Okay, so in the morning of the 21st I already wrote about Greg taking the kids to see the flooded Mackinaw. Well, when they got home, we changed a couple of muddy outfits, loaded up again, and headed down to Petersburg, IL to watch Steph compete in her first mini triathlon! (100 yard swim/5 mile bike/1 mile run) The kids were excited to go cheer for their Auntie Stephie, even though I'm sure they didn't really know what she was competing in. :) We got there not too long before it started, but thankfully we found some seats in the pool room. Steph didn't know we were coming, but also didn't have her glasses on since she was getting ready to swim, so it was pretty funny trying to get her attention to let her know we were cheering her on! She did eventually see us, though!
Typical nervous Nora!
There she goes!
Swim, Steph, swim!
From there we headed outside to see her off on the bike ride. The kids picked dandelion bouquets for her finish, ate fruit snacks, and played the phones. They really did great during the wait!
Here she is! Ready for that run!
Heading out...only one mile between her and the finish line!
She made it! Greg had gone to the end of this road, intending for him/Max/Nora to run the last part of the race with her, but Nora decided to pick flowers instead of running, so Greg had to go back and get her...hence his picture that is quite zoomed in to catch Steph at the finish line.
New Salem was about 10 minutes away from the school where the triathlon was held, so we loaded up the kids and told them we were going to see some log cabins and go hiking. Unfortunately, it turns out that the whole morning when Greg told Max and Nora that we were going hiking, they had it in their heads that we would be biking. We didn't figure this out until they asked where their bikes were! So, we had to do a little more talking up of New Salem for them to really get excited after that little letdown!
Max immediately wanted to pose with the first statue he saw.
And the second! (We told him a little bit about Abraham Lincoln and who he was, but it must not have stuck. As we left, he wanted another picture with 'John Lincoln.')
Our three little hikers, ready to go! It was a perfect day to be outside in the woods! I've only ever been to New Salem when it's sweltering hot and completely crowded, so being there in the cool spring and having the place nearly to ourselves was perfect!
The first house we went into was the cooper's, and the kids learned that a cooper makes barrels and buckets. I think that and *maybe* Abraham Lincoln's name is all they got historically from our visit. It was well worth it, though, to let them run around outside!
Tirzah was the first to spot this little dog wearing a sweater and was quite enamored! It's owner assured us that the dog LOVED kids, but I think our three were a little too much for the poor thing! At one point they all were running around it in a circle and it was NOT looking happy to be in the middle. Right about then we decided we needed to keep walking!
A man in the park had a muzzle loader that he would talk about and shoot off. Here is Max holding the bullet.
Pow! It was pretty loud, but I was glad that none of the kids were too upset when he shot it. They covered their ears, but we never had any crying.
These kids did super the whole time. They all walked the whole way, Max and Nora even going all the way down the steps to the old sawmill and back up! Tirzah went down the steps with me, but Greg carried her back up.
After all those steps, we stopped here at the Denton Offut cabin (I think) for a rest. These two were the 'best' pictures we got of the kids.
This one cracks me up, though, every time I look at Nora's face. They were supposed to be being silly...that girl takes the cake!
Tirzah got a ride most of the way back, but it was really out of time's sake more than anything! We had the Beutel Spring Fling to go to that night, and it was getting late in the afternoon. Overall, the kids had a great time and the Saturday was a success, albeit a tiring one! :)
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