Hey all!

Not much has been going on around here, except for over cast skies, rain, and cold wind...

On the lighter side, Memorial Day was really good.  Although the weather did not pan out the way we hoped  (plans to go to the water park got cancelled due to rain and it being 50 degrees!), but it was still nice to get away for a couple days.

Let's start at the beginning, shall we?  With Andrew's new job and my summer classes, we decided that a summer vacation was not in the picture.  That being said, we also knew that a get-away weekend was necessary for both of us to unwind and get out of our every day ruts; so what's better than a 3 day Memorial weekend?!  Nothing, at least that was our best option for the summer...

Step 2:  where to go?  Knowing that the farther we traveled meant more time wasted on relaxing/fun, so we chose to stay within an hour's drive.  After a bit of searching, Yorkville IL sounded like a perfect spot.  It's a very small town due west of us and it had a water park (that didn't happen) and a big forest preserve nearby!  If you are new to the blog and didn't get to hear about last year's vacation, check out this post to understand that parks and all nature areas are right up our alley!!

Step 3: Before we knew it, Memorial weekend was upon us.  After teaching my 11:30 class at Xsport, with a bunch of snacks in hand, we were off to Yorkville!

The town was really small, but very cute.  After checking in to our hotel, the first thing we did was play a round of mini golf! Andrew got a hole in one on the 6th hole!!

 We then grabbed a bite to eat and retired for the evening, but of course we brought some movies to watch! I loved the documentary about some of the endangered species!  We both learned a lot, and saw some animals we had never heard of before!  And trust me, that's a big deal for me because I've seen/heard of many animals.  Nature is so amazing and there are truly so many species out there that have probably never been seen before!

The next day was our BIG day.  We went hiking all morning and didn't settle in until after lunch.  While on the hike, we saw many really cool plants; too bad I didn't have a trail guide because I would have loved to learn about these beautiful plants! Take a look at that mushroom, they were everywhere!

 There were so many wonderful smells in this forest, too.  At one point, we smelled froot loops and I would have loved to figure out what plant made that smell! (or maybe it was an animal??!...)  I of course had to take a bunch of pictures in and with trees!

 No matter were we went into the hike, the forest was so lush and green!  I couldn't get over it!

 On our last hike, I began to smell onions.  It was so odd and random.   Then I thought, maybe there are chives around.  No sooner did I think that and found what looked like wild chives.  I got bold, pulled one out and came to find that it was a spring onion!  I wiped off the dirt, trimmed the roots away with my nails, and took a tiny bite...it was in deed a spring onion, so sweet and flavorful!  I ended up picking a few, kept them in a cup of water at the hotel, and planted them in my garden when we got back home!  What a souvenir!!

 These were some tiny mushrooms in the path on the way out of the forest.

We had such a wonderful time, it was hard to come back home, even if we were gone only 2 days...but that's the beauty of vacation.  The reason it is always so wonderful is because it is different from the ordinary and we appreciate it so much more.  Imagine if we lived each day as though it were vacation!

If you have any ideas as to what type of mushrooms these are, I would love if you left a comment below informing me!  If you don't know, I would still love to learn what you did for Memorial day weekend!  A BBQ perhaps?

Luana ola!