Bluegrass and Barbecue

This morning we went to the Botanic Garden for their Bluegrass Festival. Henry did a little dancing, and then we wandered around a bit. Stumbled upon a wine tasting, but there were only two wines to be tasted.
We found a hay bale maze that Henry enjoyed. I think there was another Henry in there too. It's a much more popular name than I had thought. I guess that's what happens.
Henry was especially intrigued by the giant carp swimming around in the lake. The steps go right down to the water, so we sat there and watched them for a bit. Amber would have been creeped out. People were throwing hot dog buns in the water for them and the fish would open their mouths so wide you could see right down into their bellies. Well....it seemed like it anyway.
After our second round of fish watching we had some mediocre barbecue sandwiches and then headed home. Our timing was perfect. Henry conked out in the car and then we had a brief, but heavy downpour.
Now we're watching college football....getting psyched for the Hawks v. OSU game later tonight. Go Hawks!

Um?

I must say, I don't generally buy pre-packaged produce. (Except salad, I will buy a bag of salad...I know, it's lazy, but I do.) But the other day I was buying snacks for a meeting, and didn't have time to go home and chop veggies.
Now, I know we need to be highly aware of what is in our packaged foods, but doesn't this seem a little, I don't know....stupid? Read the fine print.

River Trails Nature Center

The weather remained lovely for us this morning. Henry and I got to the nature center around 9AM. I had just heard of this place a couple days ago at school. A 2nd grade teacher from another building mentioned it when we were discussing field trips. We have another nature center a little farther away, with a bigger indoor facility, but this one was very nice. Henry and I arrived just as an employee was coming out to clean the cages of some of the animals. Like most centers, the animals they have there are animals that have been injured and rehabilitated, but not in peak condition to survive on their own in the wild.
As we drove up the first thing I noticed was a fox in a cage. This was very exciting for Henry, as his Grammie had just brought him a fox poster. There were also owls, a one-eyed red-tailed hawk (pictured here) and a female bald eagle, with only one wing. Oh, and a skunk. No photo of the skunk, but it sure was cute!
As the man cleaned out the cages he spoke to us a little bit (there was another mom and young boy there). He talked about how rain is good for the birds' feathers (helps clean them, get bugs off etc.) and he gave a couple of them showers with the hose. The bald eagle loved it. He waited until she was up on her perch (sort of a low balance-beam) so that she could flap her wing (and wing stub). When he sprayed her she faced right into it and flapped away, clearly enjoying the shower.
The guy found a couple of cool bugs to show us, and brought over a feather from the Great Horned Owl's cage as well. It was very soft (the better to fly silently with).
Inside we saw turtles, some snakes, a little black squirrel...
There looked to be some nice trails around the property, but Henry wasn't in the mood to walk. We'll go back some time to do some stomping in the woods.

Catching Up

On Hawkeye day Henry helped his Papa make some cookies.
Here he is with a fistful of cookie dough.
On Sunday we Ellen and Don and their buddy Matt downtown for dinner. They were driving through town after a Michigan wedding. We found a place called My Pie, because Ellen and Don had requested some real Chicago pizza. The decor was a little dated and dreary, but that sometimes works in a pizza joint. I thought the pizza was delicious!
Mom enjoyed a beer.
Ellen and Don are big fans of the Sharpie. They each had one on hand and there may have been a minor duel.
Don and Henry had a little walk to look at the video games. Henry likes his buddy Don. I have a short video of Henry, once we were in the car, saying "Bye. Don. Bye. Don." But I don't know how to include videos on the blog. I guess I'll have to play around with You Tube.
Here we are outside with full bellies.
I snuck a photo of Pete while he took a photo of us...I'm always a little amused by the flurry of picture taking, now that we're all armed with digital cameras.
Other news to stay tuned for...a possible trip to a nature center this morning, if the weather holds. The possibility of getting some housework done, if the weather doesn't hold. The return of Bampa and Grandma, who have been in Italy. I might try to help them set up a blog to share their trip photos, if they're interested. Next week: a visit from Grandpa Bill and Grandma Kathie. Also, possible planting pictures and plant moving pictures, if I can get to it.

