TAG | Daddy
Instead of a birthday party this year, we gave Grant a trip to St. Louis on Amtrak. We left 2 days after his birthday after waking up at 6 to catch the train in Elgin.
Grant and I after boarding the Metra train for the first leg of our trip, Elgin to Chicago Union Station.
Waving goodbye to the womenfolk as the train pulls away from the station.
After boarding the Amtrak train in Chicago. The business class area was nice, with spacious seats, power outlets, and dedicated restroom 
Mugging for the camera.
We packed our lunch. Mom even stuck a few Amtrak napkins in our bag!
Grant watching as we pass another Amtrak train at speed.
Two thumbs up for the lunch Mom made for us.
Trying to rest. It took quite awhile for Grant to relax and fall asleep since the train was so exciting.
Finally out.
Grant and the Gateway Arch.
Our train at the St. Louis station.
More in the next installment, coming soon!
We’ve been having an abundance of snow the last few weeks here in Northern IL. Grant and Norah have been enjoying playtime in the snow and we’ve been able to go sledding a few times at the “big hill”.
Having fun on the playset
It was really snowing!
Norah facing downhill, Grant facing uphill.
Before we hit the slope.
Grant had fun pushing Norah on the sled.
Finally! They can walk up the hill and carry the sled themselves! Hallelujah!
On to the kiddie ride area, always a hit.
First, we hit the cars where Norah had fun “driving” the purple one. Then it was on the their favorite ride, the motorcycles. Usually Grant and Norah are just laughing hysterically while the ride is in motion. However, this time the ride jolted as it started and Norah and a few other children got rather freaked out. After a minute or so, the ride operator had to stop and let them off before continuing the rest of the ride. All was well once Norah settled down. We watched Grant finish his ride and then shared an elephant ear before heading home.
Norah and her purple car. Grant and Norah on the motorcycle. 
Grant zooming by! 
Norah in distress. She was rescued shortly after this was taken.
Norah and Kate 
Grant is getting a good whiff of the elephant ear. Checking out the size of the tractor tires. 
Grant, Norah, and Daddy.
When we left the story yesterday, I had gotten the tent ready and was getting ready to get dinner cooking.
Where there’s smoke…
We kept it simple and kid-friendly with hot dogs, chips, and applesauce. Norah and Grant thought that cooking our hotdogs over the fire on sticks was just about the coolest thing ever. I’m not sure if they’ll ever eat a gas-grilled dog again.
Grant praying for our dinner before digging in.
After dinner, we got our sleeping bags, pillows, and other bedtime accoutrements ready while it was still light outside. Of course, Grant and Norah had to test their sleeping bags out again. We finished getting everything situated before going outside to make…
S’MORES!
I don’t think that the kids had ever had a real s’more up to this point. They knew what we were going to be doing as they helped Kate find the components at the grocery store. I showed Grant how to toast the marshmallows and before long, he was toasting (and burning) marshmallows like a pro! I wonder if he got my “pyro” gene?
From humble beginnings come great things. Grant toasting his marshmallows.
The kids enjoying their s’mores.
After we finished our s’mores and watched the fire for a bit, we hit the hay at around 10 o’clock. The kids were tuckered out and were asleep shortly after we finished reading our books (thank goodness we brought a crank-powered flashlight as the batteries ran out on the big one).
We slept well, as well as one can sleep on the hard ground with only a tarp and a sleeping bag underneath. The kids did great and stayed asleep all night while I peeked at the fire every few hours to make sure that everything was safe.
We woke up on Saturday morning to the sound of light drizzle. Since the campground had WiFi, I got out the computer (nothing like high-tech camping!) and checked the radar. Seeing that the rain wasn’t going to let up for hours, we packed up a bit earlier than planned and headed home. Before leaving, we enjoyed our breakfast (muffins) under the cover of the minivan hatch.
We had a great time and we’re already planning our next camping trip, this time with Kate and Audrey.
I’ve been remiss in posting regular updates and I’ve got a large backlog of partially finished posts. Here is the first in a series to bring the blog back up to date.
I took the kids camping a few weeks ago before it got so hot and humid here in Illinois. Since this was their first “real” camping trip, we kept it simple and camped at a KOA Kampground about 15 minutes from our house.
Kate and Audrey stayed home for this trip and had some adventures of their own. More on that later…
In the days before our trip, we went to several stores to find sleeping bags for the kids. We went to several stores, including Cabela’s, to find child size sleeping bags. We did find some for $35 each. That just didn’t fly with my frugal sensibilities and so we looked at some other stores. We finally found nice sleeping bags at Menard’s for $9.99 each. Much better! Of course, Grant and Norah had to try them out in the living room before Kate washed them for the trip.
After I got home on that Friday, I packed up the minivan with our gear and we hit the road. (That previous phrase would have much greater impact if we were going farther than 15 miles from home
We got to the campground and registered for the night. We were shown our tent site and I started setting up the tent while the kids played on the playground nearby. In short order, we had our accommodations for the night ready and a fire started. Grant and Norah had fun sitting in their camp chairs and watch things come together.
Stay tuned for more tomorrow…
Activities · Camping · Daddy · Grant · Norah
