Sugar Creek Arts Festival

Our former downtown Normal area has been remodeled and is now known as "Uptown Normal." We went to the Sugar Creek Arts festival, which is a yearly tradition in the summer. There are lots of booths featuring local artists, crafts, foods, and al kinds of other items. Holden really enjoyed the kid area set up by the Children's Discovery Museum. He got his face painted by the Zoo Lady, made a caterpillar bookmark, and created stepping stones for himself and Hunter. As has been the theme this summer, it was soooo hot. I was dripping in sweat the first 10 minutes we were there. Lovely! It is a testament to the Zoo Lady's skills that H's face paint was not running. The one silver lining is that it was so hot that food didn't even sound good, so I kept a few pounds off by not eating the usual huge sampling of yummy, fatty foods from the booths! ;) We mainly did the kid area and then went into the Discovery Museum to play in the air conditioning.

Hunter has spent the majority of his outdoors time this summer in the shade with a parent or grandparent in an attempt to keep him halfway comfortable and to prevent sunburn. Mom and I took turns with him under an awning for awhile, and he also took a snooze in the stroller. Love the picture with my parents! Dad is notorious for pulling his hat off his head to cover a baby's face. We have pictures of him doing this with Holden when he was a baby, too!

Some pictures with Grammy. She and Holden were singing along to tunes in the Discovery Museum truck. The picture on the right makes me laugh. My dad gave Holden money for a balloon creation. We waited in line directly in the sun for a good 15 minutes, and Holden chose the biggest creation there was, this lovely octopus. Then he cried whenever we made him carry it. Love how Mom is strolling along behind him, smile in place, carrying Hunter because he did not want to be in the stroller, and pushing the stroller with all of our stuff in it. She is a trooper!

After the festival, we drove to nearby Hudson to see the coolest train set that a man has created in his backyard. He was having an open house and Dad thought Holden would enjoy it. Did he ever! The pictures below don't do it justice. The set was massive! I loved looking at all of the little miniature details.

There were so many different things to see. Several trains were running at the same time. The pond had lily pads and little miniature boats with tiny people in them. So cute!

Holden was fascinated with everything! We spent a good hour there and he was still upset when we had to leave. He asked if we could set up a "choo choo" in our backyard. :)

Open Cockpit Day!

We have done so many fun things this summer, and I am way behind in posting! Trying to catch up a little bit. In July, my parents went witb the boys and me to "open cockpit day" at the airport. It was a HOT summer day, but we had a good time.

Little Man in front of the planes. Last year, he had no fear. This year, he kept worrying that they were going to take off while we were standing by them! I tried to convince him that they couldn't take off without a pilot and with a ladder attached to them, but he wasn't so sure!

We got to sit in a Vietnam helicopter, and then Holden had the opportunity to climb up in several planes. He was a bit nervous...note the bottom picture of him chewing his fingers!...but felt safer in Papa's lap. I think Papa had the most fun of all of us!

He did loosen up a little when he got in this cockpit. I love him in blue!

Holden's favorite thing this year was actually the little aviation museum. He was really interested in all of the model planes, different types of helmets and hats, the NASA suit, etc. One of the workers helped him "fly" a simulated plane on the computer, which he thought was really neat.

Mom spent a good portion of the day in the shade with Hunter. They seemed to have a good time enjoying each other's company! Thanks, Grammy!

In the good old summertime...

The. Hottest. Summer. EVER! At least that I can remember since I was a child. Illinois has been in the 90's and 100's for weeks now. Too hot to do anything except the pool, spray parks, or something in the air conditioning. Or you could decide to go to the McLean County fair one day. Very intelligent. But that's another post. :) These are just some recent randoms that I thought were cute.

The corn is sooo tall this summer! We had a lot of rain early on, which must have helped before the drought we're in now. This is in back of our church. I can remember playing in the corn with my cousins in Indiana when I was a child. Nowadays they plant it too close together to walk the rows.

