The boys got their first taste of Hawkeye Game Day this morning without actually seeing the game. John and his dad had tickets so I suggested that they take the boys on Hawkeye Express (a train that runs fans from Coralville to the stadium.) I scouted a park on the west side of town that seemed close enough to be able to walk up to the stadium and meet them, but far enough that it wouldn't be totally insane at 9:30 in the morning (game time 11 a.m.) Well, I was half right. The street bordering the park, so quiet when I drove by on my test run Wednesday, was brimming with Hawk fans and cars parked on both sides. Luckily, I still managed to get a spot on the street, but I probably only made it by 10-15 minutes. I unloaded the stroller and started walking down to the stadium (about a mile.) I was the only one not wearing black and gold and even more conspicuous for pushing an empty stroller.

As it turned out, the Kenyon men had gotten on a train almost as soon as I'd dropped them off, and since the ride is less than 10 minutes, they reached our general meeting area before I did. They didn't have to wait too long though, and all in all, I think it was a success. Not sure what the kids thought of the teeming masses of Hawkeye fans. It's really insane! We ended up walking against the current, headed back to the park. For about half the trip we could walk in the street as no traffic was getting through. Back on the narrow sidewalk, things were a bit trickier, but we made it. The park was a hit (it had a fire truck AND a digger--what's not to love?) and they didn't seem to mind a bit being left behind for the actual game.

We've actually be on an unofficial Park Tour for the last week, starting with last weekend in Evanston. As if it's not enough to have a whole porch full of trucks, trains and other toys to play with, there's also a world of parks to explore at Gram and PopPop's. We started with feeding the ducks at the Northwestern University lagoon on Saturday morning. Daniel could not understand why anyone would throw perfectly good food in the water for a bunch of ducks. It took me a few minutes to realize that nearly every piece of bread I handed him was going straight in his mouth! Edward enjoyed watching the ducks gobble what he threw, even the pieces that were bigger than their heads since he couldn't quite remember to break apart the bread before throwing.

Later in the day we visited a park with a play train that Gram had discovered in her weekend preparations. They loved it! (Hence the real train excursion today and the possibility of one at the end of the month.) In this picture, Ed has just jumped off and called at the top of his lungs: "All Aboard!" I think there's video of this as well, but I haven't had time to go through it all and edit. Maybe next post. The train had an engine and two cars, all with seats, but why would you want to sit when you could be climbing?



The expressions on these next two are priceless, and pretty much speak for themselves. They were taken one right after the other. I should also note than when I try to help him on this type of rocking toy he pushes me away and says, "No, Mommy!"
The Chicagoland weather was a little chilly (no complaints!) but we returned to near perfection--70s by day 50s by night. That along with an advantageous nap schedule (leaving enough time for an excursion before John gets home from work) led to five different park visits this week (every day but Wednesday and two on Friday.) Seven if you count two today. Here's Daniel enjoying his afternoon snack at a picnic table, but neither boy could sit still long enough to eat much. Monday's excursion took us back to the park in our old neighborhood--always a fun one. It makes me miss living just half a block away. We got to see our former neighbors who are like surrogate grandparents to the boys. It was great to be able to catch up with them and let them see how the boys have grown. It was also helpful because Ed decided he had to go to the bathroom so he was able to go to their house.

Edward is working on mastering the "fireman pole" and does pretty well with low- and medium-height poles. This one was pretty high so he had me come spot him, but he mostly did it on his own. It's not a smooth slide, but he's building confidence.Daniel still likes to try everything Ed does, but luckily he seems to recognize his limitations when it comes to this particular apparatus. He has not attempted to lean out and grab the pole yet, though whenever he's up I'm either right next to him or right below, just in case!

I'll close with two close ups and I'll do my best to get some video together before the weekend is over. This shot of Edward kind of looks like one of those cheesey photo studio back drops, but I promise, it's live, sitting on a rock next to the bridge over a creek into which we were throwing leaves and maple seeds (whirly-gigs.)