Alpha Park Trails

We stopped by Alpha Park in Bartonville today to enjoy the fine, cool weather and walked some trails that were nice.  I like the how the Queens Anne's Lace in the picture sort of matches the puffy clouds in the sky.

VBS Ends and a Visit to Madison

Vacation Bible School went well this week, I finished subbing for a summer chem course, and the weather has cooled off.  We drove up to Madison, WI, on Friday night to visit the Kaeders and to drop Kris off with my parents today.  Last night, some of us attended a LEGO architecture event at a Barnes and Noble bookstore in the Madison area.  The models were OK, with most of the bricks in these sets being white.  I could not think of anything really inspiring, so I tried to build a model of the Olin Hall of Science at Bradley University where I work (I realized just how far I was off when I was there checking on some reactions tonight). We did not get to keep the models, but Kristine and I both won door prizes (the only ones offered - what are the chances of that happening?)  Today, we visited State Street Brats (good atmosphere, but disappointing service and food), Babcock Hall for ice cream (of course that was good), and later the National Mustard Museum in Middleton, WI.  Tonight we are back home.

Fossil Hunting and VBS Begins

It has been warm last week, and our rabbit likes the air-conditioner vents. Things have been busy lately; my activities include subbing in a summer course. On Thursday we did a demo show at a local school, and I dragged my family in as helpers. On Saturday, we joined our friends for fossil hunting at the Sun Foundation.  The scenic creeks, located in the Illinois River Valley, that we hunted along did not have many of the local soft rocks. Rather, the rocks were mostly hard limestone (and associated marine fossils) and igneous rocks - probably brought down from the north by glaciation. It was like northeastern Wisconsin meets Illinois.  They showed us about geocaching (including around an old tank) and we were not very good at it.  On Sunday, our church began its vacation bible school.  Our attendance is low this year, and our pastor is recovering from surgery, but things are busy and going well.

A Fair Time with Demos

Yesterday morning we helped with setup for vacation bible school at St. Anthony's (starts next week).  In the afternoon I prepped for tomorrow's class and lab (I'm subbing for a few days) and the rest of the family had fun at Splashdown (local water park).  We had a nice campfire in the backyard last night.  Today, I helped do demos with the American Chemical Society for the Heart of Illinois (Peoria County) Fair, so we hung out at the fair this evening.  It was pretty quiet (and warm), but we had fun, though we are glad we got discounted admission.

Cow Appreciation Day

Today was Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A.  Our meals are free if we dressed up from head to toe like cows.  Some people dressed up, some did not, and a couple people dressed up like cowboys.  It was pretty silly.

Science Treasure Hunt Tour

After church this morning we headed south to visit some sites listed in the Peoria Academy of Science Science Treasure Hunt Passport. All of these sites had no admission.  First we visited the Jake Wolf Fish Hatchery.  It (and its visitor center) was bigger than I expected, but we saw only one person in the whole place (cleaning a tank on the other side of an observation window).  I had expected to be out and about the outdoor tanks, but we did see some fish  that were a few inches long in some indoor tanks.  We did not get a chance to go to Sand Ridge State Park (interesting place with prickly pear cacti growing wild in Illinois) but I did see some cacti along  the road.  We next went to the Dickson Mounds Visitor Center, a good place to learn about Native American culture in Central Illinois.  The girls and I found the dark, shaman-journey room to be a bit creepy.  Unfortunately, the AC was down in the building, which made the whole building a bit on the warm side.  We ate a picnic lunch near the center, and watched a nearby hay baler in operation.  After that, we stopped at Emiquon Preserve and saw some fish and birds (like a coot).  It was sort of pretty and peaceful - I would like to maybe visit again when it is not-as-hot summer afternoon, but I did like how the gentle breeze oriented the leaves of the water weeds.  When we dove through Mapleton on the way back home I think I caught a glimpse of the recently explosion-damaged loading area at the Chemtura plant.  The girls fell asleep on the way home.

Fourth of July Week

Tuesday marked the first anniversary of our return to Peoria from Texas.  Not sure how I feel about that in many ways, but it certainly was cooler than last year.  We pitched the tent in the backyard on Wednesday, and the kids and I slept there the last few nights. Wednesday night was rather noisy with all the fireworks in the neighborhood. I finally had to resort to sleeping on couch cushions last night to get comfortable (not like I could backpack those into the woods on a real camping trip).  Tonight the warm sticky weather is back, the mosquitoes were out in force, and the cars were making noise at the racetrack, so I decided to take down the tent and sleep indoors.  On Thursday we celebrated the 4th of July by attending the parade in West Peoria with Bland children (who recently gained a baby brother) and by watching the fireworks in downtown Peoria from an office at OSF hospital.  On Friday, after assorted chores, we visited a farm owned by Kristine's friend's family and picnicked and swam in their pond.  Today, Karen took a statewide test in Bloomington, IL, associated with her teaching certification.