My cute boys! I love how they both have the same pouty expression in the first picture. Holden's, as you can tell, is an ornery, "I'm not going to smile for the camera pose." If you could see the antics that I displayed in order to achieve the middle picture, you would laugh out loud. Or roll your eyes. :) I wanted to get some pics of them in these matching outfits because Hunter was popping out of the snaps at the bottom of his outfit! It no longer fits him at all now. He is such a big boy! So funny how different from Holden in his growth. But there's no denying they're brothers! I realized afterwards you can't really see the monkeys on each outfit, and Holden had stickers all over his shirt. Oh well!

Holden loves catching lightning bugs this year. When he's not "catching" crab apples from our neighbors' yard instead. :)

Another fun activity for Holden this summer has been fishing with Papa! My dad bought him his own fishing rod and Spiderman tackle box. Amazing how much patience he has, since Holden thinks he can do everything himself and this can be challenging! The one time I went with them, he kept catching algae and getting so ticked off about it. Papa patiently baited and re-baited the line numerous times since Holden would NOT allow him to help him cast his line farther out. He finally relented to let Papa help him catch a fish. Then it was hilarious because Papa just left it on the hook, and Holden would drop his line back in, pull it out over and over, and each time be delighted with the "new" fish he caught. Somehow he kept claiming each fish was bigger, too. It was really just the same poor fish. Papa finally released it and lo and behold, Holden plopped his pole down and really DID catch a fish all by himself, and it was the biggest catch of the day! They are so cute together and have gone several times since.

I have so many more pictures to post from various events and just fun summer days, but now the blogging will slow down. I finally found out that I will be teaching first grade at Sugar Creek El. (the school that I attended K-6!) and it took the district long enough to place me that I now have very little time to set up my room. I keep telling myself the phrase, "This too, shall pass!" it is slowly but surely coming along. I will post pics when I can. I am excited about the beautiful new room and I love my job, but it's so hard to leave the boys.

St. Louis Trip Days 3 and 4

Our third day in St. Louis had a heat index of 103 degrees. We decided to plan an indoor day to the Science Center and Union Station. While Jay and I were getting ready, I had Hunter lying on one of the beds with pillows around him. Holden hopped up on the bed and started reading Hunter some books. He acts like he is Dr. Dolittle with him; he'll tell us, "Hunter says I need some Twizzlers," or "What's that, Hunter? You want Max and Ruby on?" Often his supposed interpretations benefit himself! Ha! This time was really sweet. I heard him say, "Okay, Hunter, you want Clifford? Sure!" He proceeded to "read" his memorized version of the story, resting the book on Hunter's belly. So cute! Hunter was a very good listener.

For all of the numerous trips we've made to St. Louis, we've never been to the Science Center. I was excited to go someplace new. When you go in, there is the main museum, with three different levels, and then there are tickets that you can purchase to "extras." We purchased tickets to the Kids' Discovery Room, and also a temporary exhibit about pirates. Luckily we had awhile before they began, because we realized that Jay and I each thought the other had brought the diaper bag! Back to the hotel Jay went while the rest of us toured the free parts of the museum. It was really neat! Holden was a little scared of the big T-Rex that moved and roared, but he liked it as long as Papa held him. There was an area on weather that had a funnel cloud in this big glass dome. I like the picture of him looking at something with Papa and exposing his undies. He is such a skinny minny that his pants slide down all the time. :)

The Discovery Room was our first "extra." It was so neat! I really liked how they had a certain number of people slotted for each hour, so that it was never overcrowded. We had one hour and then they had us clean up and head out. Holden LOVED it and cried at the end of the day because he wanted to go back in. One of his favorite areas was the Native American exhibit. There was a big tepee to go in, a campfire, etc. We were laughing when he put the papoose on backwards, with the baby against his back.

There were so many neat things to see and do in there. We really got our hours worth out of it!

