Family Vacation in Illinois: Part 1

We got home from Chicago on Monday and now I am in the post-family-vacation phase known as "the great depression". Without fail, every time we return from a week with my family in Illinois I get pretty down because I AM SO SAD I DON'T LIVE BY MY FAMILY, and I miss the Midwest.

There are only three things that help with the great depression:

1. Planning the next time we go there or they come here. As my mom says, "air travel is like childbirth and eventually you do it again because you forget how terrible it is".  I'm sure I will eventually forget about the plane ride on Monday and I will book tickets to Chicago for Christmas, but I'm definitely not there yet.
2. Doing a blog post about the trip that I can look at about a million times in the weeks that follow.
3. Time...after 5-7 days I usually feel better and work on "being all there/here."

That said, here is #2.

Ten highlights from Family Vacation 2013 in Wayne, IL.

#1 Tree house and zip-line. When my dad said he was going to build a tree house and zip-line for our summer vacation I'm pretty sure no one pictured THIS. It was beyond amazing, and lucky for the adults the zip-line held up to 300lbs. This kid-paradise is hidden in their woods behind the house and includes a massive tree house with stained glass, viking head, baby swing, picnic bench, bucket-on-a-pulley, super fun lighting for night, and zip-line. Oh wait, but there is more...there is also a tire swing area, a little "hobbit house", and a small perch to watch and wait for incoming zip-liners. Wow. Just WOW.

Here is the zip-line in action.

#2 Backyard fun. As if the tree house and zip-line area weren't enough there is the regular backyard where we enjoyed watching the kids play in the pool, smash ball (this was the game of the year for the son-in-laws), volleyball, mini car and jeep for the kids to drive, lightning bugs, the hot tub, fire pit, porch and patio. This place gets more out-of-control each year and WE LOVE IT!

#3 Day in Chicago. It truly is "my kind of town". A trip to see my parents always feels incomplete without a trip to the city. My parents graciously kept the babies at home so we could go with the big kids unhindered. We took the train from the suburbs, a water taxi in the city, and enjoyed walking the city streets to our destination. We kept it simple this year and focused our urban energy on Millennium Park where the kids frolicked in the "face fountains" and we admired "the bean". It was a great day in THE BEST city in America (if you ask me).

#4 Weather. If you have ever been to Chicago in July you will appreciate that it was in the 70s and low-80s the entire time we were there...with minimal humidity...it was a minor miracle. We even got one day of rain, which is a novelty for us drought-stricken Californians, so our girls enjoyed a "rain dance" in their swimsuits.

#5 The Midwest. The massive trees, the smell of summer flowers, the huge grassy yards, the bugs, the moisture, the air-conditioning, the warm nights, the (unhealthy) food, the space, the people, the accents, the basements, the corn fields.

I know it is all totally romanticized for me at this point in life, but still, it is my people, my roots, it is all so familiar and comfortable, and the Midwest will always be "home" to me.

One thing that is not romanticized in my mind was bringing the kiddos to put pennies on the railroad tracks and pick berries behind my parents' house (something we used to do as kids at my Grandma's house).

Yes, that was just as Midwest-magical as it sounds.

To be continued...