Stella's first vacation

A recap of our trip to Effingham and Naperville

My mom called me late on night and asked if we wanted to go to Illinoise with her and Kaya. She told me we had to decide within one hour to be able to get super cheap tickets. We decided that it was the perfect time to go so we bought our tickets.





Grammy is getting Kaya ready to board the plane. Stella looks thrilled for her very first plane ride. I never knew how much effort it took to pack for a baby for one week. Joe and I shared a suitcase and Stella got her own.

Aunt Peg (my moms sister), Uncle David, Caitlin and Collin were very nice to us! Caitlin and Collin even gave up their rooms so we would have beds to sleep in! Peg cooked us great food every night and took us site seeing. Caitlin and Collin were so good with the little girls. I think Kaya wishes she was still there so they could play with her! Stella's favorite thing was hearing the wiener dog, Brownie, bark. She would laugh and laugh every time he barked! I moved away when I was five, but I still have vague memories of my old houses.

When I was born and came home from the hospital my parents drove up to a Holiday Inn. My dad was working selling phone book ads in the West and they were actually living in a 2 bedroom hotel suite with my sisters. Shortly after I was born my mom decided that she had to have a house. She could not travel from week to week with two kids under two. They decided to settle in Effingham, IL and purchased their first home on Holiday Drive. Our next home was the white house on Briarwood. My mom still talkes about the layout of that house. It was her favorite house she ever lived in. I remembered practicing fire drills and jumping out of the front living room windows.

The lake house was Uncle Jims. My parents say they had the most fun at the lake house. They would play cards on the screened in porch and go boating and fishing regularly. When I was four years old I fell between the boat and the doc. My dad and Uncle Jim both jumped in after me. I nearly drowned that day. My mom said she saw the terror on my face as I was going under the merky water and she was not sure that they would be able to find me. Luckily my dad was able to pull me out. I was afraid of getting into water for years after that. I still dont love water, I'm very content with staying home when people go swimming or boating.

We got to see my moms brother Garland and his cute wife Kate. Kaya was confused with all the new people and she called David and Garland "Bapa" which is what she calls Grandpa. Kate was "mimi". My mom goes by Grammy but Kaya can't quite say that. Now she wants to change her name to Mimi becuase Kaya says it so cute. I guess we'll continue to confuse her now that we're home.

Joe, Stella and I drove up to Naperville(near Chicago) to see Joe's brother Kevin and his wife Sherri and Jeff (the only child still living at home). It was so good to see them! Their daughter Rachel and husband Dave came in from Chicago to see us. Sherri made us the most wonderful Italian soup that Joe and I have already recreated - we're so happy she gave us the recepie. We watched the movie Cars which was really cute, we went bowling and on a tour around Naperville. It is the cutest city I've ever seen. I want to go back in the summer when the weather is warm and we can walk around more! For some reason I did not take my camera out while we were there except to take a picture of the bell tower. I've stolen some pictures from our family website so you can see them all!