Luedtke Land: May 2008

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Tulip Free For All

A friend of mine told me about free tulips at a mall near us. Tulips were removed from flower beds to make way for annuals. For three days, the removed tulips were dumped in a far parking lot at 9:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. So, I packed up Simon and Norah and headed over there for a tulip adventure. Boy, did we have fun! Simon enjoyed the dump truck but did not put any tulips in our box because of the dirt. What boy doesn't want to get dirty?!?

There are rules at a tulip-free-for-all and the event was overseen by the mall security. The gathering of tulips could not begin until the tulips were dumped and spread. The security guard gave the signal to "go" and the whole thing took only 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. This truly was the adult version of an Easter egg hunt.

We so enjoyed the tulips that we picked up a friend and her box and took her to get tulips at the 2:30 p.m. dump. We then were able to take pictures and capture the event on video. Our tulips are now drying out in the yard and will winter in the garage or basement. Check back next spring for the lovely tulips blooming in our yard!

Jumping Hot Dogs!!!!

Simon spent a morning playing with his good friends Sam and Kayla. It was a bit soggy outside so we brought our tunnels to play in their basement. They had more fun jumping in them than crawling on the ground! They looked like hot-dogs in buns.

Mother's Day

I had a lovely Mother's Day! We were rained out of our original plans of enjoying the day at Lincoln Park Zoo. Instead we went to a movie and saw Dr. Seuss's Horton Hears a Who. Simon loved the show and we had a great time. We then played and relaxed at home and ended our day with Eric making dinner and a walk around the block.

Saturday evening before Mother's Day, we attended our niece's Baptism. Christina and Norah share the same Godfather and here are the beautiful girls! Welcome, Christina Bella, to the Kingdom of God!

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

PUDDLES!!!

We did not spend the day dodging raindrops!!!

This is how Norah dodged the raindrops!!!

Meeting Ian

A friend of mine from Indiana was in town for a few days and we were able to enjoy a lovely day at our house. She has a little boy, Ian, who is just a few weeks older than Norah. It was fun to see them together. Simon enjoyed playing baseball with him as well!

Art in the Park

Last Sunday we enjoyed Art in the Park in Elmhurst, right across the street from Elmhurst College. We finally planned ahead and were able to go this year. We played in the park, actually looked at some art, and played in the park some more. I had Norah in the carrier and Simon rode on Eric's shoulders while we walked and browsed through the booths. When Eric put Simon down, he just collapsed onto the grass and cried. He could not walk. We think that was the first time he experienced his foot falling asleep! It took a long time to "wake up" and Simon was confused. A beautiful day to spend in the park!

Simon serves a delicious hot dog with any fixings you want! If you ask him, he is at Mickey's Hot Dogs. A hot dog place Daddy took him to only once. But we play it at the park all the time.

Simon is a great ladder climber. He loved climbing the ladder and going down the bumpy, roly-poly slide - over and over. He also had no fear climbing the taller ladder shown below. My heart does not have as much fear watching him climb as it did last summer.