The Quad Cities

One weekend in October, Jason had some time off, so we decided to head to the Quad Cities for a few days. We had never heard of the Quad Cities before moving to Illinois, but it's somewhere that people around here talk about a lot and they seem to visit there for a weekend at a time. The Quad Cities are five cities in Iowa and Illinois that straddle the Mississippi River to make up a metropolitan area of around 400,000 people. It is made up of Davenport and Bettendorf, IA and Rock Island, Moline, and East Moline, IL.

We didn't do a ton of research before leaving, just booked a hotel and mapped out a few stops. Turns out there is a lot to do there and lots of fun shopping and eating places. We are already planning another weekend visit up there. We went to a zoo in the area (a Riggs must on vacations). I didn't listen very well to Jason when he gave me the weather report, so we were dressed for warm weather and it was not warm. Luckily, we chose to go to the zoo on one of their "Free Days", so we didn't feel bad staying just a few hours and then heading somewhere warmer. On our way to check in to our hotel, we spotted a movie theater and decided to catch a matinee. We took the kids to Finding Nemo 3D! We had the theater all to ourselves and enjoyed watching the kids get excited about the movie and its special effects.

Sissy is bundled up in her "blankers" enjoying the animals at the zoo.

Me and my buddy just "aping around".

Getting ready for a cold ride on the train!

The next day, we headed to the local children's museum (another Riggs must). Honestly, a lot of the children's museums are starting to look the same to me (minus the fabulous Indianapolis Children's Museum), but I still don't think our kids have noticed the common themes and play areas. They LOVE children's museums, especially playing pretend with "grown-up" activities.

Jaxon putting gas in a truck before driving his sister somewhere.

Sissy's turn to pump the gas!

Jaxon and Daddy built this cool fort out of gigantic Legos!

A dance studio came for a few hours to teach a hip-hop routine, Kota loved dancing with the big girls.

But their favorite thing at every children's museum is still dressing up and putting on a performance for us!