Chapter 2: Rock Island

After we left Chicago we drove a few hours down to Rock Island. It was my first time going back to Rock Island to see where Todd was born and raised. It gives you a lot of insight into a persons life to see where they started out. And it was a lot of fun to be there with him, reliving childhood memories. It was also so great to be able to stay with his parents and get to know them more and spend a lot of time with them. It means a lot to us that our children have a good relationship with them, even if we are a ways away. And both of the kids bonded so well with Grandma and Grandpa. It is neat to stand back and watch memories being made that you know you will cherish always.

So here is how we spent most of our time...

Todd pushing the kids on the swings at the park he played little league at as a boy.

What a good Daddy...obviously uncomfortable but being a good sport and playing with his little girl :)

Grandma and Makenna really became good buddies on this trip. They had so much fun together.

Grandpa and big boy Kellen!

One night afternoon Todd and I left the kids with Grandma and Grandpa to take some time to ourselves. We decided to drive out to Tampico, Reagan's birthplace. It is the tiniest little hick town I have seen (if you can even call it a town). But wow, the people there are proud to call it home and are very, very proud and honored to call it Reagan's home. Or at least the 80 year old man who gave us the tour was. It was really cute and actually quite interesting. But I did have to hold back a few laughs.

Here is Todd standing in the room Reagan was born in.

Here I am outside the Reagan's apartment...it's above the bank.

Mommy and Makenna playing at the park. This park was amazing...it had all the toys that I had at parks when I was a kid. I felt like I was 7 years old again...I had So much fun playing with her here...I could have stayed all day. And I think Makenna was in shock seeing her mommy run all around the toys like a giddy little girl.

Since I have known Todd he has ranted and raved about a place back home called Happy Joe's. Seriously, the man has made it out to seem AMAZING! So it's time to go to Happy Joe's and we pull up and walk in....not another soul was in there eating. (I should have known at that moment that this was a bad sign)

Grandma and Grandpa at Happy Joe's (It was actually a blast being the only ones in there!)

Feast your eyes upon this...Happy Joe's Specialty pizza....Canadian bacon and Sauerkraut (yes, I too am needing to run to the restroom to vomit...go ahead...I'll wait until you get back).

I promised Todd I would try at least one bite (this alone goes to show how much I love the man, because under any other circumstances this pizza would go nowhere near my sophisticated palate)

Needless to say I had one bite, and one bite only. You McKamey's are crazy! ;)

But the other half of the pizza was good and Makenna loved her clown sundae at the end of the night, so all in all it was worth it!

Whitey's Ice Cream. Probably some of the best ice cream I have ever had. And Makenna was in heaven. Whenever I ask her what her favorite ice cream flavor is she always says "Pink!" But she had never had pink ice cream...until Whitey's. They had pink bubble gum flavored ice cream. It was a dream come true for the little girl!

This is at the John Deere 'Museum'. It was really neat to see all the tractor and equipment that they had there. Makenna loved it in her Tom Boy way.

Daddy and Makenna in a $500,000 John Deere Tractor. Todd is really all John Deere fired up since we have been back....it cracks me up. But hey, good to be proud of where you came from.

This is at the arsenal on Rock Island. It was really neat to see the arsenal where Ed (Todd's dad) worked and all the old building were very neat. At this park they had tanks and different weapons on display that you could check out and Makenna was able to climb all over.

Kellen was a trooper the whole trip, but boy was he just pooped. The poor kid passed out on the way to dinner and slept on the bench in my lap through the whole thing.

Here we are on the plane ride home. It feels good to finally get on the plane. After a 3 hour drive back to Chicago, returning the rental car, checking luggage, making it through security, it is just nice to know that from that point on, no matter what happens, when you land you'll be home.

It really was a great trip and there are more stories to tell, but I don't want to bore you too much. All in all we had a great time. But it will be awhile before we go on any more 'Trips'. I need a vacation now to recover from this one!