End of Summer Fun in Cincinnati

Alex and Mommy (19 weeks) at Grandma Eileen's house.

Alex sitting in this tiny rocking chair in Jackie's bedroom at Grandpa's house. He's holding her Pound Puppy from years ago.
Alex talking to Grandma's neighbor's duck.
Brad teaching Alex how to climb this tree in front of Grandma Eileen's house.
Brad teaching Alex how to use the water cannon he found in lost and found at Grandma Eileen's pool.

Last weekend we spent a couple of days in Cincinnati while Brad played in his 14th annual golf tournament with high school buddies. We visited with the grandparents and enjoyed seeing family friends, the Comers, in from North Carolina as well.

Chicago Air and Water Show

Saturday morning we ventured out to the Chicago Air and Water Show over Lake Michigan. We walked from our car at Grant Park up to Navy Pier and just a little farther north to Ohio St. Beach. What a surprise to find a beach nestled behind all the high-rise condos and hotels in downtown Chicago! Naively, we did not really expect to spend the day ON a beach with actual water to play in so we were slightly unprepared, but easily made due for the day.

We threw our blanket and cooler on the sand and happily watched the planes overhead for hours. We took turns wading in Lake Michigan with Alex, which he thought was super fun, especially in his clothes! I think we were all equally amazed by the stealth bomber that flew over a few times. It is so incredibly thin and seems to disappear as it turns on its side. Alex was impressed with the "jet engines" but probably had more fun playing in the sand and water. By the time we walked past Centennial Fountain on the way back to our car, Alex didn't even want to get out of the stroller, he was all pooped out!

Joliet Jackhammers Game

Not having had a nap that day, Alex fell asleep on the way to Silver Cross Field in Joliet. He slept for a few minutes after we arrived but woke up shortly after entering the noisy stadium.

Earlier this week, Brad came into some Joliet Jackhammer tickets at work at 5:15pm for a 6:05pm game. The Jackhammers are a professional baseball team based out of Joliet and it is a great family activity. Alex had been asking to go back for weeks after we went earlier this summer with neighbors.

These seats were great, right behind the visitors dugout and we had a great time. It was very crowded this time and Brad was so sweet to stand in line for 45 min to get ice cream in a baseball cap for Alex! Jammer, the team mascot, even came through and danced right in front of us on the top of the dugout and at one point sat right next to Alex and gave him a high five. By 8:30, Alex was asking to go home, so that's just what we did.

18 weeks and counting...

GymQuest Open Gym

On Fridays, GymQuest, a local gymnastics studio, has Open Gym for the kiddos. Alex always asks to go there and it has become a popular stop in our field trip rotation. Last Friday, Alex and his friends Vanessa and Josh went to play at the gym. He seems to prefer open gym to the gymnastics classes offered there because he can run around doing whatever he feel like. His favorites are the trampoline, jumping in the pit of foam blocks, and climbing the large inflatable slide. He asks me all the time now, "Mom, can we go to that jumpy place?"

Arts and Crafts Time

Each day lately we've been trying to have some arts and crafts time, especially on no-nap days. Alex has such great tools to experiment with. His favorite thing however is cutting paper. He has a few pairs of "fancy" scissors and just asks to cut paper. Today he made a bib :)

Here's Alex coloring. Sometimes the easel works out better than the floor given his propensity to color on furniture and the carpet. We are supposed to have a beautiful weekend here so hopefully we'll take lots of fun photos!

Brad's Company Picnic

Each year Brad's work throws a really nice family picnic at a local park, complete with all the fixings--good food, DJ, fun games, a giant slide, and water fun! The water park was a new addition to the party this year and I wish the batteries in my camera hadn't died so early in the day :( We had lunch, then Alex and Brad frequented this "Fun Slide" for quite some time. We all had lots of fun and once the sun got to be too much, we walked over to the water park to cool off. I think I ate way too much potato salad and cotton candy, oh and pizza, but I'm eating for two right???

Swimming at Karen's

Friday the weather was nice and toasty warm so Alex and I drove up to visit Aunt Karen. We got to go swimming and try out Alex's new swimmies (arm floaties, whatever you like to call them). In the past he has been completely opposed to wearing these but another little boy was sporting them so Alex was willing to give it a shot. He swam with them for a few minutes and then was ready to take them off. I think the highlight of the trip however was playing on Karen's exercise ball, he's still talking about that!