a visit, swinging and routines

My parents came to visit this past weekend and we showed them how nice weather can be in Milwaukee. It was a gorgeous weekend in the 60s and sunny. We completely exploited it for our favorite outdoor activities, which may sound boring, but when you've been waiting to go outside for as long as we have, they are precious. Usually we bike to the lake, but since we had too many people to caravan we drove. We had a great time at the playground there and then threw rocks in the lake for quite a while. There was then much playing on the swing in our back yard and Nolan could not get enough of driving his car. Of course the highlight was getting to play with his grandparents and getting so much attention. They know he has a weak spot for the animated movie Cars so they brought him toys of the stars of the film. Also, they found possibly the most boring documentary film ever about the first 100 years of Lionel trains, but for Nolan it was pure ecstasy. I wish I had been there, but they showed him the movie while John and I were out together. Reportedly, Nolan was intensely excited and going "train!" and "whoo whoooooo" for over an hour. We ate well, sampling some of our favorite neighborhood restaurants (Riviera Maya, Lulu's, Classic Slice Pizza, Babe's Ice Cream and Groppi's market). (John and I went downtown to Roots, a place that takes sustainable dining to fantastic heights.) It was a great weekend had by all, with only mild sunburns by some and lots of full bellies and hearts.


Nolan stops for a second to get a kiss from his Grandma.


I can't believe that they are watching me push Nolan on the swing so calmly! Honestly I had no idea how high I was really pushing him until Grumpa took the following pictures... Nolan is always telling me to push him higher but I didn't realize he was going this high! He's about to go over and around!




There's a lot of rocks on the beach of Lake Michigan, but Nolan was determined to put them all back in the water!