Playgrounds and Fountains

Last Friday Lucas and I drove down to Chicago O'Hare Airport - well I drove while Lucas provided the scenic commentary, facilitated by the insane amount of construction on the road ("Look Mummy, Bobby"), to meet James who was flying in from Bombay. The drive was pleasant inspite of the roadworks and it was a nice day. Because of the low speed limit and the size of the roads I find driving here much more relaxing than in Europe.

At the weekend we mainly hung out in the playgrounds outside my house and close to Lucas' grandmother, where James is staying. In one of the sandboxes some older kids (and their dads I suspect) built an enormous irrigation system that Lucas loves to play in. On Sunday we had such a busy day at the playground that Lucas never got to have his nap. We had arranged to have a family dinner at his grandmother's golf club and as we were all ready to get going Lucas conked out in front of the tv. One of his cousins was persuaded to stay with him and so I got to have a child-free dinner, which was very pleasant.

Last night there was a special event in Olbrich Gardens, a large and beautiful botanical gardens not too far from here. They had invited a children's entertainer and all parents and kids could sit on the large lawn and have a picnic while he performed. Lucas LOVED his dad's ham-and-cheese sandwiches - much better than my usual pasta dishes - and had a blast dancing to the music - a short video is included below. Before all that though he had great fun playing in the fountains (they really ought to have some pictoral version of the "no playing in the fountain" sign) and ended up totally soaking wet. (Then he waddled over to me in his soaking gear, lifted his arms up and demanded "up". Nice.) When we left the woman handing out brochures looked at him somewhat oddly, and so I explained that he had played in the fountains. "Yes", she said disapprovingly, "I heard about that". Whoops.

And finally, just in case anyone is concerned that Lucas' obssession with vehicles is abating- take heart in the traffic jams - at- railroad crossings he creates in our living room. I love the way the 4 cars at the front are all lined up ready to get away!!