Swimming in Illinois

Our week in Illinois was HOT. Unfortunately for everyone living there....the heat and humidity continue. My girls love to swim, so we took advantage of the heat and opportunities to cool off.

We spent one afternoon at Morton Pool. This public town pool was only one block away from the house I grew up in, so I think of it as "my" pool. On one side of the pool is a nice park, and on the other side is the elementary school that I attended. I have so many great memories of this area and it was a bit surreal sitting there as an adult with my own children.

They have completely re-done the pool since I swam there last. They ripped it all out and started over. Now they have this great water-slide combo....

And a fantastic kiddie pool...

Another day, we went out to my mom's friend's house, lake and cabin. The Ropps have been family friends for years and it was great to see them and 3 of their 4 kids again.

Their property is beautiful and they have a house, a lake and a cabin on the other side of the lake. I wasn't sure if my girls would like swimming in a lake, but they had a blast. Kayleigh kept swimming out to the floating dock where she would climb up and jump in.

Sydney, Mom and I all went down the slide.

This is looking from the house, across the lake to the cabin..

again, looking across to the cabin. In this picture you can see the water-slide.

Near the house and right on the shore of the lake is a beautiful pergola.

They also have their share of animals....chickens, rabbits, kittens, dog....

The girls got to rid the gator and feed the catfish. As we started toward the lake, you could see the ripples in the lake - the catfish recognize the sound of the gator and associate it with feeding time. We could see that they were swimming to the spot where they get fed.

Here is a video of the catfish eating...