On July 20th, Dan and I headed out by ourselves! We rarely do concerts anymore, but always see Bruce Springsteen (Dan's #1), Bon Jovi (my #1), and the Goo Goo Dolls (we saw them on our first date.) We saw Bruce when Shane was a tiny baby and have not been to a concert again until this summer when The Goo Goo Dolls and Bon Jovi both decided to come to Chicago within one 10 day span. Jorie agreed to babysit and we dropped Shane off at her house before the Goo Goo Dolls show. Here we are ready to go.
Shane had a blast with my awesome sister who took him to a park with fountains and even got him to eat vegetables again! Go Jorie!!!! Here are some pictures of their adventure!
On July 31st, the Niles Park District was supposed to have a free event with a petting zoo, pony rides, and hay rides. We decided to make a day of it and headed to my parents in the afternoon. We went to one of Morton Grove's park district pools with them and Shane had a blast in the zero depth pool and the splash pad. The pool has a no photograph policy which I had never heard of before. However, the manager let us take one picture and we snuck in a few more. Here is Shane with Grandma Judy and Grandpa Irwin and hanging out in the splash pad.
After the pool we went out for pizza and then planned to head to the park for the festivities. Mother nature had other plans and the event was rained out. We still had a great day!
On July 26th our nephew Joey was honored at US Cellular field before the White Sox game. He was named to the all state team for baseball and will be playing for Eastern Illinois University for the next school year. We are so proud of him!!!! Unfortunately, I forgot the camera at home. I know Geri took some pictures so I will hopefully have some for my next blog post. The ceremony was great and the Sox won the game - it was a terrific night! Aunt Debbie babysat for Shane and brought her dog Ashley over with her. Thunder and Ashley had a great time together and Shane was in doggie heaven! Debbie is an amazing friend and a wonderful aunt to Shane! Here are some pictures of Shane's night. You can actually see him kissing Ashley in one picture.
The next morning we were up early and headed out to St Louis. We left the house at 6 and were in St Louis by 11, which included a half hour stop to stretch our legs and get gas. Shane was a trooper. We decided to head over to Grant's Farm before checking into our hotel. We were there by 11:30. Grant's Farm is located on the 281-acre ancestral home of the Busch family. They have more than 900 animals and according to the Zagat Survey, Grant's Farm ranked as the 7th best family attraction nationwide. There are a ton of chances for encounters with animals which I knew Shane would enjoy. The farm is free, with the only cost being parking. The trip to the farm begins with a tram ride past Former President Grant's cabin and through the wildlife preserve. Here are some tram pictures.
After some lunch, it was time for Shane to meet and feed the goats! Well maybe not feed, he thought the bottles contained milk for him so I fed and he petted.
After that we walked around and saw a bald eagle, parrots, some tortoises, a pony, and camels to name a few.
We loved all of the animals! Shane did too, though you can't tell by his face. My ham has suddenly decided that he hates having his picture taken and gets upset every time we try. He is smiling in the candid shots that he does not know we are taking. Anyway, after the farm portion of Grant's Farm we were off to see the Clydesdales which are housed and trained on the other side of the property. We hopped on the tram and headed to meet the Clydesdales.
Shane kept saying "woof, woof" to the horses and goats. He was so proud of himself that we felt bad telling him they did not say "woof, woof." Dan bought him a stuffed Clydesdale at Grant's farm and we have been holding it up and saying, "neigh, neigh." So far it has not worked. Here is Shane and his stuffed horse asleep after a big day at Grant's Farm.
After Grant's Farm we headed to our hotel (The Crowne Plaza Downtown) and checked in. The room was huge and so nice!It allowed a great view of the arch and Busch Stadium. We were pleased since we booked it for $43 a night on Hotwire! We changed Shane's clothes (he spilled his water all over his outfit) and walked to Laclede's Landing for dinner. The landing is named in honor of the French fur trader who first landed and named the city of St. Louis. The cobblestone streets are the ones originally built in 1764. It is a nice area to eat in, but there is no shopping. Here are Dan and Shane on one of the cobblestone streets.
