Splashpad Fun!

A few weeks ago, I took Nick and Henry up to Rosemont's Splashpad for some water adventures with Grandpa Mike and Grandma Patty.

Henry is a little too young for water adventures.

He mostly had napping adventures, and snuggling with grandma and grandpa adventures. Nick, however, had a ball. How many grandmas will brave the shooting water just for a fun time with their grandsons? Grandma Patty did!

The splashpad is an awesome concept. You don't have to worry about kids falling in the water, so they just run around and get wet.

I'm getting wistful looking at these pictures. That's because I had to get back to school starting yesterday. I already miss the (somewhat) lazy days of summer.

 

On a Hot and Sunny Day. . .

I try to take the kids out in the morning, before it gets too steamy. I lay out a blanket in the shade so Henry has a safe place to hang out. He loved it. This is about as happy of a look as Henry gets.  :)

For Nick, all it takes to make him happy is a $7 wading pool and some tupperware.

It's funny, though. Nick doesn't spend much time actually in the pool. He'd rather dump out the pool one cup at a time. I'm not complaining. It keeps him busy. Every once in awhile I go over and dump him in the pool, and he laughs. Then he continues emptying the pool.

Yesterday, he was using this cup and pretending to drink coffee. "Mommy, look. I drinking my coffee. It good coffee." Can you tell this kid lives with two caffeine addicts for parents?


So what do I do to make myself happy on a hot and sunny day? I brew a nice cup of iced tea (Earl Grey, of course) and sit next to Henry on the blanket. I've been sitting in the sun, though. I know, I'm naughty. But just a little bit of sun makes my skin stop breaking out, so I indulge. The best part? My Nook works great even in bright sunlight.

I've been reading at an incredible pace this summer. It must be all of the sitting around and breastfeeding. I'm not a TV person, and I have to do something to stay awake. Just since I got my Nook, I've read:

A+ Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley
A+ Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
A   The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen
A  The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
B+  Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman
B+ Bossypants by Tina Fey
B+ Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha
B  Germs, Genes, & Civilization: How Epidemics Shaped Who We Are Today by David P. Clark
B  Daffodils in Spring by Pamela Morsi
B  The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared by Alice Ozma and Jim Brozina
B  How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer
B- The Sweetest Thing by Barbara Freethy

That's not counting the three books I'm currently reading. I think this Nook is going to be addictive. Also possibly expensive.

I do like hanging out in the backyard, though. I have a great view of Nick, I can read, and Henry gets to practice his baby push ups.

Childproofing and Mexican Food

Man, kids are expensive. Nick and I had to make a trip to Babies R Us on Thursday. You see, Nick is a very active little boy, and he has managed to ruin and/or destroy some of his stuff. He ripped the pad on his changing table, so that all of the stuffing was coming out and the plastic was gone. That's $30 right there for a new one. I guess the diaper pail refills aren't Nick's fault, but I had to buy two packages at $16 each. Definitely necessary. But I suppose the cost is offset by his cute little shoes, which I got on ebay for $1.50.

Then there were the stove protectors. Nick has ripped off one of the plastic thingies that cover the knobs on our stove, actually cracking the plastic. Unfortunately, you can't buy just one or two, so I had to get an entire package of new ones. That's another $9.

Nick also keeps breaking his sippy cups. He throws them on the floor when he's mad, cracking the plastic, and then they leak. So I had to buy him some new ones. I got nice insulated sippy cups, with animals on them. They also have nice straws and they're thin enough for Nick to hold with one hand. He's had a hard time this week holding his drinks because of his cast. When he saw the orange cup above, he announced, "Moo!  Ball!" Yup, there are cows playing soccer printed on his sippy cups. Those were $10 for three cups. See his t-shirt? Got that at a garage sale for $0.50. It says, "I tried to be good, but I got bored."

After all that shopping, Nick and I were hungry, so we decided to try a new Mexican place in Plainfield, called La Adelita. Their chips were yummy, but the salsa and the food overall was a little spicy for me. Still good, though. We had quesadillas. Nick loved the food, even the spicy stuff. He was shoving the lettuce garnish in his mouth in handfuls, and he kept begging for more salsa. Before I had Nick, I felt just a little uncomfortable eating out by myself. Now I have a regular dining partner. He's pretty good company, if a little messy. We actually have little conversations nowadays. His side sounds something like this: "More chips!" "Moo ball." "Mmm chicken." "Birdie!" (pointing to a bird on the mural) "Hello!" (to everyone who walks by the table) "Tea!" "All done."

He might be expensive, but Nick is worth every penny.  I've really enjoyed spending so much time hanging out with him this this summer. Only about two weeks left, though. . .

