Exotic Tuscola

Brian, Ellie and I had a mini-getaway this weekend to Tuscola, Ill., where there's an outlet mall ... and not much else :) It was a good halfway meeting point, however, for us and our friends the Klaustermeiers (who live down by St. Louis). We got to catch up and enjoy some good times. The kids, Ellie and 26-month-old Jacob, did some serious shopping as you can see below. When she wasn't refusing to ride in her stroller and instead pushing it around, Ellie also enjoyed pulling whole stacks of clothing off of the store shelves. I'm sure the store clerks loved us.
We also did some swimming in the motel pool and hot tub. Ellie decided to dress herself for this, which consisted of draping mom's swim suit around her neck and wearing hers as a hat. She's beach-ready, for sure.

Cutest moment of the weekend was when Jacob took Ellie's other hand as she walked with me down the hallway. Another favorite was when they gave each other a big hug at bed time and somehow lost their balance and toppled over, with Jacob landing on top of Ellie. I couldn't get a picture since Ellie didn't think it was quite as funny as the rest of us...