildings in the town, it will probably be torn down by our next visit. Recently added to the list, Gigi's Elementary School, Babu's old Catholic School and the hospital were I was born :-( |
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| We had a great after church brunch with Aunt Karen. We did LOTS of dining out on our trip. (You can see me busted for swiping one of Daddy's french fries while he was in the bathroom!) |
Remembering Loved Ones
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| Visiting my Grandpa and Uncle Randy's station, where I spent LOTS of my time growing up. |
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| It seems like just yesterday when I took this picture, both of them covered in car grease, smelling of oil and of course cracking jokes! You can still sense their presence in Streator and they are truly missed by so many. |
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| I loved telling the girls stories about my Grandpa and showing them just how loved and special he was in the community. Just outside of the Bed and Breakfast where we were staying, there was a plaque and a tree planted in the park in his memory. |
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| Visiting their Great Grandpa Gautschy, on his birthday. |
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| Visiting Uncle Randy "Mugsy". |
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| Visiting their Great-Great Grandma Virginia and Great Grandma Carole. |
The Baldwin House
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| We loved staying at the Baldwin House while we were visiting. The girls loved having their own room and I loved the luxury of having a whole house to spread out in! Plus the park was right across the street! |
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| They spent every morning and night on this sweet porch swing! |
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| The girls also loved having this great playground right across the street! |
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| We took full advantage of all of the board games there. Especially Twister! |
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| And we made (too many!) visits to the local bakery for yummy donuts and cinnamon bread! |
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| Lulu loved snuggling with Mommy and Daddy in our favorite room, the cozy sun-room. |
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| Family dinner in our dining room. We had LOTS of Joe's pizza while we were there. I almost ate myself sick of it. But it sure sounds good to this Preggo right now! Yum... |
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| The girls slept HARD each night at the Baldwin House! |
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| The snorer had her own bed ;-) |
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| They LOVED taking baths in the old clawfoot tub! |
Visiting With Family
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| The girls with their Illinois Great Grandparents, outside the Baldwin House. Grandma Sandy, Grandpa Ben and Grandma Eileen. |
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| Hailey and her Great Grandpa Ben. |
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| Me and Grandpa Ben. |
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| Gigi and Great Gigi. |
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| Family dinner at the Baldwin House. |
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| Lunch at Bulldogs, across from Streator Highschool. Gigi's old Streatorette outfit is still hanging on the wall! |
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| Ryan ("Uncle Poogie") and Grandma Gautschy. |
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| Visiting with my fabulous Grandma! Guys, she spent 30 years of her life raising 6 kids! |
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| Visiting with baby Bailey (My cousin Myles' sweet little girl. My late Uncle Randy's granddaughter) We loaded Gigi's car up with lots of baby girl clothes for this cute little girl! |
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| It was the sweetest thing to watch Avery visit with baby Bailey. She was so gentle and is going to be a great big sister! |
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| Fun on the monkeybars with cousin Kaylee. |
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| Lainey and Kaylee. |
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| I'm sure Doug got an earful hanging around these two during the Gardner family cookout! These three also shared an exciting night out at Grandpa Ben's stomping grounds, the VFW, where I'm sure they weren't loud or obnoxious at all!! |
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| Hailey and Lainey loved swimming with their cousins Chloe, Jaxon, Kaylee, Connor, Alyssa and Jerzie! |
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| Avery, being the stubborn redhead that she is, refused to wear a floatie in the pool because "I's a big girl!" So she opted to hang out on the swing and on the trampoline instead! |
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| But she still had a blast! |
Cubs/Whitesox Game
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| I'm not sure what I was thinking when I agreed to going to the Cubs game with Doug, Dad, Grandpa Ben, Ryan and Emily while pregnant. However, I am sure that I made the right decision to park my pregnant butt on the couch and watch the game from home. Especially when poor Doug didn't get home until 2:30am!! Not to mention the whole rowdy drunk crowd in the bleacher seats (which would have been fine if I could have been one of them!), tons of walking (which also would have been fine, if I wasn't uncomfortably pregnant with a fourth child!) and the whole getting rained on thing...which let's face it, would not have been fine either way! I'm thankful that my aunt Vickie was more than happy to take my ticket! And by more than happy, I mean, hyperventilating with excitement!!! |
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| Doug and Emily, enjoying a delicious Wrigley Field beverage. |
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| Ryan clearly had the best seat in the house! |
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| These two had their hands full leading my Dad, Grandpa and Aunt around Chicago! |
Visiting the Hickey's in Peru
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| It's always a fun time with the Hickey clan! We had a super fun sleepover with Connor, Rachel and even Uncle Poogie and Emily! |
