This weekend was Fall Break for Joe so we decided to go on a road trip to Southern Illinois. Originally, we were planning on camping for at least one night. We both LOVE camping and are super excited to take Lily. However, the reality of it all set in the night before we left as we were packing up. Camping with two adults is pretty straightforward and not too complicated. Camping with a 15-month-old is a completely different story, and one that we were unprepared for. We decided it was going to be too much of a hassle to be fun and hopped on Hotwire instead and found fun, cheap hotels on the road.
After a long day of driving on Saturday we went to Lambert's Cafe, a restaurant recommended by one of Joe's law school friends, Nathan. There was a 40 minute wait, but it was totally worth it. The food was AMAZING. And the wait was actually just what Lily needed. After being strapped in the carseat all day she really just wanted to run around for a while. In front of the restaurant is basically a playground and there are kids running all over the place. So Lily got to get a bit of exercise before sitting down to eat. And eat she did. She had fried okra, a throwed roll (they throw the rolls at you), chicken and dumplings, baked beans, BBQ ribs, and beets. It was ridiculous. You would have thought she was a small elephant by how much she ate. Then, on a full belly, even after all day in the car, she slept great that night.
They had a hay bale with fall decorations on it that everyone was taking pictures of their kids on. So of course, we had to as well. Lily sat there shaking her head no for a long while so I eventually gave up and this was the best picture we could get.
Sunday we went to the Belmont-Columbus Civil War Battle Site, and hiked in the Shawnee National Forest. Great fun was had by all.
All day Monday and Tuesday morning we explored Springfield, IL. We visited the Capitol, Lincoln's Home, played with leaves in a park, ate at some delicious restaurants, and went to the Illinois State Museum. Oh my goodness, it was so cool. They have this Play Museum in the basement where kids can touch and climb on a bunch of stuff. Lily played for a whole hour. And the museum itself is really kid friendly. The natural history section, called Changes, is all about Illinois basically from the beginning of time. It's really hands on and has really good explanations, so it was fun for the whole family.
Lily did great with the whole hotel thing. I was a little worried about being in a weird place and what that would do to her ability to sleep, but it was like she barely noticed. One afternoon we stopped back at the hotel and Lily got into the bag I had a roll of paper towels in and proceeded to cover the whole room with them. This picture does not do justice to the havoc she wrought. This little girl makes me laugh so much.
This was a really great trip. And exactly what we needed after the past couple of weeks. I was a little worried that we would all be just too tired to have any fun, but that was not the case. We had a lot of fun just hanging out together as a family. It was really nice to just do what we wanted and not have to worry about other people, household chores, or school. It feels great to be home refreshed, centered, and ready to tackle whatever comes next!
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