Fun Day with Grandkids and Sister (O'Fallon, IL)

We had a good night of sleep, it did rain and it was noisy with the trees dropping extra water drops, but we got used to it and slept through it.  No birds this morning squawking too early either.

We picked up grandsons Kyle and Kendall and headed to my sister Doris's  in Troy, MO.  It took about an 1hr 45min to get there and we went straight through St. Louis on I-64, which is what we'll do with the RV later this month.  It was a breeze and they've done a lot of work on I-64, expanding it to three lanes all the way to US 61.

We spent the afternoon checking out our area at my sister's neighbor's place where we'll park our home for a couple of weeks. They own an RV but it's currently in Arkansas, so they offered to let us park in their yard where they have water and 30-amp hookups.

The kids had a blast with the four big dogs.  Doris has two Akitas (Buffy and Jake), a Great Dane (Zoey), and a mutt (Charlie).  They're great dogs; very well behaved.  They should be, as Doris is a registered dog trainer. :)

Zoey and Jim.

Kyle and Kendall.

Jim and Herm, my sister's husband.

Doris, my sister.

Now here's an interesting story for you...
We went to Cuivre (pronounced Quiver) River State park to check out the possibility of moving there for a few days.  It's a beautiful park and well worth it.  The kids wanted to climb some steps we saw by the lake, so we let them go up and down 141 steps to the top.  Grandpa did it once and then they talked me into a path which had 136 steps at the other side.

Here's the first set of steps.

Jim got to the first platform and thought he'd show he made it.

Click on this picture to see the other set of steps just above the sign to the left of the people. There's a nice path around the lake leading to those steps.

I took the boys to those steps. When we got half way up I got dizzy so sat on a bench a few minutes to get my breath.  (OK, I'm out of shape a whole lot).  The boys went up and down till I was ready to finish the rest of the 136 steps.  (Oh, to be young!)  When we got to the top, I thought we'd have a path to follow to the other set of steps they had previously gone up.  That wasn't there, so we followed the road to the left as that was the opposite direction we went at the bottom.  It wasn't close to the lake.  I had to admit we were totally lost.  Kendall thought he knew which way to go but I just couldn't take those steps back down, that would have done me in for sure.  So, I called Jim, not just once but three times.  The cell  signal was very low, but he finally answered.  They had a map and took the car to find us.  It was scary, but there's enough people around we weren't in trouble, unless it got dark. Those that know me, know I'm very direction challenged.

We went back to my sister's house for home made apple pie and ice cream while we all rested up.

Kendall still had some energy left, so he played the Wii until we were ready to go back home.

I had to take a picture of the dogs playing cards that is by the front door.  This is made with car parts and half license plates.  It's so cute.

We made it back home before dark and crashed.  Thanks Doris and Herm for a wonderful day.  We loved the time we spent with both of you and our grandkids.