I Really Want To Go Outside: Parkin' it in Oak Park

Big ups to mom and dad for taking us to visit Grammie and Grandpa at least once when it's not the dead of winter in Chicagoland.  No one really wanted to spend another 6 hours touring Ernest Hemingway's house (although mom swears that was still pretty cool).  We spent most mornings on our vacaye last week in downtown Chicago, but our post-nap afternoons were generally spent checking out the parks mom played at growing up.  It's probably not a big shock to learn that Oak Park is full of parks, but mom was surprised to see that so many of them were nicer than she remembers (which is probably because they are).  Our big three included:

• Whittier (which is technically part of the Whittier Elementary School and not the Park District, but it was the park most frequented by mom and her siblings growing up, so it made our list.  she tried to explain to us their elaborate made-up tennis wall ball game to no avail).  Whittier has a "big kids" park at one end and a "small kids" park way at the other end of the school.  It also now has a nice garden (which according to mom used to be a dirty field).  And it has the advantage of being just down the street from Oak Park's Fire Department Station 2 and if our Grandpa is with you he'll march right up to the door and demand a tour for your kids (and not only will he get that tour, but the kids will get a sweet fire hat to go with it) -- thanks, Grandpa!                                                                                

• Field Park, which truthfully has been completely redone since mom grew up.  This big park now has several large climbing structures, a sprayground, plenty of benches and shade, and a bathroom (if the Park District building is open).  I spent a lot of time at this playground perfecting my stair skillz and can now (mostly) safely walk down the stairs while holding a railing.  I also launched myself down several slides.  Kane made a nice neighorhood buddy (they are so FRIENDLY in the burbs) and we played here until dinnertime one night.  

• Andersen Park, which was the site of Uncle Tim's birthday pirate party many years ago.  It has also been redone and has a "splash pad," bathrooms, and some pretty sweet climbing structures.  

The one park we never made it to, much to Kane's dismay, was Priory Park in neighboring River Forest.   Rumor has it that it has a giant pirate ship and a sand lot.  Oh well.  Fortunately Kane can turn anything into a pirate ship and did so at every single park we visited.  

Whittier and Fire Station No. 2

Field Park 

Andersen Park

Pirate ships, pirate ships: Tall Ship Windy

Ahoy matey!  We set sail last week for mom's hometown for a visit to Grandpa and Grammie B.  My first order of bizness was to get out for a sail!  Since Grammie and Grandpa got rid of their boat a few years ago (boo!), mom and dad bought tickets for a morning pirate sail on the tall ship Windy.  It was pretty rainy and windy, but we're tough pirates and went out for the sail anyway (fortunately they hung a cover over the seating, although that meant they couldn't hoist all of the sails).  AND there were REAL pirates on board who told great pirate stories and we shot a cannon, too.  I wanted to spend a fair amount of time inside at the snack bar, but Cami was all for staying out in the wind and rain.  Mom brought eye patches for everyone, but no one was interested in wearing them - shocking.  This was not an inexpensive sail, darn pillaging pirates, but it was worth it (even in the rain).

We are plotting our next sails locally via the Urban Pirates (Balto) and Pirate Adventures (Annapolis), about both of which we've heard good things.

So Raise Your Glass: Meridian Pint

Heading out on vacation (and returning) usually means we get to eat out -- to avoid unnecessary food spoilage, right mom?  The night before we took off on our last summer vacaye to Chi-town we hit up one of our favorite local joints for dinner -- Meridian Pint.  Now this might not seem like the most kid friendly place at first glance - it's a bar, there is no kids menu, and um, it's a bar.  BUT because it's a bar, it's loud and it has a mini "juke box."  It also happens to have pretty kick-A mac and cheese (for just $5) and the waitstaff recognizes the need to bring milk to the table ASAP.  Cami and I also like the goat cheese risotto cakes and the brat (sans sauerkraut).  Mom and dad love the beer, the beer, and the beer.  There are no rezzies for the tables upstairs (you can make reservations for the keg tables downstairs, but that doesn't help us out just yet).

If you are in the 'hood without the kiddos and can actually stay up late enough to imbibe at more than one bar, also check out Room 11 and The Wonderland Ballroom -- we just missed D.C. beer week, but they are still worth it!

A Pirate's Life for Me: Cardboard Box Pirate Ship

We probably wouldn't enter our pirate ship in any cardboard box challenges (people make some serious stuff), but it was a fun way to spend a morning.  By mid-day it had been in several unfortunate collisions -- with a deserted island, with a police boat, and with numerous "wild animals."  But in the beginning it had two masts (cut from the top flaps), grocery shopping bag sails, several iguana passengers, and a cardinal serving duty as our pirate parrot.  And we even had green eye patches!  Well Cami had hers for a few seconds, she didn't love it.  We have since sent our poor ship to a watery grave, but we've got our eyes peeled for new large boxes coming in the mail!  Guess mom needs to keep shopping.

The Lovers, the Dreamers, and Me: Rainbow Popsicles

We had so much fun making green popsicles a few weeks back that mom got a little nutso with her Wilton's and decided to make rainbow popsicles.  Anticipating our lack of patience, mom mixed up the different flavors/colors during naptime and then I got to layer them in the molds.  Red was just some blended strawberries (no color added); orange was orange juice concentrate mixed with a little honey (and SERIOUSLY pumped up with some Wilton's -- it was a little too red, little too yellow, little too red, and on and on situation that led to a flourescent pumpkin-colored layer); yellow was colored vanilla yogurt; same with green; and blue was just blended blueberries.

These looked AWESOME and we ate them up.  Although I think mom was slightly worried about the impact of so much color on our intestines, but it didn't seem to be a problem.  The only problem was that mom decided to make (and let us eat) these the one week we were without a kitchen sink (we returned from our Shore trip to a broken faucet.  shocking).  It didn't make for a very pretty cleanup.

p.s. neither of us particularly liked the orange layer and it also did not freeze well which meant that the orange and red frequently stayed in the bottom of the mold.  why mom didn't anticipate that frozen orange juice concentrate, which is not frozen solid, would not, um, re-freeze more solidly, is beyond us.  if we did these again, i think we'd go back to using mango for the orange layer.

In and Out of the Garden He Goes: Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens

We've heard some really great things about Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens this summer -- the best time to visit is in the morning when all the flowers are out, but I'm still enjoying my 9 a.m. nappers.  So that was out.  Instead we visited on one of the hottest days of the year, smack in the middle of the day.  Just to make sure we got that nice, high sun.  It was scorching out, but we still had a blast.  We walked along the super cool paths that wind their way through the aquatic gardens (I rode in my stroller, which was completely doable), ran, learned new Yoga moves coined by Kane, and pretended to swim  and then took a long walk out on the boardwalk.  Lucky for us the sprinklers were on, watering the lawn by the visitor's center when we made our loop back towards the car.  We spent A LOT of time there.  Running in the sprinklers, dancing, laughing, and trying to soak Grandpa D-Rock.  We will definitely go back -- perhaps just not at high noon in late July.

(Mom didn't post a pic of Kane busting it on his face -- this is his new yoga-swim hybrid move which can only be performed on bridges and boardwalks, apparently)