Vacation Cont.

Monday we went to see Brad and Becky's new house - NIIIICCCEEE!!! We also visited Illini West High School and sat in Mr Gooding's office. I told my kids it was to be the one and ONLY time they would be in a HS Principal's office. :-) He must be pretty good at his job - he has TWO secretaries! :-) So Lincoln and Jack has to part ways. Dang, they had a good time.

Tuesday the girls went to Quincy and bought fabric and stuff for my tee-shirt quilt. I went home thinking I would make it and kind of wound up giving it to Aunt Jill to do. :-) Figure she needs something to occupy her time. She just doesn't have enough to do. :-) We had a really nice time, though.

Wednesday we went to the horse show at the fair. Mary Scott got 3rd in her class (and there were 17!) . Tod and Rachel bought a FEMA trailer and fixed it up to live at the fair for the week. Two of their 4 children show livestock. We hung out there for a while. Rachel amazes me. I thought *I* was patient and tolerant. I can't handle the chaos like she does. What a nice trailer though - until you think about someone called it *home* and not "vacation" for a week.

We always have such a great time with the Perry's. Our kids all get along so well. I hope that continues. Jack got to stay and spend the day with them at the fair while the rest of us went back to Aunt Jill's to get ready for Maddux's birthday party that night.

We picked up Jack from the fair and headed into Quincy. We had to kill a little time before the pizza was ready so we headed over to West Quincy to get gas. Jack was amazed that we went to a whole other state "just to get gas". We also showed him the barge on the side of the road that had floated over when the levy broke in 93. We then picked up the pizzas and headed over to Upper Morman Park. The kids had a GREAT time until..........

Jack fell while playing on the playground and went headfirst into a metal step. Since I've lived with Jack for 9 years now I don't get too shook up when he starts to scream because he is SO dramatic! But the blood was gushing pretty good. We got him laid down on the picnic table and put some ice and pressure on it and let him chill. He fell asleep and the rest of us got into a squirt gun fight where Aunt Jill/Grandma Jill got doused with a whole cup of water. I hung out with Uncle Mike and since he's in a wheel chair - the rule was you couldn't squirt him. :-)

After about an hour I checked his mouth again and got new pink blood. Ok, bleeding that doesn't stop kind of bothers me and so we decided to make a trip to the ER at Blessing Hospital.

As we were checking in it dawned on us that we had been there almost 13 years to the day for Bill's finger that he cut while preparing Brad and Becky's rehearsal dinner.
:-) Jack was a real trooper. He got 4 stitches up on the upper gum and lip. We were in and out in about an hour and a half. We even saw the helicopter land. (the same helicopter that took Uncle Mike to the hosp after his accident).

Thursday was our traditional trip to HARNESS RACING! Ok, I could seriously get addicted to this. I LOVE watching the races and also LOVE betting. We do this thing where - as soon as we get there we go through the book and read all the names and each kid picks who they think will win in each race. Sally got 5/8!!!!! And on one of them she picked a real long shot and got more than $16 (we only bet $2.00 on each race). I picked 2 - Big Daddy Woo Woo (who I bet on last year too) and Natalie - I pick them for things that mean something to me( "Natalie's Nightie" was the play my sister was in this year) . I obviously have NO connection to the universe. :-)

Friday we drove back to Bolingbrook. The ride was HORRIBLE! I think Sal had held back the autism so much that it all just came spilling out! :-) Also we ran into construction so 4 hours quickly turned into 5. Mabel wasn't too keen on coming back either. As we packed up the car she slipped off into the pasture and just didn't listen when we called. :-) Aunt Jill hung back and pretended to not be going anywhere while we took off for Granma's and Granpa's. Mabel came back and Aunt Jill grabbed her and brought her into town. :-) She's been depressed ever since. You can tell - she wants to be a farm dog. :-)

She had the BEST time being out and without a chain ALL week. When we left she got to stay outside and be with the big dogs. :-) When we came home she was ALWAYS ready to come in and get out of the heat. Poor Tiny was really miserable. St Bernard hair is NOT meant to go though IL summer humidity. Aunt Jill lets him in to cool off and he sets up camp in the downstairs bathroom (the tile is so cool there). What's really funny is as you turn into the bathroom to use the facilities here is this HUGE dog just laying there. Sally wanted to know how she could close the door and we had to tell her to just go with Tiny in the way - he doesn't mind.
:-)