After dinner we took a walk over to the arch. Both Dan and I have been there, but thought we would walk by and check it out with Shane. We did not head to the top this time, we will do that again when Shane is old enough to appreciate it. We got there around 7:30 and found the museum and gift shop open. In fact, tours to the top of the arch go on until 9:30. I would definitely visit at that time again. The place was not crowded at all and it allowed us to get plenty of pictures of the arch. Here they all are! It is hard to see us in some of them, but we are there.
After the arch we headed back to the hotel room for showers, a bath for Shane, and bed. The next day promised to be even hotter than the day before and it was. However, we headed to the zoo anyway. The temperature was in the upper 90's, but the heat index in the shade was 104. Perfect zoo weather! NOT! However, they were forecasting rain for the day after and we did not want to miss out on the zoo which was rated the number one zoo in the country by Parents Magazine. The zoo itself is free and we found free parking as well. We were at the zoo by 9 AM and started our day in the Children's Zoo. Here Shane is checking out the fish, the Fennec Fox, some birds, the sloth, and the Guinea Pigs. He was in love with the fish and we had to pry him away from the tanks.
Next we headed outside to watch the alpacas get fed. Shane loved petting them!
After that we continued exploring the Children's zoo, skipping only the splash pad because I did not have his suit. We ended the Children's Zoo visit with a trip to pet the goats. After meeting the goats the day before, Shane was an old pro. In fact, he immediately started kissing and hugging them. I tried to not think about germs because he was being so sweet about it! He would hug them and say, "awwwwww." It was just adorable. He also kept saying "woof, woof" to them. I explained to the docent that he could not tell the difference between a dog and a goat and she told me the main difference was that if a dog bit him he could lose his fingers, but if a goat bit him they would still be attached, just crushed. Hmmm... That did not leave me feeling very confident about Shane and the goats. What a crazy thing to tell me. Anyway, Shane LOVED his time with the goats! When you look at the pictures, notice the matching outfits on my boys! So cute! I love that Dan loves to do that!
After the children's zoo we headed to the butterfly garden. We only got one picture in there and I do not think any butterflies are in the picture - oh well.
After the butterflies, we checked out the elephants! The exhibit area for them was wonderful and Shane loved watching them! I also love the elephants! It was very cool to watch one cooling off in the water.
After the elephants, we headed inside to cool off and grab lunch before hitting the primate area. We were unbelievably hot! Once we soaked up some AC, we headed off to see the chimpanzees. Shane went crazy with the chimps who were all hanging out near the glass. He was talking to them, barking at them (yes, he thinks chimps are dogs as well), trying to kiss them, and just overall thrilled to see them! It was a great time and we spent a ton of time with them. Here are a few of the pictures.
After the primates it was time for a cool treat! Shane shares his fathers love of shaved ice!
Next we checked out the bears!
To stay cool, we headed to the penguin house. The penguin house is kept at 42 degrees year round so it is cold in there! It felt great for a few minutes, but when the sweat on our backs started to freeze, it was time to get out of there!
Within a few minutes of leaving the penguin house Shane was sound asleep. Dan and I walked around a bit more and hit the gift shop where we purchased a small stuffed chimp for Shane and a zoo sign with his name on it. We found a ton of stuff with the name Shane on it in St. Louis. The cashier at the zoo told me it is a common name there and he has 2 friends named Shane. It is funny because I can never find anything with his name on it in the Chicago area.
After the zoo we headed back to the hotel and swam in the rooftop pool. Here is the view of the arch from the pool.
For dinner we headed to Union Station, an old train depot turned into a large mall. It was only OK, and we will probably not go back.
The next day we were up bright and early for a visit to the Magic House, a children's museum. Before we left, Dan showed Shane the arch and Busch Stadium from our hotel room window.
