As part of our visit with Grandma and Gruncle Sterling, we went to the Santa Monica pier to visit the aquarium based on Internet-friends' suggestions

 

The kids are lifting a pick up truck.

Cool neon

 

Mmm, what is that lovely smell?

Here some workers are rescuing a pigeon from the tar pit

We have to stop and look at the books before leaving a museum.

 

For the weekend, we went to Leslie's great-uncle's house in Los Angeles, where Gramma has been staying. We had a great time!

The kids love to read. Pictured here is Gruncle Sterling.

Rachel loved playing with this delicate ceramic leopard statue. Doesn't it look like fun?!

Yes, Joanna fell asleep.

 

Mom came to San Diego to see Summer & family, and stayed for a few days to visit with us. We headed to the Zoo for some fun!

 

Cousin Summer, her husband Stephen and their two handsome boys came over to dinner as they are visiting from Austin, TX. The whole rest of the family came over to see them, and we had a great time together, even if we were a bit cramped with having 20 people in our home! (So cramped that we didn't have room nor time to take any pictures of Summer or Stephen!)

Stephen & Summer's son Josiah

Cousins Zack & Matthew

Cousin Kris reading to our girls. The girls just loved all the attention Kris gave them.

Rachel showing Nana and Great-Uncle Sterling how to look through pictures

Elijah had to tell Zack all about Supreme Commander, a video game he plays

 

Our Sunday school class got together with some more friends for a fun time at the beach.

Here are the kids that came

Rachel was mesmerized by some boys playing catch in the water

Two boys hanging out & talking about Lego or blowing up things

Hey it really does get cold here in San Diego. The bay was probably 70 degrees

 

Labels: video

 

Rebekah can't decide if she wants to get her bangs cut or grow them out, so we're stuck for the time being with just trying to keep them out of her eyes!

Leslie here: I'm gone much of the day & come home to find my baby with this big shiner & no one knows what happened to her! Doesn't seem to bother her, but it sure looks awful! (especially combined with the greasy hands in the hair!)

Joanna just couldn't keep up with us

 

We're home now and as Mike is still working on the last few days of photos to post, I've been reflecting on our trip as I've tackled unpacking & laundry. My thoughts, in summary:

Airfare, San Diego to Chicago: $1600

Van rental, 12 days: $489

Hotel stay, 4 nights: $380

Meals provided : 20

Gallons gas purchased: 52

Digital photos taken: 852

Time with friends & family: PRICELESS



Post-script: Time until we can afford to do this trip again: unknowable!
 

My terrific wife planned a terrific trip to Illinois to visit family and friends. I posted about the adventure over several days. This post is a summary post to bring it all together. If you want to show others about this trip then this is the post to which you should direct them.

Actually, if you want to see all about our trip to Illinois, then you should notice that the bottom of the posts say they have "labels: Illinois2007" click on this and you get to the web page link below. This will then show you all the posts about the trip without having to click to different pages.

Link to use
http://www.adamsfamilyadventures.com/labels/Illinois2007.html

Here is the label I mentioned...

Labels: Illinois2007

 

Deep dish pizzas done the right way

Oh, you get to write on things too.

Labels: Illinois2007

 

We went into The City - Chicago to visit the Museum of Science and Industry. We barely had enough time to go through half of this place. If you go, plan several days to fully appreciate it and start the day early.

Cool water discovery section of the museum. Over an hours was spent in this section alone

Break away for when you get a little tired. Great sofa for Rachel

The models were amazing

Joanna got to be a submarine pilot.

This is the same type of ship I was on when I was in the U.S. Navy.

There is an actual submarine in the museum. It was captured during WWII.

Labels: Illinois2007

 

We got the Websters, Maxwells and Dierkings to come to the "blue & white" playground next to the public pool in Dekalb. This means there were 14 more kids added to the playground

Daredevil Rachel.

Rebekah Webster

Matthew Dierking

Greg Dierking

Madelyn Maxwell

Sick Club lead by the spin master Rebekah Webster. She got those girls spinning fast

The Rachels

The Rebekahs

Rachel Maxwell

Robin and Les

Websters and Adamses

Labels: Illinois2007

 

Water Balloon Fight

First, I'd like to apologize to Madelyn for not filling up a special balloon for her before we had to stop playing with the balloons!

Steve & Mindy had a bbq at their house so that we could get together with some friends we hadn't seen in a long time. The kids had a great time playing with water balloons too! This is Maddie, Joanna, RachelM and Rebekah's back!

Good ol' friend Robin came to the BBQ with her two sons.

Adam and Annulka also came over. Here we are enjoying a little pre-fire time.

S'mores!

If I knew that Mindy was serving her cherry torte, I would have gone up to the house for that instead of sticky s'mores

Movies in bed

Kids finally to bed and the boys will play Guitar Hero II on the XBox 360

Labels: Illinois2007

 

Resources:
Map
Home site
We highly recommend this place. It is pricey, so try to make it a full day there. They do allow for you to leave and come back, so you could take a break if you need to.

Madelyn in a huge bubble

Our Rachel was more interested in trying to eat the bubble solution then blowing bubbles!

My chica's turn

Elijah makes a go at it

They have a huge water table with domes that the kids stand in.

RachelM with Joanna in the wind tunnel

Elijah tried to block up a water pipe using the pipe joints. I think the only thing his efforts accomplished was to soak himself and the lady in the suit sitting next to the table, but off-camera. I don't think sitting in front of a water table in your business suit with your briefcase is a good idea. Elijah is sorry he didn't warn you and apologizes for the wetting.

Elijah and Rebekah showing their wood-working skills. I think my brother Ronny could find this helpful.

You might think this is a holy cross to remind me of the great sacrifice Jesus paid for us all, but, alas, it is a gun Elijah asked me to make.

Here is a very nice surprise. I grew up with Adam Shipp and Annulka Willard who married after high school. I told the Shipps that I was planning to visit Illinois and they drove from Indiana to hang out with us. Here is Adam with their daughter Amelia

Annulka

Amelia

RachelM, RachelA,Joanna & Madelyn in the "Big Chair"

Guess who? Leslie, practicing for her audition for the Blue (Wo)Man Group

Labels: Illinois2007

 

We moved to Dekalb, IL after I finished the Navy in 1998. It was here that Elijah was born and Leslie was first introduced to Illinois.

A lot has changed since 1998.

We moved on to the next host home for our vacation. Our new hosts Steve & Mindy Maxwell have two beautiful girls: Madelyn and Rachel. The kids were thrilled to meet all these new friends!

Game time

Pita pizzas. What a clever idea on how to make fresh pizzas with little work (if it was work, then Mindy knows how to hide it). Mindy simply laid everything out for us to build the personal pizza we wanted. The kids really liked the crust the pita pizzas had.

The next morning was another fantastic meal by Mindy. She sure spoiled us!

The kids could have about anything they wanted at their little table

Steve and I were served an item from Rachael Ray's magazine. I never got the name or a picture, but it was a sliced of toasted french bread with goat cheese, tomato slice and a sunny-side-up egg. Delicious! Oh, Chica found it! Here it is. br />
Try it; it's wonderful! Leslie was served custom veggie scrambled eggs, pancakes and a yummy plum & cinnamon tea.

Labels: Illinois2007