This is Laura.  My posts will be less technical and detail oriented than Ben’s and will likely pertain more to what the kids and I do all day!  Dishes.  And food preparation.  A lot of dishes.  And a lot of food preparation!  Ok, so I do those things but am trying to strike a balance with the girls between taking in some of the nature around us and occupying the hours.  We’ve played a little Yahtzee, done some math, done some journaling, done some reading, cleaned some toilets (glamorous and yet the thing in this list they were most excited about), played with dolls and Legos (the girls, not me) and watched some TV.

I told Madelyn before bed last night that she’d be allowed to watch a movie or two today.  Anyone who knows her well will be amazed that since we left last Monday this is the first movie she’s watched!  Definitely watched some TV but hadn’t yet fallen back on movies.  Today we are doing a very long 138 miles down to Alton, IL.  Depending on our speed it will take between 10 and 12 hours most likely.  Molly woke up when we started the engines about 6:25 AM. Maddy, by some miracle, slept til 8:30! Right now we’re getting very good fuel economy but I suspect at some point us being stir crazy will make fuel economy go out the window and Ben will pick up speed and just get there.  We end our journey on the Illinois River today and at Grafton, IL we get onto the Mississippi River!

Yesterday both girls got out their binoculars and took in some of the river.  Ben has better luck with the binoculars – he spotted a bald eagle, deer drinking at the river’s edge, jumping fish, etc.  But girls enjoyed trying to find things none the less.

We ended up in Havana, IL last night.  Very sleepy little town.  We got attacked by mosquitoes and I slept  maybe 2.5 hours last night because I was up til well after 3 AM killing them.  We enjoyed dinner with friends we’ve been traveling with the past few days.

We’ve been so lucky to have had such a wonderful first week.  So many thanks and so much gratitude to everyone who came to see us.  Fred, Sophie and Zoe who joined us our first day and Nikki who came to fetch them and brought dinner Monday night.  Andrea and Joe who came to see us Tuesday night in Joliet. Gary, Lana, Marshall, Price, Tara and Aubrey who met us in Ottawa Wednesday night and then Gary who found us in the Starved Rock lock Thursday morning!  My mom, Libby, Grace, Hannah, Caroline and my mom’s friends Pam and Jeff who came to Peoria Thursday night.  It’s been a whirlwind week and we feel so loved!  Bonus visit from my other sister Emily tonight.  She’s driving from Kansas City and meeting us in Alton, IL to spend tonight and tomorrow night.  We really are so thankful!  It’ll be a month or so after this until we see family or friends so we are grateful for this wonderful week.

More random thoughts…everyone is asking about school.  CPS doesn’t start until next week so I told myself I wouldn’t start in earnest until then or after.  Molly has started math.  Both have been writing…Molly more than Madelyn (shocking I know) and we’re working on reading with Madelyn but need to pick up the pace on that.  Once we are done having so much amazing company we’ll sit down in the evenings and get ourselves organized!  Every person we see or talk to tells us how much the girls will learn this year just being in this setting.  We agree but the teacher in me says they have to read, write and do their arithmetic as well!

Thanks for reading my random, catch all, catch up blog post!

Laura