suddenly september

I'm not sure how it happened, but, here it is... September, again.  Over Labor Day weekend, we headed to Mendota to see my grandma and my parents, who were visiting her.  We had a good time, and played several rounds of the card game Golf.  Ben has inherited his love of games from his great-grandma, I think! :)

 Emm, Nick, and Ben with their great-grandma:

 With Mom and Dad... showing just how tall the kids have gotten!

 While we were there, Emm worked on her latest knitting project ~ little sachet animals.  These bunnies are filled with lavender:

 And so is this cat:

After spending several hours at Grandma's, and going out for supper, we headed to a nearby hotel.  The kids swam in the pool for awhile, and then we went up to our room to watch movies and sleep.

The next day, the 5th, we drove down to Starved Rock State Park and hiked for a few hours.  I had to go very s...l...o...w...l...y, but I survived. :)  The scenery, as always, was beautiful.

The Illinois River, as seen from the top of Starved Rock:

 The Illinois River and Plum Island:

 A bit of fall color in the forest:

 The kiddos, taking a break:

 Heading back down Starved Rock... lots of steep staircases there!:

 Goldenrod... pretty, but, oh, it makes me sneeze!  Achoo!!

 Along the trail to French Canyon.  There was not much water there this time of year:

George and Ben, walking through French Canyon:

 French Canyon (sometimes there's a waterfall here):

 The crew in French Canyon:

 More stairs, on the way to Wildcat Canyon:

 Boardwalk trail through the forest:

 Damselfly:

 Looking across Wildcat Canyon from the overlook, to another overlook:

 A very fuzzy caterpillar:

 Wildcat Canyon... we'd like to see this when there's a waterfall sometime!:

The kids in Wildcat Canyon:

 Wildcat Canyon, looking up at the overlook where we'd stood a few minutes earlier:

 George and the boys along the River Trail:

 Ferns along the River Trail:

 Beehive Overlook and the Illinois River:

 Pretty flowers by the Visitor's Center:

We got back home around 3:30pm, and later on George grilled us some Labor Day hamburgers, yum. :)  All in all, it was a good start to September!