Hoosiers

The Dad, The Boy, The Girl, The Tot and I went to visit Super Grandpa (as The Boy calls him) in Indiana this weekend. Super Grandpa is a nearly lifelong (save his Army time and a stint as a United tech at Midway in the 40s) resident of Syracuse, Indiana (winter population: about 3000). He lives on a channel just off Lake Syracuse (and Lake Wawasee), has a wood workshop in his cavernous garage, and likes to fish off his pontoon boat. He has led a very long, very interesting life (so far). So for the 3-day weekend, along with Grandma & Grandpa Naperville, we went to visit him. 

Grandpa Naperville docks a speedboat at Super Grandpa's property, so we spent much of our time going "full-speed ahead" (says The Tot) around Lake Syracuse. We also took out Big Mable and I spent several hours bumping behind the boat in the wake with (alternately) The Boy, The Girl, and The Dad. The weather was great and the water temperature was amazingly warm for Memorial Day weekend. We also got custard and ice cream at Joe's, spent one very long and uncomfortable night with all 5 of us in the hotel room, spent one night with just The Tot with his parents in the hotel room, which was kind of fun, watched The Boy fish with Grandpa Naperville, and took a sunset cruise along Lake Wawasee with Super Grandpa.

Oh, and I almost forgot: The Tot almost drowned himself in the canal on Saturday. Super Grandpa has a large lot with a large back deck, an expanse of green grass, and then a 1' wide concrete retaining wall before the channel. The Tot was drawn to that retaining wall like bees to pollen. Nothing we did or said could deter him from playing on the wall. And then he went in. Fortunately, The Dad was right there when it happened, so he leaped in after him, scraping his knee on the motor of the speedboat in the process. The Tot and The Dad were both dripping wet and screaming, but fortunately, both were fine afterward. The Tot stayed away from the retaining wall after that. The Dad's iPhone was totaled by the dip in the channel, but an iPhone, while expensive, is replaceable. Our youngest son is not.

We woke up this morning to overcast skies and arrived at Super Grandpa's house from the hotel just before it started to pour, so we waited out the worst of the storm before getting on the road. 

A Strong Community

Can I just say that I love my local community? I've been a resident of my neighborhood for nearly 6 years, but it's only in the past year or two that I've felt like I've been a community resident. Today proved it yet again.

I brought The Girl to her ballet class yesterday morning. I had planned to walk there, but The Boy was limping along, so we had to abort the mission and drive instead. I passed Allison and her kids along the way. The Girl, The Baby, and I waited for them after parking The Great White Moose, but they had stopped to chat with Caroline D. and her family, who were on their way home from the YMCA. So we went into ballet instead, where we ran into Beth T. and her daughter, and a few friends from various other classes. As soon as we got inside, The Girl told me to "go," so I walked over to Starbucks with The Baby and Allison.

Afterwards, I picked up The Dad and The Boy, and we joined Allison and her family at Caroline D.'s house to hang out. The Boy stayed behind to play with the boys, and The Dad and I took The Girl, The Baby, and Allison's daughter, Peri, with us to lunch at our favorite breakfast-lunch spot, Curio Cafe. The Dad was quite cute with the girls, holding hands with each one across the street. I had the Plato Tipico ($7.95), which has become my new favorite CC dish, The Dad had his favorite CC dish, the steak sandwich ($7.50), The Girl got the alphabet noodles and cheese ($3.50), The Baby had eggs-potatoes-and-toast ($3.50), and Peri got the grilled cheese ($3.50). Yum! Afterwards, we came back to our house to let The Baby nap and let the little girls play: kitchen, dress-up, and coloring.

Peri's mom picked her up, and we took The Baby and The Girl and headed back to Caroline D.'s house, where we dropped off the little ones and picked up The Boy. Then we headed to Uptown to attend Uncle Bad's birthday BBQ. The Boy left with Grandma and Grandpa Naperville after about 1/2 an hour; they took him to visit Super Grandpa in Indiana. It was odd being at an adult party! I think The Girl and The Baby may have had a better time attending a birthday party at Caroline D.'s neighbor's house.

It was a great day. I also fell asleep at 8:30 and got a solid and rejuvenating 12 hours of sleep.