Scenic Drive to Galena with Murphy (part 4 of major update)

We heard lots of great things about Galena, Illinois.  One weekend we both were lucky enough to not be working, so we decided to take a little drive and explore this cute little town.

The drive itself is only an hour but when you factor in all the stops we made to check out the pretty scenery, it took most of our day.

Dog taking a bathroom break.

Ulysses S. Grant's home.

Galena

One pooped pup!

We took so long on the scenic route, that we weren't able to spend any time in Galena (the picture above is the only shot I got of downtown Galena.) Turns out, everyone had the same idea as we did so not only were we unable to find a good parking spot, but Murphy was so tired from all the walking he had to do, we didn't want to subject him to any more 'torture'.  So we turned around and headed back to Davenport.  Where we enjoyed a quick ride on the ferris wheel at a local baseball game, and headed back home.

 It was a short trip, but a fun one nonetheless.  I wish we could've gone back to give Galena another try before our move, but with the busy months that followed, it'll have to wait I guess.

Memorial Day with the Thompson family (Part 3 of Major Update)

We were lucky to have the Thompson family close(ish) to us in Iowa, and we were also lucky to have them invite us over for Memorial Day weekend.

The drive was only about 6 hours and it went by pretty quickly thanks to the pretty scenery that Iowa and Minnesota gave us.

As soon as we got there we headed to the Mall of America and hit some rollercoasters!  We convinced some of the older kids to go on the "grown up" rides with us.  Some were successful, some were not.  But all in all, it was a blast and it's safe to say we were all driving back to their home pretty exhausted.

The next day was spent relaxing and watching the kids explore while Peter and Tyler were working on their car.

Maddie had no interest in holding the frog.

We woke up the next day ready for another adventure and spent the morning of Memorial Day getting ready for a fun time at the park (I can't remember the name of the specific park we went to, but it was pretty big!)  While the Thompson's were having fun at the water park, we stepped away and spent some time going on a little hike on a trail that was close by.

We woke up the next day ready for another adventure and spent the morning of Memorial Day getting ready for a fun time at the park (I can't remember the name of the specific park we went to, but it was pretty big!)  While the Thompson's were having fun at the water park, we stepped away and spent some time going on a little hike on a trail that was close by.

After we finished exploring, we joined the rest of the gang for some hot dogs and s'mores.

Couldn't seem to get a formal picture of the kids...still cute though!

Patiently waiting for food.

August's first s'more!

   This weekend was just another confirmation on how fun the Thompson family is.  We miss being close to them but we were excited to see them at the family reunion!