adam turns 27!

so, it's been about a month & a half since his birthday, but hey...better late than never! :) so, i was trying to think of something 'sweet' i could do for him... he had been to the lincoln museum before in springfield, illinois. well, he just got done reading the bill o'reilly book about lincoln & wanted to go back, so i decided to plan the trip... and wouldn't let him know about it at all... the only obstacle is the puppies. normally we'd bring them to my mom & dad's or something, but my mom had JUST had surgery... SO, i found a hotel & we made the trek up there... i suck at driving, but drove as long as i could... then adam drove the rest (by that time i had told him where we were headed)!

little sydneypumpkinnickles upon arriving at the hotel. her daddy was so excited that they were allowed to come to the hotel! she only cried a little when we would leave! and they loved being able to sleep in the bed with us for once!

maybe our first day there? it was a short weekend, but it was a fun little trip... i love them! they're good marriage-bonders, too!

bahaha, this was right after i had gotten 'scolded' for touching 'young abe's' nose... oops. those little statues felt like REAL people...kinda. so i wanted to touch. and then got in trouble. yikes. adam & i learned that i like to touch/feel everything when i go places. i was doing it the whole weekend -- i don't even realize it!

the 'mock' white house... that's the lincoln family standing in front of it & there is john wilkes booth & lots of other famous people who are standing there.

adam & jacie lincoln with the fam.

poor kiddos. part of the reason i got scolded is because they've had problems with little kids ruining the models. take the young lincoln boys... one has no hand & one no eyelashes because they were sick of replacing them. i guess little kids would come pull on the eyelashes & they would just come off, so they just gave up after a while.

young lincoln & the house he grew up in. it's amazing how little people lived with back then...makes you pretty thankful & it's kinda sad the things we think 'we can't live without'. guilty as charged...

one of the tombs... i think the first before it was moved. i think this was the one people tried to kidnap his body from? i can't be 100% sure, but i'm pretty sure... sick huh?

don't remember what this was?

i thought this was sort of cool... well first, this was when they just had a headstone before they put him in the first tomb (his body was moved lots)... i just thought it was cool that people put pennies on there for him...

rubbing the nose for good luck, of course...

violently rubbing the nose...

super cool his final resting place. it just felt a little inappropriate to take pictures inside, so we didn't, even though the were allowed. it was insane in there... so cool.

if i recall right, this is the house of the first groundskeeper at the cemetary... IF i recall right...

so, we didn't get too many pictures, but that's okay... we had a GREAT time.

adam's favorite was when we got back early, ordered pizza, hung out with the puppies & watched the BULLS... too bad we didn't go to the game... (clearing throat) there's always next year, hunniebunnieboobear (insert me laughing at myself).

my favorite was going & walking around the first night we got there. it was even a tidge romantic, too! :) chilly evening walk throughout springfield through some of the very first starts of america... i'm a sucker for history, what can i say?

but seriously, american history is so fascinating...more so just seeing where we started. it's kind of sad to see how far (or not so far) we've came from the founding principles & the hard work that started this country, but also very very cool... and makes you so appreciative of the sacrifices made.

anyways, besides our honeymoon, this was our first 'married people vaca'... it was pretty cute. :) love traveling with the hubs...