Museum of Science & Industry

We made our second trip of the year to the Museum of Science & Industry, since we bought an annual pass.  We got there right before the Omnimax show we wanted to see (The Last Reef), so headed straight there.  Afterwards, we explored the space section right outside the theater.  Astronaut Will was awfully cute.  And he LOVED working the pop bottle rocket blaster. 

 After more time playing in the space section and in the farm area on the lower level, we went upstairs to check out the trains.  There was this cool replica of downtown Chicago, so we stopped for a photo by "Mommy's office" before all the fun with the old favorite: trains.

Newly opened is a special exhibit:  Treasures from the Disney Archives.  Since we're all about Disney, we had to go!  Will was getting tired by this point, but Jason and I really enjoyed it.  I would have liked to spend more time, but we had to get grouchy home, and I needed to get to the office to work for the afternoon. 

 LEGO Cinderella's castle

 Disneyland map used in presentations to investment bankers for original financing

It's a Small World doll. 

One of the other cool things we saw was a "singing birdcage" in the exhibit that was Walt Disney's inspiration for the dancing/singing dolls in so many of the exhibits.

Pumpkin Decorating

Our (neighbor's) garden produced two pumpkins this year.  Will got one and she got one.  Here is the timeline of Will's decorating efforts with paint and stickers!  I don't think he realizes carving is an option.  Though, maybe if he did, his love of paint and stickers would still win out!

The sticker on the forehead is a leftover from my childhood and says LISA.  I totally love that there is a 25 year old sticker on this pumpkin.  All of Will's favorites are represented:  Disney, Cars, diggers, and sports. 

This is Four

I've been thinking a lot lately about how Will does so many things as a four-year-old that I wouldn't have imagined him knowing/doing already.  The baby stage certainly doesn't last long at all.  A few observations for my records:

• Four is smart and confident and snuggly and ornery all wrapped into one.  He'll go into great detail about interesting topics - and does a fantastic job linking information together ("That's like the time we saw . . . ."), but he'll also tell us that he already brushed his teeth or washed his hands when you know he hasn't.  He also gets into trouble at school for being too rambunctious with some of his friends (Liam, Ryan and Blake are the current buddies).  And other times he gets kudos from his teachers for helping clean up or contributing during circle time.
• Four is fearless.  (Of some things.)  We just transitioned to size 4T jeans; partly because the 3T were ankle length and partly because the 3Ts all had the knees worn through.  Will is frequently in motion, and some of his favorite things are to "swing high and fast" and to climb up and jump off of things.  Our bed is his current favorite.  Water slides were a huge hit all summer - as well as the diving board.
•  Four is impatient.  (Well, so is 35.)  We went to the Children's Museum the other night and he wouldn't wait the five minutes for the reptile presentation to start.  He wanted to go back to his old standbys.  However, I also think he was scared about the unknown and what animals were hidden under the towels covering the cages.  So he's fearless about jumping off diving boards but scared of other things.  We've been talking about whether he wants to do the Jedi Training Academy on our next trip to Disney World where the little padawans "fight" Darth Vader.  Usually he says he'll be too scared.  But he can't wait for the roller coasters!
• Four is active.  Will plays soccer with Happy Feet at school and takes swimming lessons (see "Car Wash" photo above for the after swim clean off).  I just signed him up for our first Saturday commitment ever:  indoor winter soccer.  It's a guaranteed shirt and medal; what's not for a kid to love? 

I'll be adding to the post over the next few days as I think of more things I want to remember about this age.   

Monday Night Football

I made another quick trip to the New York metropolitan area this week for a client outing to watch the New York Football Giants (pretty sure that's their official name based on the signage at their stadium) take on the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football.

We met up in Hoboken New Jersey, which was adorable.  I had some preconceived notions of Hoboken as a cheaper place to live for Manhattan commuters.  We had a happy hour at a cool sports bar with fantastic views of the New York skyline.  And then we took the PATH commuter train to the New Meadowlands, where the Giants and the New York Jets share the MetLife Stadium. 

Amazingly, even though the Jets had finished their overtime win against the Patriots a mere 24 hours earlier, there was not a single sign that they played here.  This was very clearly transformed into Giant stadium and was all about the Big Blue.  No green and white anywhere; not even bleeding through the end zone paint. 

As you can see from these photos, we had great seats.  The weather was also cooperative and we were chilly at the end of the game but not too cold.  The Giants were the winners - really opening it up in the 3rd and 4th quarters.

I decided Will didn't need an Eli Manning action figure, so I bought this fun little present at the airport gift shop.  He's a huge puzzles fan right now, and I couldn't pass up the Gotham City connection.  

Sunday Brunch

We went to the city on Sunday for brunch and found this tranquil garden oasis (and creepily tame squirrel) at Ryan's new building.  We think the squirrel was expecting snacks.  He was mightily disappointed that only cars and trucks were in the bucket Will was carrying.

 After leaving our name at the restaurant, we did a lap around the neighborhood.  We found a school playground and had to bounce on the "bouncy thing" and then try the seesaw.  I loved the seesaw as a kid.  I was surprised that Will knew what it was; they aren't as common on playgrounds these days.

