play is hard work

owen has a tough job...to play. sometimes we make it easier on him by taking him places specifically designed for it. sunday we went to edison park fest. it involved a lot of inflatables. owen tried out the maze that ended with a tunnel...



then it was off to perfect the art of the bounce (which goes along with the knee drop and body slam)...




he did pause for a wave and cheesy grin to mommy...




owen helped daddy "win" a stuffed crayon. i believe we bought it for $6, but i am told it was "won"...




self-portrait...they never turn out that good, do they?...

then tonight we decided to visit the park after dinner before it started getting dark earlier and we can't anymore :(...

not sure what the rest of the week holds in store for us, but i imagine that play will be a daily part of it...at least for owen...i have a feeling laundry will have a big part of it for me...

recap of owen's bday party

so his party was almost 3 weeks ago, and i'm just getting to sharing pictures. to be fair though, i really didn't take any, so i had to wait and get them from others. these are some my sitter took. i have a ton more from my sister-in-law (thank you) but they are in shutterfly and i don't feel like figuring out how to pull them off there to put here. so you are going to have to be satisfied with these...

the cake...made with love by owen's mom (aka me)...i've decided that's our birthday tradition, a homemade cake...i like doing it...and maybe some day i'll actually learn some proper technique...until then, it's my free-formed, care-free way...this year's was a treasure map...


owen & his cousin cannot wait for that cake....




finally he gets to blow out the candles...he doesn't wait for the singing to end...he blows them out as soon as they are lit...


on one of the rides...

with some of his day care pals...he's a lucky boy to be surrounded by cute girls everyday...

and, that is all for tonight...

don't blink

before you know it, your baby is a little boy.

going from just a few hours old....




to learning to sit...




and eating his socks at six months...




to bouncing away and showing off his new teeth at nine months...



and eating his cake at his one year birthday party...

another year just flys by, and you find your little baby is now a toddler, and is playing in the waters (as he calls it) with his counsins...

and no longer slides down the slide at the park, but climbs up it instead...

you remember then...

and realize that even now, some things haven't changed...

although your toddler is now a little boy...

happy 3rd birthday to my owen!

may all your wishes come true...

i'm a bad blogger

not even a month, and i am already falling behind with my posts. sort of how all my projects go lately, good in the beginning design and implementation phases, then bad at the everyday maintenance tasks.

anyway, on friday, july 9th, we went to taste of park ridge. we were able to try out some nearby resturants that we had not gone to yet. (and now know we weren't missing much.) then we walked around the neighborhood. when owen finally decided he was hungry so we got him a grilled cheese at the deli that actually wasn't participating in the taste, and we were able to find a place to sit and eat it outside their store.

i love the funny faces this kid makes...


then a cheesy grin by us both (wonder where he gets it from)...

owen and dad went trainspotting (he looks totally like a mini-me here)...

then we decided to see despicable me at the picwick. funny movie. owen loved it too. i love that we found another thing we can do with owen now. plus i was missing going to the movies often. i don't even mind that all we see now is the kid movies. i always liked the cartoons.

now, fast forward to this past weekend. on sunday we decided to take owen for a train ride because we really didn't have anything going on, and he totally LOVES trains. so we took the el because it runs more often than the metra. i sort of forgot how crowded it is even on the weekends though, so half the trip (both ways) we were standing. the entire trip to the loop, owen chattered non-stop, make choo-choo sounds, train whistle sounds, pointed out in excitement to the "tracks", and just had a grand time. no contest, he was the happiest person on the train that day. when we got into the loop we just took a little walk around, and stopped at daley plaza.

owen checked out the fountain...

then he admired the picasso. he ran up to it, threw out his arms, and shouted "ta-da!" (he looks so small by it though...)

after our walk we grabbed a quick bite, and headed back. the ride back was not as enjoyable (is it ever?) everytime the door opened, owen would get up, try to leave, and say "okay, home now..." it's really hard for a little guy to understand, "not for another 12 stops..." rick's bright idea is next time, owen and i ride the train to where ever, and he drives to meet us so we can drive back instead of riding the train. what fun is that?!

on another note, i really miss the farmer's market in daley plaza. the one by work is a joke...

a new milestone

so we were driving home from dinner tonight and had to stop at walgreens to pick up some milk. we put it in the trunk of the car. about a block away owen asked me for some milk. i responded, "you need to wait until we get home. it's in the trunk." upon which i heard a very strange voice emerge from the back seat that i had never heard before. it had some babble to it, and was deeper than normal, but i distinctly heard "wait," "home," and "trunk." ...my sweet little boy was mocking me! does it really start this early? and i can only imagine how this will progress. my feelings were hurt, but rick thought i should be flattered. at least i know he is listening to me. well, this really is a milestone to remember.

july 4th

thought i would share some pictures from my nephew's 5th birthday party which was held on the 4th of july at their house. the kids really had a fun time!

the birthday boy...



owen loves cake...

so does his cousin...

all the kids loved bouncing...

rick and owen went swimming. owen has become a chicken with pools lately. i think it took rick about a half hour to get owen off the ladder. i think it's because he cannot reach the bottom in these big pools...

the birthday boy showing me what a great swimmer he is...

my brother and my nephew...

me and my little man...

and just for laughs...


i'd share fireworks pictures, but we didn't see any. owen had such a great time, he passed out around 8pm. i haven't seen fireworks since this kid was born. maybe next year, or later this summer sometime...

our friday fun day!

we started out by going to see toy story 3. owen's first movie theatre experience...he loved it. i had heard many people cried at this movie, and i have to admit tears were shed at our viewing...just not by owen or me. (the crier will remain nameless.) owen did voice out concern for big baby a couple times though. it was really cute. anyway, had to take a picture at the theatre to capture the memory. here it is even though it's not a great picture, i know. i was hoping there was a toy story display to take his pic with, but no luck...

after the movie i didn't feel like going home, so we used to gps to look up nearby attractions, and we found this place. it was okay. i hate when places that are so clearly developed for little kids charge for adults (i learned that from my mom.) and i didn't really like that this was basically in a basement. But, all in all, owen had fun for about an 1 & 1/2 hours.

here's the water play area...



slides are always a big hit...

he loves to build towers...

there is only one train on this play table, and all the kids wanted it. owen waited for 30 minutes before getting a turn. then some older girl kept trying to take it away from him. he nicely told her off. i was proud, usually he would have hit or bit her. we've come a long way...

thus ends our friday fun day. i actually keep thinking it's saturday, and i am so happy when i realize it isn't. hello four day weekend! i need you so.

the zoo

monday, owen and i went to the zoo for the first time this year. we are members, and last year we went probably 3 times by now. so i felt like we should just start going when we have a couple hours to take advantage of the membership. here's some pics from our day...

from the butterfly exhibit, which we had to pay extra to get into and the moment we entered owen wanted to leave. i managed to snap about 10 shots while he dragged me through to the other door. what a waste of $2.50...



while in the butterfly exhibit, he realized what he really wanted to do was ride the carousel. again, which we needed to pay extra for, but look how happy he is!...


last year the dolphin show was on hiatus, so this was the first visit we were able to catch a show. thank gawd for $4 popcorn. i don't think we would have made it through the 20 minute wait for the show to start without it...

and a couple shots from the show...

i guess that is enough for now. tomorrow we are going to go see toy story 3, which will be the first time owen will be in a movie theatre. i'm already planning for the biggest bucket of popcorn they have. i'll probably need to take out a small loan to pay for it...