Just Hangin' Around . . .

At the end of August, the Illinois Railway Museum was hosting its annual Thomas the Tank Engine event. Daddy, Grandma & Grandpa B, Aunt Susie and Carl were all volunteering at the event, so Emily & I spent the time with Grandma Kathy & Auntie Mandy. We had a lot of fun during our Girls' Weekends bopping around and generally having a good time.

The Chicago area suffered some serious storms during this same period of time that rained out one of the museum's Thomas days during its opening weekend. The following weekend (August 25th, to be exact), we finally got a taste of the sun!! Daddy was going to be meeting us at Grandma Kathy's that evening for dinner, but when he got home, he was exhausted after having been on his feet and in the sun all day long. He decided to take a nap (raise your hand if your surprised) . . .

We decided that we would bring Emily to the park so that Daddy could take his nap in peace (the couch that Daddy naps on is in the same room as all of Emily's toys). We thought this would be the perfect day for Emily's first ride on the baby swing. We brought along a towel to serve as padding and to keep Emily from sucking on the dirty rubber of the seat. After carefully positioning the towel, it was time to add the baby. We all took turns swinging her, very very gently at first, but as she got used to it, we would push a little harder. She was having soooooo much fun, squealing, screaming, giggling, laughing & jabbering. We were having so much fun watching her have fun. After we had been there awhile, and the sun began to fade into dusk, we made our way back to Grandma Kathy's house for a nice hot dinner and some quiet time. It was a really great day!!

Grandma Kathy & Auntie Mandy carefully lower Emily into the swing.

Emily, confused, but tolerant, looks around trying to figure out where she is.

Grandma, what are we doing here?

Weeeeeeee! This is kind of fun Grandma.

Wait a minute, what is this thing? What does it do?

Auntie Mandy, this is so much fun!! Push me a little faster, please!!

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Auntie Mandy, why haven't we ever come here before?

Posing so that Auntie Mandy can take a quick picture for her phone's background.

Come on Grandma, faster, FASTER!!

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

This is soooooo much fun!!!

Grandma, can we do this everyday?

Mommy, this is even more fun than my Rainforest Swing or my Jumperoo!!

What do you mean we have to go? Daddy's taking a nap. Can't we stay for 5 more minutes?