The kids and I took a mini vacation to Illinois over the holiday. Our first day was spent in Rockford with a trip to the Anderson Japanese Gardens. Oh! But we stopped in Pekin at a tiny ice cream place for “ice cream with eyeballs” — a tip from roadsideamerica.com. Not quite what we’d expected, but a fun detour just the same. Then we headed to Rockford. What a great town! And the garden was so beautiful. We each received stickers upon admission with a Japanese character that means “in this moment I am content.” After a long drive, I was absolutely content to wander around, feed the koi, visit the tea house and explore the various facets of the garden.
After the garden, we had a picnic lunch in a nearby park. Then we found a tennis facility so the kids could get some court time.
Later afternoon brought another roadsideamerica.com scavenger hunt. This time it was something called the Rock People. We hit the jackpot with this one. These silly rock sculptures were in the middle of an awesome riverside park. The breeze was blowing, boats were on the water, folks were playing cards…
…and we had another park picnic right next to the river. A perfect end to a great day.
hey there, friends 
I love the ice cream with eyeballs!! I will have to stop there on one of my trips home to Missouri.
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Isn't that a hoot? It's a place called Double D's ice cream (felt SO sorry for the girls who worked there who had to wear the business t-shirts). It's on N. 8th Street in Pekin.
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