Nisei, Sansei, Yonsei, Gosei

After an early breakfast, we said goodbye to my parents, brother, and niece and hit the road for Chicago since we planned to meet R's dad for the 10:45AM service at church this morning. Before we got to I-55, however, R realized that he left his aunties' apartment keys behind. So we turned around and met my brother who drove to Goodfield to bring them to us. Needless to say we were a little late to church. 🤦🏻‍♀️

It's the Great Pumpkin

57th Annual!

Besides visiting the grandparents, there were two other reasons for the timing of this trip back to Illinois... my hometown's annual Pumpkin Festival and my high school class reunion. 

If you've ever used Libby's Pumpkin for any recipes, chances are pretty high that it was grown and harvested from fields in Central Illinois and canned at the Nestlé plant in Morton. The "Pumpkin Capital of the World" has held an annual 4-day celebration of everything pumpkin each September since 1967. Imagine a stereotypical small town fair (carnival rides, competitions, entertainment, food, parade, etc.) but on steroids - the Chamber of Commerce and its army of volunteers does an excellent job! However, the bigger draw for me is the chance to catch up with old friends since many people come back to see friends/family who are still in town.

As a bonus for my parents, my brother G and niece C also decided to visit when they heard we would be there (my sister-in-law couldn't come due to work 😢), so they had all of their grandkids together for the first time since before the pandemic.  

Going for Silver

225 miles

Since joining the National Park Travelers Club in 2011, our travels have gotten us the Special Achievement Award (minimum 10 units in 2 regions with 20 stamps) every year except for 2020 (pandemic 😢) and last year when we earned the Bronze Master Traveler Award (min. 25 units, 4 regions, 50 stamps). This year because we have been able to visit a number of different NPS passport regions (Western, Midwest, Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, and North Atlantic), we are really close to achieving the Silver MTA (min. 35 units, 5 regions, 75 stamps). Only need stamps from 7 more units before the end of the year! 

So, in an effort to get our (okay, *my*) certificate, we took a slight detour on our way down to my parents' house today to move 3 units closer to Silver...

Gentlemen, Start Your Engines

Since both M and J were working full-time this summer, we thought that we could squeeze in a family vacation in September before J started his fall quarter classes. When given the choice of planning a trip to Maui or Illinois, it was a no-brainer for them...