Galena- Mom/Daughter weekend!

After four years of not having a mom/daughter weekend, it was certainly time to schedule another one.  Previously our mom-daughter weekends have included: Des Moines Craft Show, Cranberry Festival in Wisconsin, Amish Tour in MN.  This year we decided to pick a different state and check out Galena, Illinios.  I had been there with Andy back in 2003 and I remembered it as a quaint, fun town with lots of shops and delicious restaurants.  My sister and I discovered that this year our oldest child was wanting to come- but we kept it as only the grownups.  Our amazing husbands willingly enjoyed a Dad-Kid weekend without us!

 The first picture of the weekend!  (Here we are waiting for Mom to get ready!  :)  )

 Three beautiful ladies- ready for laughter and more laughter!

 Before the river boat ride, we stopped in Galena for some morning pictures on the beautiful fall day!

  My favorite!  I love the beautiful red tree and the lines of the railroad track behind us!

 Fall is here!

 Hanging out on the railroad tracks- best friends AND sisters!

 I was most looking forward to going on the alpine slide!  Thankfully mine went pretty fast- Manda was less impressed with the speed... was it the temperature?  The sled?  the track?  Bummer.

 We rode the alpine slide down in order to get on the boat!  (Much more fun than just the chair lift down!)

 Here we are- bundled and ready for the riverboat ride!  BRrr

 A beaver's dam!

 We certainly had fun on 90 min long riverboat cruise!  We saw multiple eagles and even an eagle's nest!

 Our portrait as we rode the ski lift to the top!

A picture that makes us look like stair steps!  (look at those fall colors and the beautiful girls!)

Weirdly- I took few pictures of the actual town of Galena.  There were lots of fun shops (including one with great samples that came just at the time that I was getting hungry!  They also had apple cider donuts!  Mmmm)  We enjoyed a nice dinner at Vinney's. That is where Andy and I had gone and the cannoli was AMAZING!  Im glad we made reservations because a couple walked in after us and the earliest seating for them was 930pm!

 In Dubuque Iowa we went on this Fenelon 4th Street Elevator. I had taken my kiddos on it once (D. in the Baby Bjourn and A. holding my hand)  Its pretty awesome.  Look it up to read more about it.  It was super cheap and had some great views of the city and the Mississippi River!

We ended our weekend together grabbing Jimmy Johns and driving to Eagle Point Park to check out the locks and dam.  It was VERY cold so we ate in the car but it was fun to check it out.  Our last stop was Walgreens so we could print out some pictures and go home with pictures to treasure from our time together.

Im a pretty lucky girl to have a mom and sister who are amazing to hang out with.  We had a lot of fun being together.  Sometimes its nice to have some time not worrying about dinner being ready at a certain time or having toys get picked up, or kissing owies.  I felt so much more refreshed after the weekend- and more ready to come home and cuddle and shower my kids and husband with love!  I am so thankful Andy was able to make it work.  He ended up preaching that weekend so Sunday was quite the tapestry of who watched them when.  We are lucky for kind friends who could step in and watch them.

My mom, sister, and I are already trying to decide where our next Girls weekend will be...  :)