Papa kept Hunter entertained with some colorful displays. :)

Next was our pirates exhibit. It was so neat and interesting! It followed a pirate ship and the pirates in it that sunk close to shore on the East Coast. It was recently discovered, and a lot of things were recovered, including the chest of gold. It is said to be the only pirate's treasure chest in the world to be recovered. It was really interesting and had lots to read and look at. It was a bit old for Holden, but he loved the big pirate ship that we got to walk through, and the fake but realistic looking pirates that were set up throughout the exhibit. Some of them talked. We had to purchase him a pirate's flag in the gift shop, and a new phrase he now says is, "Yo ho!" :)

After the museum, we headed to Union Station to eat lunch and look around a bit. The fudgery is always a favorite spot. Holden didn't remember it from last year, and enjoyed watching their antics. Poor Hunter was asleep when I pushed his stroller up to get a picture of him at his first trip to the Fudgery. The workers are extremely loud, and do yelling, clapping, and singing. You can see on his little face as he woke up that he was not too sure about this. Right after I took the picture, he puckered up and started wailing. Grammy quickly came to the rescue and strolled him away from the noise. She said he stopped crying, and they were far away, when from a distance they could hear them again. She said his face screwed up again like, "I remember that experience!" and he let out another little crying fit. So dramatic! Poor guy. We ate and looked in a few shops, and Papa took Holden out for about 5 minutes to feed the fish. It was just so unbelievably hot that you literally walked outside and needed a shower! We promised him next year we'll stay longer if it's not so hot.

Back at the hotel, we left this sweet little boy with Grammy...

...and headed with Papa down by the arch...

So that Holden could take his first helicopter ride ever with Papa! We had seen the helicopter tours and thought it would be something really special and different for him to do. It was pricey, so we let him pick one adult. We were both relieved that he chose Papa! I was proud of Holden for being so brave. We watched a couple take off for a ride first, just so he could see how loud and windy it was. He was chewing his fingers, but still said he wanted to do it. They put headphones on him and my shirt was flying up the whole time I was out taking pictures from the wind stirred up! It made me nervous when they walked out there. I kept thinking of the episode on ER where the Dr. got his arm chopped off by the helicopter blade! They buckled them in and away they flew! It was only a 5 minute ride, but Papa said they covered a lot of ground. Holden got to see the Cardinals game when they flew over the stadium!

Holden and Papa both really enjoyed the flight. It was one of Holden's favorite parts of the trip. (The other was the carriage ride.) :)

On our last day, we packed up and headed to the Magic House. We went last year and Holden loved it. This year was even better because he could do so much more.

The construction zone was one of his favorite spots. Go figure it was outdoors, so it was extremely hot! The adults took turns with him out there. I also threw in a couple of pictures from a car detail area inside. Love how he's lying under the car like a mechanic!

Hunter spending quality time in the AC with Grammy.

Another area Holden really liked was a little town. He got to fish in the pond, make pizza for us in the restaurant, and take care of a baby in the nursery.

While Daddy retrieved the car, Holden and I hit the bubble area and then played in a little "creek" filled with boats out in the front of the museum. It was sooo hot that the water felt like hot tub water! Holden ended up getting his pants and underwear completely soaked and I didn't blame him one bit. It felt like we were in the desert. We just stripped him down and changed him before our drive home.

Goodbye, St. Louis, see you next year! Watch out...we will have two mobile boys when we return!

St. Louis Day 2: the zoo!

On our second day in St. Louis, we went to the zoo. I am so thankful that we did it on this day, because the two days after turned brutally hot. The day we went, both boys woke up early, and we got there shortly after it opened, so it was still pretty decent out. We stayed about 4 hours, and it was just getting hot when we left...but nothing like the rest of the week was!

Hunter made his first ever debut to the STL zoo and promptly fell asleep. Pretty impressed! Ha! Holden was pumped to see all the animals. We went to the stingray exhibit first since it is free for the first hour that the zoo is opened. We hadn't gone in the past because the line had been so long. It was one of my favorite things that we did!

The stingrays all had their stingers out, which made me feel much better since any time I think stingrays, I think of the Crocodile Hunter's death. They were really friendly because they wanted to eat. We got to feed them squid and little fish. It was the weirdest experience! We held our hands flat at the bottom of the water and put the food sticking up between our fingers. Then they sucked it out of our hands vacuum style. I got some great video footage in which I am screaming in the background because one of the males decided to chase a female and splashed right up out of the water and back down, spraying water all over us!

Next we rode the train while it wasn't too busy.

