Day Five, Peoria, IL

May 30, 2006

Woke up early. didn't feel very well. Needed coffee. Dawn and I made a little breakfast with Lou's famous Wisconsin bacon. He sent away for it mail order, and it's some of the best damn bacon I've ever had .

Following that, I felt tired, sick, and lazy so I retired lazily to the couch and watched Magnum P.I. reruns while Dawn colored her mom's hair and they did other girly stuff.

Lou got in around 5:30, and they cooked out chicken on the grill and we visited, chatted, played with the kitties. We enjoyed porch sitting and conversation for awhile, and then Dawn's mom broke out the family videos!

It was really fun to watch a younger Dawn. 8th grade graduation party Dawn was a hoot. Dawn's brother, Jason--who'd later become an accountant--watched over Dawn's shoulder as she got cards and checks from friends and family members. "I didn't see that last check...how much was it?" Jason said, with a running tally in his head.

Dawn was hilarious. When asked what she learned in school she offered up the quadratic formula, spouted off very quickly and with a thick midwestern accent. She was, as she still is, cute--her curly hair and shy expressions were indicative then of the adult version of Dawn.
There were a couple of wardrobe changes throughout the graduation party day. Very funny stuff.

Jason was a riot. He was pretty rough and tumble--climbing trees and hitting a basketball with a baseball bat. This batting activity resulted in a reprimand from his mom "If you break anything with that, it's coming outta your paper route" and "That's it, you're grounded for three days!"

Dawn's dad had on some tight fitting cut off blue jeans. A mention of those later would get me in a little trouble!

The next video was a cook out with Dawn's mom and her sisters, full of endless energy, singing every song that came on the radio while Dawn and Jason got haircuts from their Aunt Dorothy.

Dawn asked while we were watching, "Mom, how could you let her cut our HAIR?!? The resulting bangs were pretty hilarious on Jason, and I have no idea what happened to the back of Dawn's head.

Next there was an older, high school senior Dawn working it as a back up singer.

It was nice because I got to see Dawn and her family in a different light before actually meeting them!

We went to bed, I was still feeling rather ill. Dawn went to do her evening bathroom ritual and I fell asleep. She came back into the room and popped a benadryl in me.

Goodnight.