We headed to Sullivan, Illinois for my great-aunt's 80th birthday party. My parents came down on Friday night so we could leave first thing in the morning on Saturday for our five hour drive. It was quite pleasant, actually. We took some time to have lunch at a nice park we just happened by on the side of the road. My dad and Xander had a great time on the bouncy bridge; Xander was laughing his head off.

We arrived in Sullivan around 3:00 and headed directly to the farm. My mom's cousin Tony, my mom's cousin's husband Roger, and my mom's uncle Paul, were all waiting to take Xander on every one of the huge farm machines. Xander loved it! So did I, actually. It was fascinating to see how enormous those machines are, and to see all of the technology that is currently being employed. My great-uncle started farming a 60 acre farm over 60 years ago with a single open-air tractor, and now he has over 2000 acres and many huge pieces of machinery with air conditioned cabs and GPS systems that drive the machines for them. There are still only three of them farming all that land, though!

We went to dinner at the Old School House that night, which was a delicious buffet. Unfortunately, Kayli was NOT happy, so we had to take turns taking her outside. We hadn't had to do that in a long time. The food was excellent, though, especially the cookies, and it was very nice to see everyone again. Tony, Roseanne, Michael, Jeremy, Anna Jane, Paul, Suzie, Roger, Melissa, Jeff, my mom, my dad, and me and the kids.

Sunday was my great-aunt's birthday party. We got up in the morning at the Holiday Inn Express and moved pretty slowly. I even got to sleep in until 9:00 while my parents took the kids swimming in the pool! There was a fantastic breakfast, too, which I enjoyed even though we had lunch plans.

We went back to Sullivan and met everyone to have lunch at Sisters, which is a lovely little tea shop. The food was delicious. The best part was that Kayli slept through lunch in the sling, so I got to enjoy my food and have conversations with people! How unusual!

We went to the cemetery after that and visited the graves of my grandmother and several other relatives on my mom's side.

After that, we moved into our bed and breakfast (well, really just "bed", there was no food). It is run by the woman who lives in my mom's great-aunt Emma's house. She came over to check us in, and was kind enough to invite us over to see the house. After that, we had just a few minutes to nurse Kayli and relax for a few minutes before we headed out to the party at the Sullivan Country Club.

The party was very nice! Everyone that I met there was so friendly and nice, and they were all so interested in my children. There were also a lot of people that I had met before but hadn't seen in a while, like my mom's cousins. I ended up spending most of my time outside with Xander. He hadn't had a nap, so he didn't have a lot of patience for being polite. That was our mistake, but he was fine. A dog wandered over and nuzzled the kids, so I got some pictures of that even as I was getting over there to get him away from them. I don't trust strange dogs. There was another boy there that played with Xander and the miniature John Deere equipment that Xander had brought with him (loaners from my mom's cousin Susie).

My great-aunt had requested a shiny red Corvette for her 80th birthday, so my mom's cousin Tony arranged to borrow it to chauffeur her home in after the party. So cute!

After the party, we went home and put a very tired Xander to bed, then headed out (with sleeping Xander in his car seat) to Susie and Roger's house for a wonderful bonfire. I think I had the best smore I'd ever had, that night. It was so nice to sit and chat quietly for hours. Such nice people.

On Monday morning, we all met at The Spot for breakfast. We had a lot of people in our party! Kayli ended up wandering around outside with Melissa for most of the meal. She was a little tired of eating out, I think! After breakfast, my dad took Xander around the Sullivan square, and they threw pennies in the fountain. Xander loved that!

Rebecca, Melissa, Jeff, and my dad had to leave early, but my mom and I took the kids over to Susie and Roger's house just to chat. Roger took Xander on several more farm machines, including another ride on the auger wagon to catch the beans. Wow, Roger is his hero, I think. We moved inside to escape the heat (in October? yes!). It was so nice to have some quiet time to just chat with our relatives. Eventually we couldn't deny that it was nap time for both kids, and thus the perfect time to leave. We were sad.

Both kids crashed in the car and barely stirred for hours. We decided to get them out of the car at a park we found by leaving the highway and driving around essentially aimlessly. It was a beautiful playgroup at an elementary school, but it was so hot that we couldn't stand it. We stayed only a short while before getting back on the road.

I wanted to go to the storage unit to look at my grandparents' things before they went to auction, so my mom took the kids and played at my grandparents' church. The lady there was so welcoming and nice! She said, "This is your church, too. We'd love to have your grandchildren here to play." They had a great time.

I took a few pictures of the church, as well as pictures of the range that my dad and his sisters donated to the church in my grandparents' memory.

We had a wonderful morning at the Dooms'. Papa took Xander out to the workshop and they made a birdhouse for me. It is beautiful, and Xander helped build the entire thing! He used a nail gun, and several other equipment that I'm probably glad I missed. My little baby is growing up to use power tools!

Xander wanted to have a pillow fight, so he got one, lucky boy. Kayli wanted to play, too. She laughed when Grams hit her (gently) with the pillow.

We managed to get to Rochester an hour early for Lizzie's shower, which gave my aunt and I just enough time to visit Angela and her family. We would have loved to stay longer, but at least we got a few minutes to chat and a chance to see them all and their new kitchen! It isn't done yet, but it is going to be lovely. Very beautiful, and everything looks to be very high quality, too!

Shannon was dancing around the entire time; it is possible that she is as exuberant as Xander is. She was singing along with the music (Laura Buckner?) very well and seems so grown up! Amanda was so very cute, and definitely wants to play like a big kid. Little Kayli seemed so uncommunicative in comparison!