You could not have asked for a better day here in Central Illinois. We did not have very much of anything planned, except a trip to the grocery store for toilet paper and the essentials.

I had promised Maddy and Gracie that we would rake up some leaves and jump in them and throw them around. Well, there are almost no leaves in the yard, so we only got one smallish pile that wasn't even worth taking a picture of for you to see.

As the day was getting nicer and nicer, we decided to head out and spend what might be the last nice day of the year seeing the fall colors. We decided to head out to Kickapoo State Park. A place I have been many time to fish with my good friend Curt and always wanted to go camping with the family. Since we don't have a tent that will fit all of us, a good day's hike was sufficient. I knew Karen and the girls would love it, and I love any chance I can get to be near the river. Here are some pictures of our walk.

Bald Cypress @ Kickapoo: A bald cypress tree on the banks of a lake at Kickapoo State Park. We have two of these trees in our front yard. You can see all of the cypress knees growing out from under the tree. They would be like that in our yard except the lawnmower takes care of them.

Skipping Rocks: Here is a picture of Maddy and I skipping rocks. This was one of my favorite things to do when my dad and I went fishing. All of the rock skipping at the boat access was just as fun as the fishing and the trip to Dairy Queen afterwards.

A Family Pic: A good one.

Scenic Overlook: The girls really loved being out in the forest and hiking around. We collected a lot of leaves and sticks. They always love it. It wasn't Papa's forest, but it was still really fun.

Dad and Girls: They love the outdoors and daddy.

Walkin' on Tree Trunks: This was a super long downed tree that we walked on for about 20 minutes. Lots of fun of course.

Lots of leaves that tickle fingers: Since there were no leaves at home, we got to throw some around at the forest.

Do not read the following if you want to retain the happiness in the post above.

We went to Kickapoo today also because this park will be closing in about a week. When my brother moved to Illinois he told me about Gov. Blagojevich ensuring that all Illinois residents would be able to use Illinois State Parks free of charge. A great idea. Well, for the Governor who has an even lower approval rating than Congress and President Bush (if that is possible), he has mismanaged Illinois' natural resources (among other state responsibilities) so poorly over the past few years that his solution to the budget crisis was simple - to start closing state parks. Genius move. I would have rather paid to get in.