The Ivy Log: Roadtrip: Downstate Illinois

For our one family trip this summer, we road-tripped back to Illinois. Forest and I got up before dawn on a Saturday morning to load children into the van. We found Mika sleeping on her bed in this peculiar position-- head and torso sprawled horizontally across the mattress, legs hanging down and feet flat on the floor:

Ramona was so excited to travel, she chattered away until about 5am. It took a few more hours after that before she finally wound down her motor and got a nap in her car seat.

The remaining hours in the car were long, but we made it in one piece to Jii and Baachan's house before 9pm, Central time.

Sunday: Went for a walk around deserted ISU campus with Baachan. Ramona liked Cook Hall because it looks like a castle.

Mika just liked the picking up sticks.

Once we got back from our walk, we snapped a group photo in the backyard before church.

Mika got an oshizushi cake for dinner that evening as an early birthday surprise. Baachan made a #2 on it with carrots.

After dinner, I got to go to a faculty chamber music recital at IWU with my parents. It has been years since I was back in that auditorium, but surprisingly I still found a handful of familiar faces. I guess the classical music community is never that huge these days.

Brahms piano quartet did not disappoint . . . Hooray for an unexpected concert!
Monday: Tried to beat the humidity by splashing in a kiddie pool . . .

. . . slurping up chilled summer noodles . . .

. . . and making kakigori (shave ice).

Dinner was one of my favorite meals: Spaghetti with garden pesto and caprese salad. (It's so nice to finally enjoy eating again).

Dessert: Ice cream. Some for the belly and a lot for the face.

Mika's little mop of hair was so sweaty from the humidity I had it tied back in 4 different pigtails to get it out of her face. The one on top stuck straight up in the air.

Below is Mika's sad-face once the ice cream was all gone.

With that, it was time to say sayonara to Jii and Baachan and head to Paca's house. After being reunited with cousin Aubrey and finding every excuse to stay up past bedtime, the girls finally calmed down enough to listen to bedtime stories and go to sleep.

Tuesday: My high school friend Aubrey drove over from Mahomet with her three boys to visit and take a dip in the pool.

They couldn't stay too long because baby Camden badly needed a nap, but it was so good to see my long-time friend and her children.

Paca got back from work in time to play some tennis with Forest that afternoon.

The girls watched from the sidelines and cheered them on.

Dinner was at Cheryl's house. To keep the girls entertained, Forest and Uncle Gavin pushed them on the old Stoddard swingset . . .

. . . and I tied fancy napkins on their heads like babushkas, which inspired them to run around the house calling themselves the "Cupster Girls."

Wednesday: Our family took a side trip to Champaign-Urbana and reminisced about some old familiar spots. We were just there in December, but couldn't resist driving past our very first apartment again. 600 square feet filled with memories of being newlyweds, finishing grad school, and raising our baby Ramona.

For lunch we headed over to Za's on Green Street . . .

. . . then went for a walk around campus to find a new Illini hat for Daddy.

Finally, we swung by Carle Hospital to remind Ramona where she was born before grabbing a frozen deep dish pizza from Papa Del's and returning to Decatur-land.

We spent the afternoon in Grandma's swimming pool that day. Mika was acting particularly timid about the water so she just sat on the steps the entire time.

Ramona, on the other hand, was swimming all over the pool as long as she had a couple of trusty flotation aids.

Once the girls had devoured a messy spaghetti dinner, we headed out to visit more friends at the Funk home. There, we got an electric guitar concert from the oldest Funk boy and a comedy act by the second oldest, while Ramona and Mika busily played with youngest Benny and Emmalyn.