The Naperville Farmers' Market

Every week this summer, Greg and I have tried to take Nick to one of the local farmers' markets. This week we went back to Naperville for one of our favorite ones. The Naperville Farmers' Market is in the parking lot for the 5th Avenue Train Station, and runs on Saturdays from 7 a.m. until 12 p.m. Our biggest complaint is that it ends at noon.

Some of them have plenty of vendors but few farmers, but this one seemed to have plenty of produce as well as other kinds of food. They must have strict criteria for vendors, because we didn't see any wacky stuff for sale, only the traditional farmers' market stuff: produce, herbs, fresh flowers, meat, seafood, cheeses, baked goods, and some specialty food products, like salsas and olive oils. There was a very nice selection, and we actually ran out of cash since we found so many things we liked.

Since we visit farmers' markets often, we have noticed a disturbing trend at places like Downers Grove and Plainfield--rather than produce and homemade food products, some vendors are selling things like tupperware, purses, and even clothes. These farmers' markets end up being more like craft fairs. Not this one--in Naperville, the farmers' market is very similar to ones that you would see in Europe. Here is a picture of Nick posing in front of the cucumbers.

Today it was incredibly steamy and sunny, so we kept Nick well hydrated and in the shade as much as possible. He was having fun checking out the ladies and waving at every baby or child he saw. Greg stuck to only "checking out" the produce, and he picked out some nice carrots and mushrooms.

We ended up with quite a haul, and will be feasting tonight. I think my favorite purchase was the fresh peaches, which Greg needed for the white sangria. I used the potatoes he is picking out below to go with our bison burgers with portabello mushrooms. (Plus, a salad and some fresh green beans. Yum.)

While I am interested in local and organic produce, I am in no way naive about the realities of farmers' markets. I know that unless food says it is organically grown, it probably isn't. But the farmers who sell at farmers' markets are often small farmers who use less pesticides, and I feel better buying from local farmers when I can. The vendors at this market clearly labeled their products and told the buyers where each item was from. I do tend to frequent the local farmers over those selling, for example, tomatoes from Kentucky. I also made a point to buy some organic potatoes from the one farmer who was selling organic produce.

So here is our haul.

Total spent? We brought $60 in cash, and all of it was gone. However, Greg bought some extravagent crab meat that cost $26, so that was half of our money right there. Tomorrow he's going to make a fancy crab cake dish from his new Bobby Flay cookbook, and I told him that for $26, they'd better be the best darned crab cakes we've ever had. I will report back about that.

Oh, and we also bought Nick a delicious scone that was eaten long before the picture was taken. I can tell you that the portabella mushrooms were divine tonight, sauteed in a little bit of butter with some of the garlic.

Wordless Wednesday

Balloons and Strawberry Smoothies

Without fail, every time Nick sees a balloon, he gets incredibly excited. "Boon!" he exclaims loudly, pointing at his favorite object in the whole world. He does this for every single balloon, even if we're in the grocery store and there are upwards of 20 balloons. A few times I've even bought him one, figuring that it was cheaper than my latte, and probably gave him just as much pleasure. I do believe Nick gets more enjoyment out of one balloon that I do from anything (even cheesecake).

These particular balloons are from my mother-in-law's retirement party. We went to see her at work last week, so she could show Nick off to all of her co-workers. It was an exciting visit for all of the co-workers, who stood outside their offices laughing at Nick's squeaky shoes and watching him chase a ball down the hallway. Nick loved the attention--he wasn't a bit shy about being the center of attention.

Grandma Toni gave Nick the blue balloon to take home, and man, was he pleased with it. It's been nearly a week, and every time he comes downstairs or into the house, he sees that balloon and shouts "Boon!" as if he's never seen it before. He drags it around the living room, shrieking with joy as it follows him around.

I'm adjusting pretty well to my summer routine so far. I forget every year how nice it is to be off for the summer. Then June comes along, and I'm always shocked at how wonderful it is. Nick, I think, misses his friends at the babysitter's house. He gets very animated when he sees another child, and I can tell he wishes he had someone to play with other than just me and Greg. I need to take him to the library for storytime next week, so he can get some playtime with other little boys and girls. Although he's satisfied enough just going to the grocery store or out to lunch--Nick just isn't into hanging around the house.

One of the things I love about summer, besides all of the time off, is all the fresh fruit. My strawberry patch is still producing tons of fruit, and I've been using all the berries. In the summers I like to make frozen smoothies, and the picture below is of my favorite blend--Strawberry-Pineapple. Smoothies are wonderful because they taste like dessert but they're good for you. (At least the way I make them, they are.) I don't always measure precisely, but here's my recipe.

