Ryan's Trip to the Orchard

Ryan had a great time at the apple orchard with Matt and Matt's friend, Tommy. They picked apples, ate donuts and played in the fun area. I wasn't able to go, but they brought me some of those good donuts - yum! Later in the week, Ryan needed an apple for preschool, so he was able to take one from his trip to the orchard.
Thanks to Aunt Carol & Grandma for chauffeuring Ryan to Jonamac's!

Weekend Getaway to Starved Rock

Our Fall getaway was to Utica, IL and the Starved Rock area. There's a new hotel (well, 5 years new now) that's great for the kids - Grizzly Jack's Grand Bear Resort. They have an indoor waterpark, indoor amusement area, playground, and a train shuttle that takes guests from the main hotel to other villas on the property (we didn't know about the train...imagine our surprise when we arrived!). We also went to Starved Rock State Park for dinner and a hike that was appropriate for a 4 year old....you know, you have to save enough energy to get back. We took B's stoller as far as we could, but then Jason was a trooper and carried B on his shoulders for the rest of the hike.

Our little monkey!

Brandon is turning into quite a little monkey!! Faster than a speeding bullet he climbs on the chair and then onto the table........




Ryan never climbed on things like this. It's so funny to see the unique traits that each one has.

Family Day at the CAT Proving Grounds

Recently we had the great opportunity to attend Family Day at the Caterpillar Peoria Proving Grounds...this is where Uncle Chris "works." Although after seeing all the toys at the Proving Grounds, I'm not sure that much 'work' actually gets done :)

The Proving Grounds are located in Washington, IL and the campus consists of many large buildings where they're able to bring the big tractors inside for tests or work, as well as a huge open playground with lots of dirt, Dirt & DIRT. They also have a cafeteria on-site and 'cubeland' -- where the employees have desk space.

Uncle Chris lives just down the road.

Here's a photo opp with the CAT race car.


This sure is a BIG wheel.


There were several opportunities to climb aboard a big tractor! Brandon loved his opportunity to drive.


One of the activities was a demo by this team. The men in red shirts are the Operators.


This was one of the neatest activities, at least I thought so! The kids got to sit in this little CAT tractor which was lined up with a bowling alley. A bowling ball went in the little scoop and the kids got to dump the ball down the alley.....STRIKE!!


This was pretty cool too. The CAT guys/gals rigged up these cars just for Family Day with some of the data collection computers that they use for the big tractors. As you drove the car around the course, your speed and other data was collected and displayed (see the big screen right above Jason's head?).


Family Day opened with the raising of this very big flag. They served us lunch in this building. Notice how the ceilings are like 50 feet tall?! I think it was the biggest building I've ever been in. They use it to conduct tests on the tractors. Doors are sealed so that a consistent temperature is maintained throughout the duration of the test.


This is the tractor that Uncle Chris supports. I think the name is 980H. There's an entire team of CAT guys (& yes, some gals) that work on just this one.

Another big truck that was on display.

Jason & Ryan climb aboard! I think this is one of the big dump trucks that's normally used in mining operations.

Uncle Chris took Ryan on this big tractor....he had a great view from waaayy UP there! Notice Chris' yellow shirt? It had VOLUNTEER stamped on the back. He was assigned cotton candy duty. Unfortunately we arrived about 15 min too late to see him up to his arm pits in cotton candy.

Thanks Uncle Chris for inviting us and for volunteering so that the event could take place. It was a neat day!