Finally we could sit down to eat!  When we checked in we noted 3 adults and 1 child, so there was a basket of fun kids activities waiting at our table. 

I took a picture of the Bloody Mary that Jason and I shared.  It was good but we couldn't manage to finish it.  Not with the plates of pancakes, eggs, and fruit that arrived.  The food was so good we walked out of there talking about what we wanted to order next time.

Swimming Lesson Update

I worked at home yesterday so I could take Will to his swimming lesson and wanted to brag on him a little; he did such an awesome job!  I'm not sure if the fact that he swam Friday, Sunday and Monday leading up to his Wednesday lesson made a difference, or if he just had the right attitude this week.  

He was doing all the exercises that his teacher asked, including swimming from the steps to the platform with his face in the water and using huge leg kicks.  I was just thrilled!  I'm so excited to see him get more comfortable in the water.

It also may have helped that his last two lessons were private lessons.  At this swim school, classes run continuously so kids move in and out of sessions as they progress.  Both kids that were there when he started last month were better swimmers so I think they've moved up.  But no one new has joined yet, so it's just him!

We actually want to move him to a later time slot because it's painfully hard to get him to lessons on time now.  But, with the private lesson set up, we're going to make the effort to stay in the current class and just figure if we're a few minutes late he'll still get as good of a lesson as when he shared his 30 minutes with two others! 

A trip from our house to the swim school would be less than 10 minutes without traffic.  But first we have to go in the opposite direction to pick up from school.  Then we drive back through several high traffic areas. It's absurd how long it takes to get around in rush hour traffic.  It's (usually) super convenient to live so near the train stations and the interstate but that also means there are a lot of other people going the same routes we are to/from those places during peak periods.  To get to swimming on time, we really need to leave our house an hour before the lesson starts.  Big city fun, huh?!  But as I said, since he's got the private lesson set-up, we're going to just try to leave home that early to get him there.  Once someone joins his class we'll pick a more respectable time like 6:45 instead of 5:45!

Kansas State Football

Our final destination was Manhattan, Kansas for Will's first Kansas State football game at Bill Snyder Family Stadium!  We were blessed with beautiful weather, the best of friends, and Harley Day! 

Our tickets were on the shady side of the stadium, so after the half-time show, we went out to the parking lot to a tailgate in the sunshine and warm up a little.  Will and I were probably going to head on back to "Aiden's grandma's", but we randomly ran into someone at the tailgate whom I've known of for 15 years but never met.   After my freshman and sophomore years in college I lived in Topeka with Tara's parents, Glen and Nikki, who were so fantastically generous to let me stay there while I interned.  Their girls had already graduated from K-State and were off working their first real jobs, so I got to be the surrogate daughter.  

Tara's son and Will were buddies from the start.  If they weren't lounging and eating candy, they were throwing a football or making mischief. 

We didn't manage to get a good family photo since Will was mostly camera shy that day.  But we did take this silly one in the stands while we waited for the game to start. 

I also couldn't get any pictures of Will and his best buddy, Aiden.  Usually it's because they were too busy running around to stop for a photo!  So thankful that we can continue these great relationships we started in college with the next generation!

Roadtrip

We just got back from a roadtrip to Kansas.  I'm happy to report that Will was a good traveler, and we had an awesome weekend.  We left after school and work on Thursday and drove to West Des Moines.  It was a little further than we remembered and after a slow dinner stop, we arrived later than we expected.  But, Will and I had napped a bit in the car after dinner, so only Jason was tired and grouchy.  Here's Will checking out the pool in anticipation of a swim the next morning.  We stayed at a Hilton Garden Inn where we've stayed before, so we knew what our swimming and breakfast options were.  We were happy to find an affordable "king suite" room that meant Will had his own couch in a room separate from us. 

I mostly posted the picture above to remind myself how funny (and hard on clothing) four year old boys are.  Look at those knees in his jeans! We just washed all his new 4T jeans before the trip, so these old 3Ts went in the trash the next morning.    As you can tell he loved having his own "couch bed."

These pictures are a combination of our drive to Kansas and our drive home.  After a few hours of playing in Manhattan City Park with Grandma Joni and Grandpa Roger, Will had all of these items in his pocket.  He carried them all day until unloading his pockets back in West Des Moined before bedtime.

Will was electronics free in the car the whole trip except for a 20 minute stretch when he looked through the pictures I took, took a few of his own, and watched Henry Hugglemonster on the Disney Junior app before my battery died.  I'm pretty impressed with his self-portrait here.  This was the first one.  I didn't realize he had taken about 30 more until I looked at my phone later.  They were all dark, so not sure what buttons he was pushing. 

Chicago Architecture Foundation Boat Tour

To celebrate the end of another tax busy season and thank my team for their hard work, we went on an afternoon Chicago Architecture Foundation boat tour followed by a happy hour.  The weather was awesome!  As I always do on these tours, I learned lots of new things!

 A picture of our office building from the boat! 

 I think this building was called Gateway 4.

I loved how the buildings (including Willis) reflected in the glass.

When we got to the south end of the river, we turned around and got this view of Willis and the South Loop skyline.