Illinois July, 2010

Over the 4th of July Weekend we visited my Dad’s homeland – Illinois. The entire Mercer clan met up in Moline, IL after travel adventures galore. Our adventure included 2 hours in the plane on the ground in Houston waiting for an intercom repair. Then we missed our connection to Moline in Chicago and were re-routed to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Just to add to the fun my flip-flop broke in O’hare airport and I was forced to walk barefoot – yuck! Chip was able to make a repair with a used set of head phone wires and the flops survived to get me to the hotel. We finally made it after 12 total hours of travel, but overall the kids did great and it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

The next day Chip, Joe and Dad fished the Rock River near Moline and Kim, mom and I took the Chace and Paige to an area Children’s museum.

That afternoon all the girls joined mom at a salon for massages while Dad and Chip took the kids to the John Deere Museum.

That evening we hired a babysitter to be with the kids while the grown-ups enjoyed a dinner out and fireworks in a town with a population of 200! When we got home we found out that the girls had a hard time falling asleep, they were having so much fun. Chace fell asleep first and they all crawled around them until each one had no energy left.

Our official gathering with dad’s sisters and their families was on Sunday. It was at the Senior Center in Kewanee. We made our way there and stopped at the building where Grandpa Mercer ran a car dealership, the Mercer Family Farm property, and the cemetery where Grandma and Grandpa Mercer and Aunt Ruth are buried. All are special places for us and I am so glad we were able to take the kids and husband there.