iche and the creation museum

I sure hope y'all like a lot of pictures.

So last week we attended the Illinois Christian Home Educators convention, otherwise known as ICHE. (we enjoy pronouncing it itchy...you get more strange looks that way) And also, as an added benefit, we had the pleasure of staying with the Ryken Clan during our stay up north...a hearty thank you!! for letting us do so, Ryken's! We thoroughly enjoyed our time together with y'all amidst all the food, chatting, IM convos while in the same room, and multiple games of Dutch Blitz. You can read Mrs. Ryken's post about it here. So...after a hasty get-everything-together-then-driving-up-Friday-morning, a safe arrival greeted us in downtown Naperville...


prior one of the keynote sessions


later that day we drove Ol' Blue (you'll see him later) to the Ryken's...


figuring out the next steps to accomplish


yeehaw!! it's dinner time, y'all!


some of us tried to sleep off dinner...


...while others spent time adoring the newest Ryken, Sara


a nice, relaxing evening...haven't had one of those in a while


"emil...hold those pose...it looks like you broke your neck."


"Where'd Dad go?" "I dunno...I thought he was with Naomi." "Isn't that them over there?" "No...that's somebody else." "Didn't they go visit that one booth in that one place?" "Good question." "NAAAOMIIII!!! DAAADDD!!! Where are YOUUU???"


waiting in-between sessions and IMing Justin, only to find out that the videos we took of Dutch Blitz the night before turned out to be 5 GB. yes, you can hang your mouth open in astonishment


"You know...I should take pictures of people at the courtship booth then post them all on the internet." "Actually, that'd be...really funny, in a weird sort of way."


about to depart for the unknown

We now interrupt our programing to present you the results of Grace's Gardening, Inc. These two pictures only represent a small portion of what this young lady is capable of...




Then pictures from our trip down to the Creation Museum...Emil wrote up a more descriptive post concerning what we did throughout the day.


after four extra hours of sleep (meaning sleeping during the trip), I got up and took this picture. quite thought-provoking...it's like we're entering The Land of Really Really Bright Lightbulbs


behold my back-end-of-the-van lair, wherein reading, 'riting, but no 'rithmetic occurs


welcome to ohio! or at least the back of it


after about half an hour, emil and i switched. he enjoyed playing that game of bejeweled...and resting on a cinderella pillow


i asked naomi to make a face. that describes pretty much the whole situation


the centerpiece of this picture: a creation museum billboard


and we arrive! (this is Ol' Blue, by the way...a 2007 GMC Savana)


grace and i about to watch Men in White...an excellent presentation on creationism v. evolutionism


beware the person who dares to take this guy's coke


this isn't for those who are claustrophobic






gotta love that sign


around two in the afternoon we had the pleasure of attending a workshop by Buddy Davis


Emil found out the consequences of raising one's hand. we had quite the laugh as a result


after the workshop, splurging on drinks, only to find out we all bought white chocolate frappes


the purpose of attending the museum: in celebration of Dad and Mom's wedding anniversary!


them frappes are good...


an exhibit in the dinosaur den


this is what y'all miss out on...the botanical gardens


rather self-explanatory, no?


the famous suspended bridge...last time we were there they had to cal...well, let's just say there's more security measures this time around


I was tempted to stick my head in front of these things


check out that temperature once we started up the van to leave

We arrived home around 11:30...went to bed...and slept...