For summer vacation, Sarah, Josephine, Coriel and Ada explored the
Quad-cities area. We stayed in our camper at the
Sunset Lakes RV Resort in Hillsdale, IL.
Mike and Hamlet accompanied us for the drive...
 |
| En route to the resort... |
Then we set up shop in the camper with some toys...
 |
| Toys outdoors... |
 |
| And toys indoors... |
 |
| A brief moment of kindness between sisters | | | |
After helping us get settled at the campsite, Mike and Hamlet headed back to Batavia and the girls began to explore the area.
Monday, August 6th we went to
Niabi Zoo in Coal Valley, IL. There were great activities for the kids (including a few water misting fans that the kids went nuts over), and a really nice petting zoo. Josephine went for a pony ride, climbed on some concrete animals, and fed goats.
 |
| Josephine riding a pony. |
 |
| Josephine's favorite chicken. It's not really a visit to the zoo unless you've seen a chicken...or is it? |
 |
| The babies...trying to stay cool in the rental stroller. |
 |
| I spent 10 minutes waiting for this giraffe to stop licking his leg so that I could take a picture that didn't look totally ridiculous. Here it is. |
 |
| One of these parrots could say "Hello!" I spent (and this amount of time I am not disclosing) many minutes going to each parrot and saying Hello in a parrot voice over and over again. The things we admit on our blogs...sigh. |
 |
| Josephine's favorite bird in the bird house. |
 |
| Concrete rhino. |
 |
| If I had mad photoshop skillz I would have put Josephine's face in both apes. |
We were pretty pooped after our day at the zoo, but that didn't stop us from visiting
Monkey Joe's in Davenport, IA the next day. I don't have photos from that because I was in the baby bouncy house with the twins practically the whole time (not a great place to bring an iPhone). But here is the "After" photo:
 |
| Needless to say, they were tired. |
|
So we didn't get a chance to go to the
park.
 |
| Which is too bad - because I drove all the way there and it was a beautiful park with a fountain, playset, and everything. |
On Wednesday, August 8, we went to
Le Claire, IA, the birthplace of
Buffalo Bill Cody. We visited the
Buffalo Bill Museum. Josephine even got to do a photo scavenger hunt!
 |
| They had some neat historical artifacts. Including a dog treadmill... |
 |
| Attached to a butter churn. |
 |
| I have no idea why this invention didn't take off... |
After the museum, we visited
Reusable Usables in Le Claire and got to do some Drop in Art.
 |
She was rockin' this bunny smock...
|
We worked up quite an appetite that day, so that night we indulged in S'mores and Coke.
 |
| We had a real campfire and everything...I didn't even stoop to making them in the microwave. |
On Thursday, we visited the
Albany Mounds State Historic Site in
Albany, IL. It was quite a trek out to the mounds, but well worth it for this view:
 |
| This picture, taken by Josephine, doesn't quite do the spot justice, but take my word for it, it was a beautiful forest and meadow near the banks of the Mississippi River. |
|
 |
| This is the girls at the entrance to the mounds "trail" which turned out to be a mowed swath of grass. Anyone who has ever pushed a double umbrella stroller uphill through grass for half a mile in the summer will understand why I had to shower when I got back to the camper. |
On Friday, August 10th, our last full day, we went to
Clinton, IA. It was a beautiful drive up the eastern bank of the Mississippi River. We went to the
Felix Adler Children's Discovery Center, a really neat place which is one big enclosed room with a toddler play area in the middle. Josephine had a blast dressing up like a fireman, playing grocery store, and playing with tons of blocks. The babies found a toy car to fight over.
 |
| Fire lady, Josephine, to the rescue! |
 |
| "Buy some grapes! Only 50 cents a bunch!" |
 |
| Three seconds after this photo was taken they started slapping each other in a fight for possession of the car. |
By Saturday morning, all four girls were very tired and ready to sleep in their own beds. Next year, Daddy is invited...
