Update #1

Now, on to the updates...

For Thanksgiving, we went to my family's in Illiniois/Iowa/Wisconsin. Confused? Yeah, well they live in that tri-state area. Mom in Wisconsin, sister in Illinois, nearest actual city is in Iowa. Strangely enough, they are all about 3 miles away from each other (thank you Mississippi River).

Only spent a couple of days but got to do something I haven't done since I was 4 years old...

We went to the Fenelon Place Elevator (or what we locally call the 4th Street Elevator). It was much more nerve racking this time (I find the older I get, the more things scare the crap outta me!) but I don't feel too bad cuz the kids look pretty nervous too :)

Here's some pix:

Going Up

From the bottom, looking up

My neice and Little C on the ride up. We really squeeze us all into to do it in one trip.

D and Big C getting cozy

The View From The Top

S and N at the top with the Julian Dubuque Bridge and the Mississippi River behind them (it's Illinois on the other side of the bridge).

Little C up top with Dubuque and the Mississippi River behind her (it's Wisconsin in the background here).

Family photo op

Going Down

This was the scary part. Especially after we found out how it operates on a single cable pulley system... yeah, a single cable holding us all back from plunging to our deaths!

At the bottom, there are a bunch of cute and cozy shops to wander through. We went to the little candy shop at the very bottom of the elevator. (By the way... I cannot believe I'm posting this picture of myself! Don't be surprised if it disappears when I come to my senses!!)