Children's Museum

Yesterday Mom and I took Henry to theKohl's Children's Museum. He had been there once before with his Grandma and Bampa, but I hadn't been to the new museum. It was lots of fun! Henry especially enjoyed playing in the room with the cars, painting his face and playing the drums.
In the pet vet section there were little stuffed animals that he could bandage and put in their kennels, but he was more interested in the computer.

You can see him here playing the bolt xylophone. There was also a wrench xylophone. There's also a shot of him sending air into the giant nylon tubes, thus inflating them. He did this by pulling down on a large lever. There was another side where he could pedal a bike-like thing, but his legs weren't quite long enough.
We braved the drizzly weather briefly to check out the fly-fishing themed airplane (see, it looks kind of like a rainbow trout).
At the end of a full morning of playing Henry was completely worn out. He managed to rally a little bit for a lunch at Sweet Tomatoes, where I was able to say no to the tomato bisque and other creamy yummy-looking soups, but then did indulge in a small frozen yogurt sundae.
Henry and Mom both crashed for a couple hours upon our return home. Henry's face remained painted until washing up after dinner.

The Monster Stomp

Henry enjoyed stomping around in my big fuzzy slippers for a while yesterday, so I decided to get his monster feet out. He and Pete had a Wild Rumpus in the kitchen. He's a fan of foot apparel, this one!
Yesterday I experienced some of the ups and downs of letting a toddler help with the housework. Example #1: I was sitting outside on the patio, trying to finish a book. Henry was running happily around the yard. Next thing I knew, I looked up to see him carrying the poop scoop over to notorious spot by the bushes. "Mom? Dog. Poop." Oh dear. Helping with the poop scooping is not something I want him to do. My instincts in this area were proven correct when he tried to scoop some poop up with the scoop AND his hand.
#2: Feeding the dog. I let Henry take the scoop of dog food over to the dog dish. Exactly 2 pieces of food made it to the dish. Franklin ate the rest off the floor. This one's not so bad, when you have a vacuum-cleaner dog.
#3: Doing the laundry. This is Henry's favorite task! He is mostly helpful. I like to set the basket out in the hallway so that he has a little distance to cover. I sit and sort the colors out and make a pile for Henry. He moves that pile over to the basket. He's also quite good at loading the drier. I pull the wet clothes out, hand them to Henry and he loads the drier. It's a little slow, but worth the time. The trouble comes when he wants to help load the washer. He can't reach the washing machine, so I have to pick him up to put the clothes in. Then I have to bend down to let him grab more clothes and straighten out to put them into the washer. It's brutal on my back. But Henry really likes this part, as he gets to throw the clothes in with the water. Actually, now that I think of it, it's kind of nice to have a valid reason for why it takes me so long to get the house clean!

Photos of Fingerpainting

Not much news going on, so...
Here is a photo-journalistic review of Henry's finger-painting extravaganza last week. Do note that he decided, half-way through the painting, to don his fishing hat.

Handy Dandys

While I did not get my bathrooms cleaned, nor my nightstand straightened up (really, it only takes a few moments, why do I put it off so?) Pete and I did manage to get quite a bit done today.
We started out with a trip to Kohls (for socks) and Pier 1 (to exchange a gift for a new lamp) and then went to The Container Store where we picked up some cute hangers for Henry's closet, a couple not-cute ones for mine and various other things.
And then we accomplished the following:

New kitchen faucet installed by Pete.
Various pictures finally hung around the house.
Cute little magnetic strips hung in Henry's room, to display masterpieces and postcards from such exotic places as Italy and the Iowa State Fair.
Other various things finally hung in Henry's room, including his valances and new shades. So long ugly pink mis-matched shade!
Finally I turned on my new lamp...
New Lamp
...and read a bit. Oh. I also managed to get several loads of laundry done. And our driveway got meticulously swept, but that was by the neighbor girls-who were paid a dollar each for the service. One more reason to love this neighborhood!