The Events of Saturday, August 28, 2010

          The best part of this morning was the chance to cook with our Aunt Lori. After a discussion about what to make, we decided on chocolate chip meringues. We learned that all of your measured ingredients before you cook anything are called your ‘mis en place’, pronounced ‘meez en ploz’. Next we learned how to properly separate the yolk from the white in an egg. Also, we discovered Aunt Lori’s style of cooking, in which measurements are merely recommendations and all the steps are not always necessary. While our cookies baked in the oven, Aunt Lori and Uncle Mark served us breakfast, which consisted of a giant veggie popover, sausage, bacon, orange juice, coffee, and tea. It was all very good. After breakfast, we started packing the RV up with all of our stuff from their house. We gave them a tour of the RV in and out. Then, we drove away, waving until we couldn’t see the Knickelbein family or their great house anymore.

          We drove for about 45 minutes until we found ourselves in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. We hopped out to take pictures, because, for those of you who don’t know, Elk Grove is our home town. We took pictures of their elk statue, their Elk Grove High School and their Elk Grove Blvd. Once in the car again, we decided that our Elk Grove was much better, though. We drove on for about 10 more minutes before reaching our destination for the day in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. As we drove, Caitlin asked, “Where are the estates?”, and Abby wondered, “What are estates?” When it was explained to Abby that estates were mansions surrounded by land, we realized that perhaps Hoffman Estates didn’t fully describe the development.

          However, as we drove up to my mom’s Cousin Amanda’s house, we were greeted first by Sophia Holmes (7), our second cousins. Shortly thereafter, the rest of the Holmes family spilled out of the home, Amanda (my mom’s cousin) and her husband Matt, Daniel, age 4 and Charlotte, 14 months. Since none of us had had lunch, we decided to all hop into the RV and take a ride down to Portillo’s, a nearby hot dog place that served Chicago’s famous hot dogs. By the time we were ready to hop back into our RV and go home, we were fully acquainted with the Holmes family. Abby and Sophia walked out hand in hand and Daniel was very seriously telling Caitlin all about Toy Story and all his recent injuries as they held hands in the parking lot.

          We drove back to their house and received a tour, and then we hung out for a while. Then, all of the kids gathered together to make Grandpa Jack birthday cards, as it was his eightieth birthday. Then Mom’s Cousin Dan came in and met us, and we instantly saw our Uncle Scott in him. After a short walk through the backyard over to Grandpa Jack’s, we were soon splashing in the pool at Grandpa Jack’s birthday party. Later, Ben, Abby, and Daddy joined in on a game of flow volleyball, in which the rules are the volleyball cannot go under the net and it cannot stop moving. You can kick it, throw it, bounce it, pick it up, but you have to keep it moving. We grabbed drinks and the adults gabbed together. We left the party early and went home, so our hosts could start preparing dinner, while the girls showered and dressed. When we came down we met Uncle Chuck (Sophia, Daniel and Charlotte’s uncle, my mom’s cousin) and Uncle Joe (Mom’s uncle, the Holmes kids’ grandpa), who had come over to see us and eat dinner with us. We had a delicious dinner of true Italian lasagna, meatballs, sausages, lamb sauce, salad, and bread. The ladies cleaned up, while the men watched football and the kids built creations with Lincoln Logs. Then, a splendidly delicious dessert of pound cake, strawberries and ice cream was served. It was very good and we were all quite satisfied.

          After dinner, all the Taylors and the Holmes, saving Mr. Holmes and Charlotte, went to visit Mom’s cousin Dan, along with his wife, Jenny, both of whom we had met at Grandpa Jack’s birthday party. (It turns out that Grandpa Jack is really Jenny’s grandpa, but acts as a grandpa to the whole neighborhood.) We were very warmly greeted by two huge fluffy dogs and Mom’s Cousin Dan. Sophia informed us that one of the dogs was a wolf and the other was a lazy sled dog. Dan showed us his house, but mostly his reptile room. We spent most of our visit in the reptile room. There were lizards, snakes, turtles, tortoises, and even two alligators. We held the lizards, fed the tortoise and turtle, and let the snakes climb all over us, all except for Mom and Caitlin. When Dan brought out one of the alligators and offered her out to be held though, we all chickened out, except for Ben. Ben can now say that he has held an alligator. We all had a wonderful time and were very reluctant to leave. We walked home under the silence of the stars and went back into the house. We got ready for bed and talked about Cousin Dan’s reptiles (because now Ben wants a snake) until we drifted off to sleep.