Winter trip to IL

On Christmas Day, we set out for IL, and stopped half-way in Knoxville, TN. We had delicious BBQ for dinner at a restaurant on the river, then went to bed and hit the road early to make it to IL by lunchtime.

We had a fun few days in IL getting to spend time with Mark and Betty, the Jolliffs, Uncle Ed, Uncle Ron, and Aunt Nancy. The kids enjoyed opening Christmas gifts when we arrived.

Then we went to the Jolliffs for the afternoon for the cousins to play. These two little gymnasts had lots of fun doing back bends and cartwheels for the next few days.

So much fun to have the cousins back together again! They spent a lot of time playing ball outside, basketball in the barn, and flashlight tag at night.

The only 2 girl cousins out of 8 kids and BFF’s.

The kids and Nathan with Uncle Ron. 

We are thankful we had time to spend time with extended family during this trip.

One day Nathan, Mark, Hap, and the boys went to a basketball tournament about an hour away to watch the Herrin Tigers. They won both the games and were scheduled to play in the championship game later that night. 

Meanwhile, Betty, Aunt Nancy, the girls, and I went out for lunch on the square downtown and swimming at the Hub. It was a fun girly afternoon.

That evening we went to say bye to the Jolliffs, and they decided to go to the championship game that night and kindly took the boys with them. They got home around midnight and had a great time out with their family. We hit the road the next morning to head back to IL, stopping in Bristol, TN and catching the new Wonka movie in the theater. It was a fun quick trip to spend time with family!