A Little Late...

Okay, so this is a little late, but I was looking through Kaity's graduation pictures and look at this awesome one I found!!!

Illini State Park 2012

As a camping group we returned to Illini State Park to camp for a weekend in September.  This year we added a few friends including Grayson, Seth, Lydia & Fiona!  This just might be the first trip we've had where it didn't rain!  Well, it did rain the Friday we arrived, but before we set up.  Maybe our luck has changed!  We stayed in a cabin instead of the camper to avoid the set up time.  Looking forward to using the pop-up again!  

Until next year...

 

Ruby is pretty addicted to collecting rocks to throw into the river.

  

Fiona is becoming addicted to her feet...

 
Sleepy gals

 

 Lydia's first tent camping trip!

 

8:08

Throwing rocks, but not at the boys!

A Hiking We Will Go...

We've been hiking at some of our local state parks lately.  The weather has been wonderful and it's hard to say no to being outside!  The closest state park we have is Silver Springs in Yorkville.  It has some nice trails through the woods and a small lake.  Ruby is crazy for throwing rocks into the water. 

Here we are at Matthiessen State Park in Utica.  We all loved this park!  I felt like we were on vacation.  There were amazing rock formations and canyons here.  I knew we were in for a good trip when I saw signs saying, "No camping, rappelling, or rock or ice climbing are allowed"!  Oh okay, I won't rappel.  Ha!  Ruby was in heaven exploring the little streams and caves in the lower dell area.  I most certainly want to visit this park again during a wet season to see waterfalls.