Hunter enjoyed his first choo choo ride until the end, when he was hungry and we weren't to our stop yet. I think everyone on the train knew that he needed to eat. :) I love his rosy little cheeks in this picture.

We went into the penguin exhibit to cool off. It was a little too cool for Hunter; feels like a freezer in there! We didn't have a blanket for him so Jay did a very quick walk through with the stroller. :) Holden really enjoyed all the penguins. some of them almost looked stuffed to me because they were so still and all puffed up. He loved the puffins that splashed us with freezing water; thought that was hilarious!

The STL zoo carousel is so cool! It has neat animals that you don't normally see on a merry-go-round. Holden scoped it out while waiting in line and chose the caterpillar. Cracks me up! Hunter had his first carousel ride on a lion. Holden was the exact same age (a little over 4 mos.) when he rode this same carousel for the first time. He rode a zebra. :) Hunter LOVED watching the people as we went around; babbled and shrieked and grinned. Such a good boy!

This is one of my favorite pics of the whole trip. I think it's hilarious! Hunter was fussing and Holden was clearly tired of listening to it!

Next stop: Children's Zoo. There are so many neat things to see and do there. It's very hands-on. We were laughing because this chicken was walking around behind Jay and my parents like it was the most natural thing in the world.

The otter family. Makes me laugh!

Hunter is as tall as a red-tailed hawk. And Jay appears to be the same height as a koala. Ha! Holden refused to pose for a picture by the chart this year. Guess how tall he was at age 3 will remain a mystery.

LOVED having Grammy and Papa with us! What troopers!

Holden talked all day about wanting to see the elephants. The thing about the St. Louis zoo is that it takes a lot of walking in each exhibit. By the time we finally got to them, he was grumpy. See top right picture. I'm coaxing him to smile and he is scowling. Also bottom right picture on Daddy's shoulders pouting. This is a typical example of life with our three year old. :)

Some of the other animals that we saw.

One of my favorites: the giraffes! I just think they are so neat. About as close to a dinosaur as you can get. (But nice. Hee hee!)

Ride back to the hotel. I think we wore the boys out!

Hunter has just started eating baby food. I thought he'd be a bigger fan of it than he is so far, because he LOVES his bottles and is my big boy! I think he could take it or leave it so far. He definately DETESTS sweet peas (can't really blame him but I was surprised because Holden loved them as a baby) and will literally gag if I put them in his mouth. His favorites seem to be peaches and sweet potatoes. He must like the color orange. :) It gets extremely messy because he puts his hand in his mouth between about each bite. Wish some teeth would pop up for all his hard work! He is a chewing, sucking, drooly mess of a baby! Love him. ;) My friend, Annie, loaned us a portable, collapsable bouncy seat that was wonderful on our trip. He also spent a lot of time rolling around on towels or a blankies on the floor.

What is happening in this picture? One of the funniest stories of our trip, depending on who you talk to. Jay may not agree. He went in our hotel room bathroom to take a shower and got locked in the bathroom! The doorknob apparently was on its last leg. It took me a good 5 minutes to convince him that Holden and I were NOT holding the knob! After wrangling on both ends of the door, we realized he was definately stuck. I called the front desk, and the lady was laughing pretty hard as she told me she'd contact maintenance right away. It took the guy a good 10-15 minutes to pry the door open. Luckily, Jay had taken a clean pair of undies and shorts in with him! Guess he could have used the shower curtain otherwise! Ha! Holden was very concerned and was chewing on his fingers the whole time.

Once the bathroom door fiasco was over, Dad and I took Holden up to swim in the rooftop pool. It felt so good in the hot afternoon sun! We had a great time pretending that Holden and I were escaped convincts and Papa was the sheriff. He'd "lock us up" and we'd escape. (What can I say, my dad is a retired prison guard and my husband is a deputy. Games about the law kinda come naturally.)

My parents had tickets to Monday night's cardinals game. We took the boys out for a carriage ride. Holden loves them, and Hunter just looked around with big, wide eyes. Our horse was named Benny. :) Hunter took a little evening nap on one of the beds. Daddy and Holden rode the escalators while he slept. :)