The Great Illinois Trip of 2009, "Part I: Roots"

It's taken me some time to organize all the photos of our trip to Illinois, but here's the first slideshow.

We left St. Paul on Good Friday and drove to Rock Island, Illinois, where Jen's mom grew up (stopping in Nora Springs on the way there, of course). It was fun to meet and get to visit with, Aunt Sue, who has always given our kids cute cards and gifts on their birthdays despite never having met them before, to get to the meet some cousins and to spend some time in the greater Quad Cities.

While we were there we celebrated Nora's birthday. We saw the house Grandma Larson grew up in and th school she attended. We visited Virginia, the woman -- now of course quite elderly -- who helped take care of Grandma and her sisters when they lost their mother. We went out to dinner a couple of times with Aunt Sue and her sons Mike and Marty. And we went to Easter service at Edgewood Baptist Church where Grandpa and Grandma Larson were married and where the same pastor who married them still serves!

Here are just a few of the shots:


Next time on The Great Illinois Trip of 2009, "Part II: The Windy City"

3 comments:

Mainely Me said...

Thanks for sharing the photos of what looks like a fun time.

Eyes_Wide_Open said...

I can't wait to see more pictures.

Charlotte said...

Very cool... I decided earlier this year that our family needs to do a roots tour. My kids' grandparents are all living so we're going to go to each of their hometowns over the next couple of years in lieu of spending thousands of dollars on a Disney World trip. (I don't want to go to DW anyway, but that helps me create my "fuzzy math" to justify the money we will be spending on these trips.)

First stop this June: Rochester, New York with my husband's parents. My husband's dad grew up there. We're getting the kids their own cameras; researching the area to learn more about the history, resources, etc.; and making playlists on our iPods. I think it will be fun.

Future trips will be to Northern Idaho, Detroit, Michigan, and rural Georgia. We live in Alabama, and our kids are 6 & 4, so it should be interesting...