A Midwest Adventure

A few weeks ago we took an adventure to the Midwest to spent time with some of Matt's family, visit some of his past memories, and hang out with a few of my friends. It was a fun trip! The first half we spent in Illinois with Matt's cousin Kay, her husband Jim, Matt's Aunt Arlene (Kay's mom), and her husband, Willie. All super great people! We spent our first night at Kay and Jim's house. They had a show to go to but left us with a big old pot of homemade soup and the reins to their house (I hope they find all the stuff Dylan hid - sorry). The next day we all had a great lunch before scooting off to Mount Vernon, IL to spent some long overdue time with Aunt Arlene and her husband Willie. On the way to the farm Matt took us by their old house, schools, and favorite family spots. We also drove by the airbase his dad worked at. It was great fun to connect some of the dots of Matt's past. We arrived at Arlene and Willie in time to hang out before watching a fabulous sunset. Here's some beautiful shots Matt got of Dylan out in the soybean fields as the sun was setting.

We could have another farm girl in the family!

It was one of those places you could just let the girl run for miles and feel you didn't have to watch her. She had the best time and was quite tired by the end of the night!

Here's Aunt Arlene and Willie chasing and dancing with Miss d out in their front lawn. They were so great with her and she took to them mighty fast! Within the first hour of arriving at their house Dylan was already in Arlene's kitchen re-arranging the pantry and Arlene didn't mind a bit!

Dylan loved dancing with Willie - those two danced up a storm!


Arlene was so nice and patient with Dylan. Here's a shot of Arlene showing Dylan a cricket.


Dad shooting away. What he does best when not on his bike.


"Help we're in jail!"

Back out front for some more photo fun.



We had a lovely time hanging out with Aunt Arlene and Willie. We drove all over looking at places Matt's family had lived. We took an adventure to a graveyard where some family was buried - Dylan had an awesome time running all around and climbing on all the tombstones. We saw lots of interesting sights and got to meet some of Matt's family that he had never met, which was fun. At one of the family meeting Dylan and I got to ride on a Gator (a John Deere country cruiser) and tour a beautiful garden and pond - we both loved it.

Arlene and I cooked up some tasty meals with Dylan right by our sides helping out in between dances with Willie.






Here's Dylan riding on one of Aunt Arlene's geese she had in her front yard. Everyday Dylan re-arranged them and took each one for a ride as she would say "quack, quack, quack". It was comical. And as you can see she took her job quite serious.

Cute shot of Dad and his girl.

Another day another goose ride 'quack, quack'.

Awe what a cute little family.

It was too quick of a visit with Arlene and Willie. We really hated saying goodbye! Hopefully they will come visit us soon. I'm sure Willie will be missing his dance partner - or maybe he'll enjoy the rest? And hopefully Arlene can get her pantry back in order soon!

Our second half of our trip we headed to Saint Louis - smack in the middle of town. We were off to visit my long time friend Deb who I worked with years and years and years ago at the production company. We had many a fun times and adventures together including a few road trips with our friend Susan (who you'll see in this series).

Deb had a cool house right across from a park (which we got to know real well). Deb was a great and very patient hostess as Dylan was all over! And the best part for Dylan was not only hanging out with her new best bud Deb but Deb's 'me, me's' (aka kitty cats). Okay so I'm not a cat person but these cats were awesome! They chased Dylan, Dylan chased them and they all played for hours. Upon waking each morning (and nap) Dylan's first words were 'me, me?' - she's still talking about those 'me, me's'!

Here's a shot with Deb's mom. It was lovely to see Helen again - she looked great!

After our visit with Helen we were off to the Zoo. Here's a few pictures in the petting zoo. Oh boy, was Dylan in heaven running wild with the goats. They even had brushes for the kids to use on the goats.

It was Dylan's mission to brush every goat! "Okay, who's next?"

Here's a rare shot! We were watching the monkey's when one came right up to Dylan and sat down. She was beside herself with excitement. Next thing we knew she was offering a snack to the monkey - nice sharing Dylan! Do monkey's like pretzel's?

Dylan and the monkey sharing a "precious" moment.

We had a great time at the zoo seeing the animals and even riding on a chew chew train. Here's a very sleepy d on the carousel. It was the last thing we did before heading home for a nap.

Later that night we went to a Chess party hosted by my friend Susan - who knew Dylan new how to play already?



Here's a shot Matt got of Dylan and I just waking up hanging out on Deb's front porch.

On our last night in town we headed over to Susan's fabulous house for dinner. Susan works for an art collector and had lots of amazing pieces herself (plus some of her own paintings). Her house was like an amazing museum! I could have spent hours in there but unfortunately it was a quick visit. And her house it's self had a interesting story. Awe, someday I'll get to check it out again. Thanks for hosting dinner Susan, Chris, and Rowan!

You can kind of see it in this picture but Dylan got a few more teeth while we were away. I think she's pretty much got them all except for the far back molars! Way to go Dylan, you are one tough cookie!!!

Here's Dylan and one of three Saint Bernards that Susan owns. This was Greta the pup of the bunch. She and Dylan became fast friends! After Greta nipped at Dylan's arm (all in play) a few times, Dylan started getting upset so Matt taught her to say 'no more'. Of course Greta didn't listen to Dylan but it was cute to hear Dylan saying her first two word sentence 'no more'.

Here's Dylan reading "The Two Kings ~ Jesus and Elvis" to Susan and Rowan.


Earlier in the day we met up with Cousin Kay and Jim for lunch and a walk through Soulard Market (one of the oldest public markets around). They even had a great spice shop that I was in heaven in!

Here's sleepy d on her Dad's shoulders - so tired she couldn't even hold her head up anymore! She was such a trooper though out the trip!





Dylan loved the plane rides - on the way out she ended up on our new friend Leann's lap going through her purse (talking on her cell phone applying lip gloss) - it was a fast way to make a new friend. Oh and did I mention Dylan ate all Leann's snacks? Uh, yeah, apparently her's were better than ours. On the way home Dylan had her own seat which she thought was very cool but cooler to ride on mom and dad's lap. She did great on the plane (which was a great test for our up coming Belgium trip) and fabulous throughout our journey.

Dylan on LeAnn's lap playing with her phone, lip gloss, and other items from her purse.

Thank you to all our hostess and hosts! It was a GREAT trip and tons of fun hanging out with everyone!