Weekend in DeKalb

Since I'm going to be fairly busy writing a novel during the month of November (NANOWRIMO), I thought I would save some family updates for later. A few weekends back, the little boys and I drove all the way up to a friend's house in Wisconsin to pick up a picture, then drove down to DeKalb for a day.

Trevor's favorite part of our time in DeKalb would have to be the time we spent at the skate park. He is sincerely wishing that criminal activity hadn't closed the one closest to us (a half hour away - but that seems close when you live in the country). Here are some shots of the boys at the skate park:








It cracked me up when, in the middle of skating, Trevor decided he had to stop for a moment to get his black book and draw something cool in it. So Trevor!

After our time at the skate park, we stopped in to visit with our old friends, Andy and Renee, and their five children. The boys had a wonderful time playing with the kids and I enjoyed some quiet conversation with grown-ups.

Friday night, we drove out to Waterman, IL, to ride Pete's Train. This was a tradition I used to keep with my oldest son for years, back when we lived in DeKalb. Back then, the train was free. This time, we were charged a $7.00 per person fee for the pumpkin train (including picking a SMALL pumpkin from a patch mid-way through the ride) and a walk through a small, boring haunted house. It seemed like there were less lights than there used to be. Plus, it was definitely not worth $7.00 ($3, maybe, but $7??).

Here you can see that Trevor was none to excited to start with:




Plus, he felt compelled to do the thinker pose for the final picture!

On Saturday, we rounded out our visit with a trip to the free STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) conference at the DeKalb Convocation Center. The advertisements had shown one of those large balls filled with electricity, where the slightest touch causes your hair to stand on end. I had lured them into this activity with promises of seeing this hands-on display. Sadly, we never found such a booth or exhibit. Rats!

Still, the boys enjoyed the various booths:

Robots lifting inflated tubes to place on a pole.

Sean dressed in the full regalia of a scientist in the Antartic.

By the time we were finishing walking around and seeing tons of cool things (balls that balance in mid-air, foil boats which hold numerous pennies, optical illusions, light-up sticks, etc.) the boys were exhausted and ready to head home.