Monday, July 13, 2009

A Birthday Road Trip!

So, with it being my birthday, I was feeling quite blue.  I hate that day more than ANY other day of the year!  But Matt was in no mood for the “Becky Blues” and was going to have no part of it.

He woke me up to breakfast in bed, which consisted of Egg in the Bread, Bacon, fresh doughnuts and coffee.  Okay, so far so good.

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Then Matt told Emerson to go get a bag out of the kitchen.  This was the gift from just “The Girls”.  Inside was a CUBS shirt, a CUBS umbrella, an Electronic Hand Held Word Search Game, two of my favorite chocolate and caramel candy bars and a $25 gift card to Old Navy.  Alright…  This is getting pretty good!

After opening my gifts and eating breakfast, Matt told everyone, “Get dressed, we’re going on a road trip!”.

We got into the car and Matt told us all that we’d all be going to Dyersville, Iowa to where they filmed the movie, “Field of Dreams”

Now, I have to tell you, I can’t remember the last time I’ve laughed as hard as I did on this trip!  Everything was cracking us up!

It all started with a bag of Combo’s that Emerson got at a rest area we stopped at. 

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Emerson had been eating them and Matt asked her, “Hey Em, do you have any Combo’s left that I can have?”  She looked in the half eaten bag, put on this “thinking about it” face, looked at Matt and said, “No!”

Without missing a beat, Matt said, “Thanks a lot ya little ass!”

Now, Matt doesn’t swear a lot, especially around the kids.  So I can’t tell you which was funnier, Matt saying it or the complete look of shock on Emerson’s face!  I don’t know why, but I couldn’t stop laughing and it just made everyone else laugh even harder.

Our first stop on this trip was in a town called Freeport, IL.  We were going to see something called “Little Cubs Field”.  It’s a little league park built as a miniature Wrigley Field.

Well, our next bought of laughter came when we saw that the Freeport High School’s mascot was “The Freeport Pretzels”.

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We all looked at each other with a “What the #$%@???” look.  Who are their rivals???  The Dubuque Doritos?

When we made it to “Little Cubs Field” it was really cute!  The game of the day was the Mini Cubs vs. the Mini Cardinals.

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Our next fit of laughter came when we were almost to Galena, IL.  Everyone refers to IL as the great flatlands.  Anything larger than a mole hill and we think we have to downshift our cars to get over it.

Well, The Northwest corner of IL, had us all saying, “Flatlands our butt!”  I’m NOT a heights kind of person!  All of the hills and corners had me hanging on for dear life!  Even the girls would scream every once in a while from the backseat as we’d crest a hill and go down the other side.

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This time it was Matt that was laughing so hard he was crying as I said, “EVERYONE SMILE!”  “Why?” Matt asked. I said,  “Because our picture is going to be taken as we go down this hill, just like they do at Disney World when you ride the roller coasters!…  There’s a kiosk at the bottom where we can buy it!”

After our roller coater trip, we finally made it to the Mississippi river. This is where Matt had to quote a line from one of his favorite movies, “Vacation”.  “Look kids”, he said, “The Mississippi river!  The mighty Mississip… The old man…  The ‘ol Miss…  Oooold man riverrrrrrrrr!”

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The more I think about it, the more I’ve come to realize the fact that I think I DID marry Clark Griswold!  LOL!

After crossing the Mississippi it wasn’t long before we were in Dyersville, IA.  We followed the signs all the way to the “Field of Dreams”

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Here are a few pictures from there.

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Of course, Matt has to recreate the ghosts coming out of the corn field with the kids.

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After playing on the field and looking at the farm for a while, we bought some T-shirts, hats and a refrigerator magnet and it was on the road back home.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always had Prime Rib as my special birthday dinner.  Matt made sure this would not change.  We crossed back over the Mississippi once again back into IL and we stopped in the town of Galena.

There we stopped at the “Log Cabin Restaurant”  And I have to say, it was one of the BEST Prime Rib dinners I have EVER had!

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After dinner, with our belly’s full, Matt downed an energy drink ,while the girls fell asleep on the ride home.

After we got back home, I sat back on the sofa and thought to myself.  What a great birthday!  I got to spend it with my family, had a LOT of laughs, had a great dinner and a lot of fun!

17 comments:

Liz Mays said...

That is the best birthday ever! I want to do every single thing you did! Happy Birthday!!!!

Deanna said...

Does Matt hire out for birthday celebrations? Dang that looked like fun. And who knew there were hills in Illinois?

betty said...

you had an awesome birthday!! how fantastic! I loved the pictures of your family coming out of the corn stalks. So much like the movie. I didn't even realize they had a place like this where one could go and visit from the film; very cool! so glad you have such a loving hubby/children that they would want to spend a day like this honoring you!!!!!!!!

now I bet next year won't be so bad for birthdays, right???

betty

Keeper of the Skies Wife said...

That is like the BEST birthday EVER!!!!

Gosh, Matt knows how to have fun!

The road with all those hills looked crazy!!!!

And your breakfast....yum....brought back childhood memories for me. We call that egg in the hole :)

Intense Guy said...

Clark Griswold - a badly misunderstood man - beset with horrible relatives, clumsiness, bad luck, and just the inability to get something to just come out right - was a really good man - a knight in shining armor underneath it all - and really very lucky to have a beautiful wife Ellen and two children.

Your two little ones are so precious. The pictures of them standing on the base with their dresses on is priceless.

You are blessed, Becky Griswold - very blessed.

kim said...

that is the BEST birthday adventure I've ever read about..lol those eggs you had for breakfast? Those are my youngest son Jordan's favorite eggs..we call them Boyscout eggs and he's loved them since he was a kid and STILL asks for them everytime he comes home.. :) I love your family :)

Rebecca Jo said...

All of it looks like fun! See - birthdays arent so bad - right?

Totally cracked up at the coming out of the field picture!

Kimmy said...

Now THAT sounds like a fantastic birthday!! How awesome!! I totally love road trips too :o) I'm so glad you had the best time! Happy Birthday again!!

Also, I LOVE the movie "Vacation" and I remember that part too...LMAO! Too funny!

Denise said...

Sounds like SUCH an awesome birthday!!!!!!!!!!!! What a lucky girl! I too get the birthday blues! I am SO GLAD you laughed your ass off! :) What a great time!

Grand Pooba said...

I love the corn field pics!

Yankee Girl said...

Sounds like a fansmashingtastic trip! The pics are so cute!

LadyStyx said...

What a great trip! Did y'all remember to throw your hands in the air and scream going down that "roller coaster"?

Anonymous said...

It ends up that you had an ideal birthday! That was definitely quite a day and it looks like the whole family enjoyed it. We are glad to see you stopped in Galena and we hope all of your friends can come out and realize, yes, there are hills and valleys in Illinois. From your friendly hosts for visitor information, the Galena/Jo Daviess County Convention and Visitors Bureau

Lacey said...

What fun! You guys always have the best times! I'm so glad your birthday wasn't ALL bad... (I think I've told you it's the BEST DAY OF JULY, right? RIGHT?!?!?!)

Toriz said...

Sounds like you had a fantastic birthday. :)

HiHoOhio said...

hope you had a great trip and happy birthday!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a FANTASTIC birthday!!! what a neat trip!