On our last day in Illinois before we had to start our long drive back to Texas, we said good-bye to the house and neighborhood and the kids were able to say good-bye to Kelsey. Kelsey's dad, Randy, was there and we were able to say good-bye to him. They were the best neighbors ever and we really miss them. That neighborhood was one of the best we have ever lived in and we will miss all the people there. This is my good-bye post where I shed a few tears.
The front of the house. Lori just left and going through the house one last time. So many memories were made there.
The back-yard. I am very glad that we installed the retaining wall because it kept the basement dry, but we will not get the money we invested in the wall back out of it. So, we are just going to have to be thankful that we could enjoy a dry and mud-free basement while we lived there and while we did not. I have never made money on a house. In fact, we have lost money on every house we have owned. But, it looks like this one is going to set a new standard in money lost. It just does not pay to put in upgrades like retaining walls, sprinkler systems or finishing the basement.
The back of our house. I love the big back yard even though much of it is taken by the hill and retaining wall. It was a nice place to live.
The side yard. To the right you can see the cover of the nice, egress window we had put in for a downstairs basement. It turns out that was a mistake as nobody ever got the chance to use that room before we had to move and we will lose all the money we invested in it.
Kelsey's house. What great neighbors they were. We really miss them.
Looking
down the other-way on the double
cul-
de-sac. We will not be living on a
cul-
de-sac in our new house in Houston and we will miss that. It was a great place for the kids to play and ride their bikes with very little traffic. That was a great place to live and have kids.
Another view of the neighborhood. We will really miss the neighbors there.
Our side of the
cul-
de-sac in front of our house there.
The house next to ours. We do not know who lives there now because the
people that lived there when we were there have moved. We saw kids though so I am sure our kids would have liked having kids living next door if we would have been able to stay.
We closed on our new house today so now we are financially responsible for this house in Illinois, the house we have been renting for the last 22 months in Houston plus our new house. We are working through some repairs that we needed to have done and then it is likely that we will have to take the corporate buy-out because houses are not selling right now. That is a bummer and someone will get a really great deal on a really great house. What makes this even more sad is the amount of money we are losing on this house. From a
purely financial perspective, taking the new job and moving at this time was not a good decision. Hopefully, over time we will see that it was a good move.
Brett and Jared in front of on of the displays in the museum area. The Indian is gutting a deer in the background. That's always cool. 
Ryan, Jared and Brett in front of some artifacts. The new digital camera that we bought because we forgot our good camera is not great in low light, as we learned from these pictures.
Brett, Jared and Ryan on top of the main Cahokia mound, known as Monks Mound. The stairs with the handrail are not part of the original design by the Mississippian Culture but were added later. 
Jared, Lori, Brett and Ryan on top of the Monks Mound.
The St. Louis Skyline from Monks Mound.
Brett and Jared on the trail on top of Monks Mound.
Everyone heading back down the stairs to get into the mini-van and start the long drive for Texas. Since we spend most of our available vacation time and money to visit family in Utah, the reality is we will probably never get back to that part of the country again. I am glad we took the opportunity to visit Cahokia Mounds one last time. It was much better than watching TV in a hotel in Arkansas.
