For the last two weeks my sister Jeni and I combined our families, homes, towns, pets & friends for day after day of family fun together. It’s overwhelming to think of everything we did and hard to imagine going back to regular life as a little family of three. They headed north this morning, and about an hour later I said that I was feeling some heart clenches. Huck asked what I meant and I explained, “It’s that thing that happens to me when Jeni leaves.”

I’ll let the pictures mostly speak for themselves, but suffice to say that the Quad Cities, Chicago and Fayetteville have given us an amazing summer. From Lake Michigan fireworks to the Art Institute of Chicago, a Kansas City streetcar to a Mississippi River water taxi, a rooftop swimming pool to the one on Mount Sequoyah, late night videos, coding and art camps, ice skating, dog walking, slime, fire pits, Clue, waterfalls, ambiance, bike rides, riddles, beautiful home tours, highway caravanning, night swimming, and long overdue reunions with friends Kris, Sabina, Ben, Dan, Michele, Tom, Tina, Colleen, Charlie & Alice, Charlie & Debbie, our hearts are full.

Jeni, Nathan, Dan & Michele?  See you at the U2 concert in September.

kings river falls, arkansas

our illinois welcome

tackett backyard, illinois

mississippi river

T4

our 3:30 ritual

our niece Lily has supernatural ability

everyone’s favorite dog lola

walker-nelson back yard, chicago

4th of july, lake michigan

troy & the indivisible chicago podcast

click for podcast

art institute of chicago

the thorne rooms

high above the city

“I don’t care where we go, I don’t care what we do.”

charlie & debbie, oak park

back to the quad cities

somewhere in the middle of missouri

devil’s den

a week of summer camp

racing robots

sassy’s bbq, fayetteville

kings river falls

brave 12 year olds & their convincing dads