Strawberry-Pineapple Smoothie

First, add in:
1 cup of either light activia vanilla yogurt or greek yogurt (any flavor)
2 T ground flaxseed
1t cinnamon
2 scoops of whey protein powder (you can add more, too)

Then, add in the fruit until the blender is around 3/4 of the way full. I used frozen pineapples and fresh strawberries from my garden. Sometimes I add a banana, too. I add in 2/3 of a cup of skim milk and then add more if necessary, using the ice crush option on my blender until it's all mixed. If it doesn't taste sweet enough, I've used either honey or a couple of packets of Splenda, although usually the fruit is plenty sweet enough. One of my tricks is to take fruit that is very ripe and freeze it, that way I don't have to throw any out. This is especially good for bananas.

I always top smoothies with real whipped cream. If I have them, I add either sprinkles or dark chocolate chips. For me, balancing a healthy breakfast with decadent things like whipped cream and chocolate chips makes it that much more enjoyable.

Wordless Wednesday

Birthday Party Fun

Here I am in my mom's backyard, playing with Nick in the baby pool. He is messing with a boat and making his muppet noise, perfectly content just to sit in the water. Just the place to be at 1 p.m. on a Friday afternoon.

One thing I love about the summer is that I can be out while other people are at work. I can leisurely get an iced tea, shop garage sales, and go for walks. I get to visit the library in the middle of the day, when it's not as busy. It usually takes until about mid-July (like, now) before I stop feeling like I'm playing hooky. Then, just when I'm getting used to being at home, the school year begins and it's all over. I've been a public school teacher for 9 years now (this will be my 10th), and every summer I savor this time. It's particularly special this summer, because I got to spend it with Nicholas.

I'm counting down the days until I have to go back to work. In 24 days I'll be sitting in staff meetings, organizing classroom materials, and planning lessons. I guess I'd better enjoy every moment of my last 23 days of summer. This time is so fleeting. I'll have to get in lots of baby-playing, coffee-drinking, porch-sitting, book-reading, and recipe-experimenting as I can in these last few weeks.



Today Nick and I went to my mom's birthday party. It was in the afternoon, so Greg couldn't come. I think Nick has started to really enjoy birthday parties. We got my mom some children's books to read to Nick, all with a "Grandma" theme. I figure she can read them to him when we come visit, and he'll remember the stories and the time on Grandma's lap.

He sat in my mom's lap while we sang to her, and then he helped blow out the candles. I'm not sure what he thought about the candles, but he liked the singing just fine. Oh, and he somehow stuck his foot into the side of the cake. Not sure how he managed that one. This particular cake is a chocolate one, with green pistachio frosting. Only the edges have pistachios, though, so Nick was able to have some. And have some he did!

My stepdad enjoyed feeding Nick a little bit of chocolate cake. Then, every time he'd bring the fork to his mouth, Nick would open up his mouth, too. This resulted in a happy, cake-covered kid.

Lest you think I feed my child cake all the time, know that this is only the 2nd time this week he's had a bite of our dessert. I think that a little taste of something good every once and awhile makes life worth living. Judging from his facial expression post-cake, I think Nicholas agrees with my point of view.

Nick also got to visit the baby pool in my mom's backyard, and he was extremely excited to splash around in there. He even tried to grab the edge of the pool to try to stand up. Locomotion is getting closer and closer. My grandma commented that maybe Nick would just get up one day and walk, without ever crawling. I could see that happening. I just love his manly little swim trunks, and I think my little guy is going to swim like a fish when he gets older. Here is a video of him splashing around in the pool. He didn't seem to care that he got all wet.




Nick also got to spend some time with my sister. She takes really good photographs, far better than mine. She has one of those fancy cameras with the big lens. So she spent lots of time taking pics of Nicholas. I'm hoping she gives me copies. My pictures are mediocre, at best. But hers are very artistic and truly beautiful. Here is Nick with his Auntie. Her t-shirt made me laugh. It reads: If you don't talk to your cat about catnip, who will?


We want to put together Nick's pool this weekend for our backyard. He just seemed to love the water, and it's such an easy way to entertain him in the hot weather. As I'm typing this, there's thunder and lightning outside, but hopefully we'll have sunny skies this weekend and Nick can enjoy more time in the pool.

I picked this last picture because I think it's funny. Not necessarily the most attractive picture of me, but I was trying not to lose a contact while being splashed. Nick splashed so much water out of the little baby pool that my pants were totally soaked. But he looked so full of joy as he bashed his hands against the surface of the water. He is an easily amused baby. Oh, and the cute little hat he's wearing? Within 2 minutes of sitting in the pool, he'd ripped it off and soaked it with water. I'm not sure how to keep a hat on him for very long, so just in case, we always have to cover his little head with sunscreen.