Grandma Cathy, Micaela and Aunt Winnie ready to party!

 Leslie, the mom-to-be, and her sister Katie

 Great Grandma Charlotte, Aunt Amy and Aunt Winnie

 Tea time with Sophie

 The cutest chip teacup ever

 Bouncing with Aunt Maggie

 Snuggles with Great Grandpa John

 Riley tested Great Grandma Charlotte's icing to make sure it was OK

 After her approval she kept a close eye on the icing of the cake

 I always loved playing games with my grandparents and am happy that Riley gets to do this, too

 Easter egg hunt at Grandma Cathy's

 Then it was time for some Easter crafts

 Grandma and her granddaughters

 Me and Mom

 Grandpa Charlie took us to Funk's grove to watch the sap being collected from the maple trees

 Micaela loved to explore but tripped on all the sticks so preferred to have Grandpa steady her

 Not Riley, she was running around all over

 Looking at more buckets

 Riley found some seeds and planted some more maple trees for the future

 Wow, another full bucket

 The sap was dripping constantly 

 Riley did a very complicated Hello Kitty puzzle

Grandpa Leon and Grandma Cheryl came to visit

 Micaela showed Grandpa Leon some treasure she found

 Reading stories with Grandma Cheryl

Mommy, Riley, Grandpa Charlie and Micaela

This week was Riley's spring break so the girls and I took the new minivan to central Illinois to visit family. Our first stop was Springfield for my cousin Leslie's baby shower. Riley was the flower girl in Leslie's wedding last summer and when we got to the shower she asked, "Since I was flower girl before, what am I now?" Our little diva. It was nice to see Leslie and we certainly wish her luck with her new baby girl, who should be making her appearance sometime in June.

After the shower we spent some time with Great Grandma Charlotte and Great Grandpa John. Micaela was exhausted from all the partying at the shower and took a nap but Riley helped Great Grandma ice a cake and played games with Great Grandpa. Its so fun to see her enjoy the same things I did with them when I was her age. 

We spent the next few days at Grandma Cathy and Grandpa Dale's house. They had an Easter egg hunt, did some crafts, took walks outside and played in the mud. Grandma Cathy's house was busy!

I had the chance to go to Peoria on Sunday afternoon to see Amy's new place. She and Kevin are renting a cute house in a nice location and seem very happy in their new surroundings. Keva has a big back yard to run around in so she's definitely enjoying the new house. 

Our next stop was Grandpa Charlie and Grandma Shelley's. We spend our first afternoon at Funk's Grove where the maple syrup season has run late due to the cold winter. The buckets were all full of sap and some workers were out collecting them. When we went to the shop we were allowed to go in the back where they were boiling the sap down into syrup. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup, no wonder pure maple syrup is so expensive. I had never seen the entire process and it was a great learning experience for us all. Perhaps one of the most impressive things is that Mike Funk was selling the syrup while Jonathan Funk, his son, was boiling it down. This operation has been run by the Funk family since 1824!

Grandma Cheryl and Grandpa Leon came to visit for a few hours on Tuesday morning and the girls were happy to see them. Grandma read lots of stories while Grandpa and Micaela looked for ladybugs. We're glad they were able to visit with us before we made the long drive home.

Poor Daddy stayed home to work and was extremely productive while we were gone. We had a great time visiting grandparents, great grandparents and everyone else, but we missed him and were happy to be back home.