Nearly three and a half years ago, Amelia (a mere 11 weeks old), my mom, and I headed to Wisconsin to visit my great Aunt Elaine. She was married to my grandmother's brother and has been very special to our family. We used to visit my great aunt and uncle several times a year when they were residing in Chester, IL--home of Popeye.
Since that trip nearly 3.5 years ago, my aunt has been asking when we were coming back. We tried to go last year, but the night before we were scheduled to leave, my aunt took a nasty fall and wound up in the hospital. We promised that as soon as the weather turned warm in the spring we would plan a time to come up. That didn't quite happen, but we were able to head up last week for a visit instead.
Amelia's snapshot of my great Aunt.
It is a (gasp) 9 hour drive and I was pretty concerned about how Amelia would do. There is really no easy or quick way to get there by plane because she lives in a very small town. Luckily, Amelia did an incredible job. It helped that IL has gotten wise enough to install some great playgrounds at rest areas along the way. Its hard to believe, but she didn't even sleep at all on the way up North!
In fact, she arrived full of energy and ready to perform! She was told she could take ONE dress up costume with us on the trip (which was a 20 minute decision) and performed her rendition of Cinderella countless times during our visit.
The next morning we headed out to see Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, Babe. The first time Amelia visited these two, she was not very impressed. In fact, she slept almost the entire visit. Paul and Babe haven't changed much, but Amelia sure has!
She was much more a fan of Babe than Paul. She initially had it in her head that Paul was going to move when she got close to him.
After visiting with Paul and Babe outside, we decided to check out the Logging Camp Museum inside. We skipped this part last time and I'm sorry we did. It was really well done!
In the kids section, Amelia next to Paul's boot.
If you are at all familiar with the Tall Tales of Paul Bunyan, you will remember that at his logging camp there was a gigantic griddle for frying up enormous flapjacks. The griddle was so big that to grease it, people would have to strap pats of butter to their feet and skate around it.
With all the grace and agility she could muster, GG decided to give this a go.
Amelia gave it a try too, although she spent much of the time holding on to the side.
One of Amelia's favorite parts was catching this Disney Paul Bunyan flick in the children's section. The volunteers at the Logging Camp practically gave us a personal tour (apparently it isn't a HUGE attraction). They made sure Amelia was comfy and started the movie when she was ready.
The museum had different cabins set up to look like various parts of the logging camp. It was great hands on learning for Amelia.
I took this picture of the sign so I can make a version of it for OUR kitchen.
Amelia seemed to like the kitchen/dining area the best. So much to get into!
She was pretty taken with the dorms too! She especially liked the bear skin blanket on one of the beds.
Here she was asking if there were any girls that were loggers. When I told her I didn't think so, she asked why there was a flower blanket then. I wasn't sure how to answer that--museum budget constraints that didn't allow all items to be authentic?
The following day, we headed to a nearby town to check out a restaurant known for their delicious pies and Norwegian food. Last time we visited this restaurant, I bought a pie for Jason and transported it all the way back to Chicago. I decided to send him a picture (actually two) of the menu so he could pick out what he would like this time. He opted against getting an entire pie, but picked out two flavors he would like of just individual pieces.
Our waitress was kind enough to divide our three pie choices up and serve a little on each plate to us. We opted for Banana Cream, Pecan Fudge, and Chocolate Mousse. They were all delicious.
After filling up on pie, we walked around the area and did some shopping. Amelia spotted this guy outside an antique store and was instantly in love!
The rest of our trip was pretty low key. We spent a lot of time talking and catching up. Amelia was completely taken with my aunt's angel collection as well as her cane selection (which she used as a dance prop for much of the visit). We visited a local park and even spent time outside with Amelia while she rode her bike (yes, we brought it all the way up to Wisconsin!). The ride home was pretty smooth. Amelia even slept for part of the trip. We are already trying to figure out the logistics of returning next year with a 4 year old and a 6 month old.....
It was great that GG and Papa joined us too. Papa even took off work which is quite a rarity!
And not to forget about poor baby Jake! Amelia loved "babying" him during their stay and seemed to especially enjoy his shrieking noises! He was such a trooper keeping up with the older two!
Our second stop was the Zoo. Since our Museum of Transportation membership was about expired, we had been talking about getting another membership at a different St. Louis hot spot. After learning about their corporate matching program AND learning that Jason's company was part of it, it was very clear that we would be Zoo Friends for the next year. Jason's company paid for half of our membership. It worked out well since we all decided to take a train ride (which was $40 alone for our group of 9). 
