Highlights from our Vacation to IL

Adventures from our trip to IL with 4 kidlets under 5 years old...
We had a fantastic time with the family this past week. It was exciting and full of adventure with no dull moments. It was a 16-18 hour drive, we lost count somewhere in Oklahoma.
Our best traveler award goes to Cooper & Griffin. They did the least amount of complaining & asking for this or that. We were surprised that Coop did so well, but he is really a little trooper. He just goes with the flow and doesn't even let out a fuss. Who's child is this we ask??Maybe God knew we needed one like him. :) Speaking of Cooper Ben, while on the trip he grew 3 new teeth and has a grand total of 7!
This blog could take me all night so instead of all the details I will add some photos and briefly describe them. I plan to snapfish them out too, so if you would like to be added to our snapfish list please email me and I will add you.

A picture of true love. Aren't they the cutest you've ever seen? Robert & Lura Hammitt (R's grandparents) have been married for 65 years. Can you imagine? They have lived an especially blessed life and are now responsible for 100 family members. 9 children, 26 grandchildren & 36 great grand children later... Last week we celebrated their love for each other and their love for us.

Yes, they have talent too. The last night was a talent show with the grand kids singing, playing guitars & telling their special memories of Gma & Gpa. Here is a shot I took of the grand kids singing. Notice the picture of them on the screen. Next is Rick & Ben playing & singing a song to gma & gpa.This is Griffin on Calvin's lap (Rick's dad) Then Griffin dancing. He loves to sing and is dying for Rick to teach him how to play the guitar. Next is Aunt Melissa (Rick's sis) holding Park & Gma &Gpa next to them.

The corn inspector also known as Daddy... Rick drove us down the hill where he has many childhood memories of feeding the cows and playing in the creek. Times have changed and the cows are gone and the fields are full of beautiful tall corn growing everywhere.

John Deere: As Carson would say "It's all about John Deere" Well we saw & rode on a real live John Deere tractor. I am sure this was the highlight of their trip. This is the lake in front of the farm, then the silos & barns where the tractors are kept. Griffin & Cooper inside the tire of the John Deere & then Coop in the hay.

Flower power: So gma plants amazing flowers on the farm every year. Here are a few. Check out that sunflower, have you ever seen one so big?? We asked her about it and she said that she never planted it, but a bird must have dropped a seed. It is the size of a dinner plate if not bigger.

Children of the Corn: The Hammitt farm is 265 acres of love. No really they grow beans, corn and other stuff I'm sure. So can you tell that Carson is saying Cheese in every shot?? Then Cooper was caught eating dirt of some sort, the 3 bigs in the fields, then us riding on the golf cart to see the farm.

Family photos: Just a little Hammitt (Rick's mom's parents). There are 9 original children, then 26 grand children (Rick is one of them) and now 37? Great grandchildren. So in all there are 100 exactly members of this family. Its amazing!! We had a photographer take the group shot of the family this year. (Tim's family of 6 is not in it & Tiana's family is missing as well, otherwise our Blue shirts would have been the biggest group of all) So the first picture is our sweet family, then everyone, then Gma & Gpa with the great grands, then with the grand kids.

The Blob:Ok so this is the blob and Rick's cousins were having a great time on it. I was having a great time using the fast shutter speed to capture their silliness. This is Ben (who Coop is named after) he jumps down and then this is Regan who is catching some major air. Rick took some sunrise shots of G&C in their superman Pj's. Aren't they tough??

Water Bugs: Canoing with Uncle Tim (Rick's bro who Griffin Timothy is named after), Rick kyaking with corn fields in the background (have you ever seen that before?? I'm such a FL girl!) And then Rick on the zip line. PS the lifeguards required the life preservers! :)

Sliders:The lake is a big hit every time at the reunion. There are several activities to choose from. Here are some shots of Griffin & Parker going down the slide into the lake. It's a pretty big slide and Carson wanted NO part of it. He has never been a "big" slider, even though he is an excellent swimmer.

Day 2: Those are fields of corn growing in the background of Griffin & cousin Cole. Daddy & Parker swinging, Cooper, Parker at the park. All of this playground equipment was Rick's mom's as a child. Next is Griffin & cousin Avery, then Parker & cousin Bailey.

First day at the camp: Cake eater Carson, shovel digger and tired swing rider...

Daddy teaches the kids how to play Putt Putt and sleepy kids after a fun filled day of Branson, MO.

The swings were my favorite as a child, and they are still my favorite now. Only now its about the photos I can capture...

These were taken in Branson, MO. The kids had fun riding a train, go carts, the Farris wheel, putt putt, swings and bumper boats.

Here is a Funny Story that happened on the trip, well not funny at the time but now we are able to laugh:

On the way home we went about 13 hours IL to OK. We were going to try and go on the next 5 hours to Austin and then we made the stop of all stops that concluded our trip for the night. We got out to let the kids potty in a grassy field. It was about 9:30pm on Sunday night. So Rick is out in the field taking Parker & Carson potty. I changed Coop's diaper and then set him in his seat with no belt (mistake #1). In the mean time Griffin is messing with things in the front seat (mistake #2)and picks up a bag of about ummm 1,000 sunflower seeds. He then precedes to hold them upside down without knowing what was in them and dumped them all over the middle row on the ground. Aughh!! So I shew him out of the car to potty while I figure out a way to gather all of the sunflower seeds throw them out of the car. So I am busy with that and I hear Griffin yell ouch, ouch! He was in a bed of ants. So we run over to him and gather Carson & Parker out of the grass. Then Cooper falls out of his seat onto the ground of the car and starts screaming. In the mean time there are 1,000 sunflower seeds on the floor and everyone is falling apart. I said this trip is over for today, get us to a hotel!! And get me out of OK!! I have to say OK is my LEAST favorite state of all. At least the parts we went through were extremely dirty & run down. I have been to Oklahoma city and it was much nicer. But at this point I was done. So we went to Sherman, TX right outside of Dallas and stayed the night.