At the science center Shane loved turning on and off the lights! I sure am thankful that our light switches are up high because he could have done that all day!
Once we got him away from the lights, he tried a slide made of mats. Both Shane and Dan had a great time on that slide! Dan taught Shane to climb up it, walk down it, and go down head first and now Shane can climb up the kiddie slide at the park and is trying to walk down it...
After the slides, Dan and Shane climbed up a platform and through and crazy tunnel.
Next we hit the ball area where Shane liked cleaning up the balls - I guess my efforts to teach him to clean up are working!
Our final stop at the children's museum was the water area. We had a change of clothes for Shane and knew he would get soaked. He did get soaked and played in there for a long time!
After close to 2 hours at the museum Shane had enough. We changed him into a new outfit after the water area, but he made it clear that he did not want to be there anymore. He had sensory overload and needed lunch and a nap.
Dan had read about a restaurant right on the St Louis walk of fame (I know, who knew they had one) that specialized in collecting toys and figurines. That had Dan all over it so we headed to Blueberry Hill for lunch.
Shane made lots of friends in the restaurant and seemed to be much happier so we decided to head to the St Louis Science Center. Admission was free and we thought Shane might enjoy it. It was either the science center or Purina Farms which was a 40 minute ride away. In hindsight, we should have taken the drive to Purina Farms and allowed Shane to get a nap on the way. We didn't and no nap meant he wanted to have nothing to do with the science center. We walked around a bit, but Shane was not having fun so I have no pictures from the science center. After another full day, we headed back to the hotel for some rest. After some down time, we went out for my favorite meal - pizza! We went to Pi. It is a pizza place made famous by President Obama who liked their pizza so much while campaigning in St Louis that he had the chef flown to the White House to make pizzas for an event. The pizza was amazing! Even Shane, who does not love pizza, loved it! The restaurant is located in an area called the West End and it reminded Dan and I of Lincoln Park. It was fun to walk around with tons of restaurants and shops and we both decided it will be where we go to eat each night next time we visit St Louis.
Here is Shane waiting for pizza.
and enjoying his meal!
We arrived home Friday morning and Shane went to his play class at the Park District. Then Jorie came over to watch him since Dan and I had Bon Jovi tickets! The concert was amazing and I was so thankful that my sister was there to watch Shane so we could go! Shane loves hanging out with Aunt Jorie. Unfortunately, we forgot to leave the camera so no pictures of their night. However, here is a picture of Bon Jovi performing!
The rest of our weekend was pretty low key. I went to Jorie's classroom on Sunday (yes, her school was open on Sunday) to help set up her classroom. She starts on Wednesday. Kristine also goes back on Wednesday so I am planning on going to her school with Danny on Wednesday to help out.
Today our friend Paul, who is a gym teacher in Chicago, came over with his son Brennan who is 6 weeks younger than Shane. The boys had a blast together, but I could not get them to stand near each other for a picture. Both Paul and his wife Shannon are tall and so is Brennan! It was hard to believe Shane was older! It was a relief to know that Brennan, who has cats, thinks every animal is a cat. The boys were really cute together!
This week promises to be a busy one with Shane's library pool party on Wednesday night and the Greenfield Family picnic on Sunday! I will update soon!
Before I go, I want to list off some of the things that Shane can now do at almost 17 months- in no particular order.
-He knows a dog says "woof, woof"
-He can say dog, door, woof, woof, yeah, ma ma, & da da
-He can give me five.
-He yawns if you ask him if he is tired - actually he opens his mouth wide - it looks nothing like a yawn. :-)
-He puts his arms up.
-He can follow almost any direction -ie - bring me your milk, put the ball away, lets go upstairs.
-He knows when someone is leaving and waves bye without being asked.
-He can dance.
-He gives kisses.
-When he hugs someone or something, he says, "AWWWWWWW."
-He can stack blocks and other items.
I am sure there are more things, but this is what I can come up with now.
