last day in Illinois

We had another full day today :-) Nathan and Declan spent the night here at Mom's last night, so she made pancakes for everyone this morning. John and Jenny came to pick up the boys after breakfast. Uncle John often wears a hat, and Seth likes to "steal" it and try it on :-)

We went to Jenny's parents' house to have lunch and watch John and Jenny open their wedding gifts.

Seth was a little bit of a "pill" at this event, so Dale went out to the van and got the carseat. Seth sat in the carseat in the living room so that he would be still enough to eat some lunch.

We got to take Nathan back to his mom's when lunch was finished, so I got to meet his little brother and sister and step-dad and see his mom again :-)

The next stop was my Aunt Ruby's house to visit with my cousins Gary and Felicia. They said that most kids don't really run to Gary, but Seth gave him a big hug and just stayed with him for quite a few minutes. While we were there, their son Alex came in -- I could hardly believe it was him since I hadn't seen him for about five years. It's amazing how little kids become giant teenagers when we're not looking!

After our visit, we went to church in Camp Point -- the church I grew up in. Seth walked in the door and immediately found the nursery as if he'd been there before -- weird! He had fun playing in the nursery with my friend Lisa's nephew and sister and another lady that I've "always" known from church :-) It was really nice to hug and talk to some of my church family from my childhood!

On our way back to Quincy, we stopped by my Aunt Irene's to give her one more hug. My cousin Mary is visiting here from Arizona, but we didn't get to see her because she was out mushroom hunting. (Oh, the memories of yummy fried mushrooms!!! Huge treats for us every spring/summer). We then went to John and Jenny's to say good-bye, and then got home at about 9:00 p.m. to eat some dinner and get this posted before my kids get home from church tonight :-)

So this is our last night in Illinois, which makes me pretty sad -- good-byes or "see ya later's" are never happy things :-( But I'm VERY excited to get back to Anchorage and hug and kiss my own kiddos and tuck them into bed for myself :-) I'm so glad for the internet and phones!