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| The girls kept Rachel busy with chalk, dolls, Barbies and more! |
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| They even got Connor to join in on the girl fun! Avery was attached to Connor's hip for the whole visit! |
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| Craft time with Beth and Emily. |
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| Connor was nice enough to sacrifice his room for the night for the sleepover. |
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| Avery loved the muffins and donuts for breakfast! |
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| And she especially loved all of Beth's cats! |
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| We love the waterpark at the Peru YMCA!! And Aunt Beth earned major "cool" points for running through the sprinklers and going down all the slides with the girls! |
Spring Lake
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| We had a great time exporing the nature trails at Spring Lake with Gigi, Babu, Uncle Poogie, Emily, Aunt Vickie and cousins Kaylee and Connor! |
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| The girls at Spring Lake. |
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| The girls with Kaylee and Connor. |
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| I don't know who was more ready to get off that old rickety bridge...Avery Claire or Aunt Vickie! |
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| The girls didn't seem to mind it one bit! |
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| Kaylee was quite the little Mommy to Avery during our visit ;-) Avery ate it up! |
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| Lainey, Hailey and Kaylee. |
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| Babu, Vicki and Grandpa Ben. |
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| The Gardner men. |
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| Avery was negotiating with Babu., saying, "Sorry, but that's my rock. You need to get off." |
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| 21 week baby bump. |
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| Quiet moment with man. Priceless. |
Gautschy Family Reunion
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| The highlight of our Illinois visit is always the Gautschy Family Reunion at Uncle Bud's Farm! |
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| The girls love the chickens and roosters! |
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| And checking out all of the old train memorabilia! |
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| Connor and Daddy took them for a tour of the farm in the Kubota! |
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| Mommy stayed in the barn and had a third helping of birthday cake! |
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| This year, we also celebrated Grandma Eileen's 85th Birthday at the reunion. |
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| The girls loved looking at all of the old pictures and had fun trying to find embarrassing pictures of Mommy and Gigi! |
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| Daddy stayed busy giving the kids paddle boat rides around the pond! |
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| Hailey got soaked in some intense water balloon fights with her cousins! (And Avery may or may not have gotten her Daddy a few times too! - with a little extra coaxing Aunt Vickie!) |
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| Otherwise, Avery was content hanging out at the bubble station. |
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| She even got Aunt Beth in on the bubble fun! They must have blown bubbles for over an hour!! |
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| Chasing bubbles on the farm! |
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| Gigi and her girls. |
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| Heidi, Emily and me. |
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| Emily and Ryan. |
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| Beth and Gigi. |
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| Me and Grandma Eileen. |
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| It wouldn't be a trip to the Midwest without lots of sweet corn! |
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| The girls loved Aunt Beth's craft table! |
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| Kaitlyn even put on a magic show for everyone! |
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| Hanging in the train with Connor, Rachel and Great Gigi. |
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| Swinging sisters! |
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| Enjoying a special moment with my Lulu and her growing baby brother on the swing. |
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| Mommy and Daddy were even able to sneak away a few times for some quiet moments alone. |
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| Connor gave Hailey and Lainey a few fishing lessons! |
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| Fishing off the dock with Kaitlyn and Rachel. |
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| Hailey was all about helping Uncle Jeff dehook the Bass he caught! |
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| Lulu and Rach. Catching up on some girltalk. |
Sad Goodbyes
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| As expected, these three were NOT happy about AT ALL about saying goodbye to their Illinois family. Can you blame them? We were visiting with someone new every few minutes of the day! They were constantly entertained and Mommy and Daddy were straight up EXHAUSTED!! |
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| The O'Hare airport sure has a lot more to do than the Richmond airport! The girls had fun waiting for our (delayed!) plane at the O'Hare Children's Museum. |
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| A secret room of FROGS! They must have known Hailey was coming! |
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| Mommy enjoyed feeding my pregnant belly at the Cubs restaurant! |
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| Time for takeoff again! This time Lulu got to sit by herself. |
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| Avery Claire seems to an expert at this whole air travel thing now! |
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| Flying as a family of five isn't so bad when you have tiny helpers!! Home sweet home, here we come! |
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