A day with Abraham Lincoln

After last night's shenanigans at the Batchelder home, the kids were not up at the crack of dawn this morning. The family did not starting rolling out of bed until about eight o'clock or so, which is a new record for sleeping in. After slowly getting ready for the day, we headed into Springfield to find a place for breakfast and to get coffee for Jll. She ran out of coffee additives in the RV and could not be persuaded to drink it black. We fueled ourselves and headed to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. I appreciated that the museum was able to hold our kids attention and we were able to make it through all of the exhibits, movies, and shows. Perhaps this task was made easier by engaging in the history detective competition, by which we had to answer a series of questions about each of the exhibits.

Here is a picture of Adelaide, Alastair, and Dagny reenacting the end of the Civil War. I can't vouch for the historical accuracy of their reenactment, but it looked pretty good to me.

After the museum, we met up with the Batchelder clan for lunch and a quick tour through the Old State Capitol. From there, we walked to the Lincoln Home National Historic Site, where the kids were able to meet the President.



I have always been enamored with Abraham Lincoln, not only because of what he did, but the adversity he had to overcome in order to get into a position where he could make a difference.

After hanging out at Lincoln's home for a while, we headed back the Batchelders'. While not as historically significant, the Batchelders' home does have air conditioning, so score one for the Batchelders.

Curt and I handily beat Jll and Katie at a game of Rook as we waited for dinner and we took turns listening to the kids' favorite songs from You Tube.  Following dinner we took a nice stroll through the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Gardens. It was fun to watch our kids discover fireflies as the sun went down. Alastair frantically ran back to the van to get a clear water cup from the morning's Starbuck's visit so that the kids could inspect the lightning bugs a little closer.

We ended the day back at the Batchelders' with more games, dessert, and catching up. This was the latest we've been out yet on this trip and I envision tomorrow will involve more sleeping in.

- Dave