Visit to Chicago

Today was my birthday and Karen's and my anniversary, and we celebrated by traveling to Chicago to visit my sister, her husband, my cute little niece, my parents, and their dog. Kris was not with us because on Friday she left for her senior class trip.  On scattered-rain Saturday we watched the Thunderbirds  as part of the Chicago air show.  That night, we could hear a Pearl Jam concert at Wrigley Field about 5 blocks from my sister's family's house.  We returned home today.  Katie starts middle school (5th grade) tomorrow.

Academic Summer Winding Down

Saturday morning I went for a hike at the Singing Woods Nature Preserve.  I got a little lost trying to stay on the right trail, but did not go too far astray.  This is good since I guess the preserve is "one of the largest contiguous tracks of unbroken timber in the northern half of Illinois."  Today Katie and I went to Splashdown Water Park on the last day of their season. Tonight we made and ate s'mores during a pink sunset.

Trip to Colorado

Last week I had a conference in Greeley, Colorado, and brought the family along.  Among other places, we saw:
- University of Northern Colorado
- Air Force Academy
- Weld County Fair
- Centennial Park in Greeley
- Garden of the Gods
- Pike's Peak (including the cog railway)
- Rocky Mountain National Park

We drove through Iowa and Nebraska on the way out and Missouri and Kansas on the way back, and saw places like:
- Herbert Hoover National Historic Site (in Iowa)
- Kearney, NE
- Kearney, MO
- a pony express outpost
- BBQ in Topeka, KS
- Hannibal, MO

It was a short trip, but we had fun!