Summertime Fun

This past week has been so hot and muggy that we have pretty much retreated into our cool basement until early evening. We have, though, managed some outdoor fun lately. First up is our driveway fun. Olivia (with a little help from Joe and I) has been creating chalk roads and towns to navigate through on her scooter. Her drawings are complete with potholes in the road (which she loves to drive through with loud sound effects), an igloo (?), McDonalds for lunch, and ducks in ponds. Our next door neighbors have an 8 year old boy and a 10 year old girl that Olivia just adores. We attribute Olivia's recent love of her scooter to the girl who is always zipping around the sidewalks on her own scooter. Luckily, 10 years old seems to be a good age with Olivia - she humors Olivia pretty well without any of the tween angst/moodiness that is to come.


Joe has such high hopes for Ethan. I fear that the only position he would be able to play is point guard as height is most likely not going to be a friend to Ethan.

Springfield Park District hosted a Touch a Truck event this past weekend. I attended with both kids while Joe was working his first weekend. Although Olivia had no interest in actually climbing inside of the trucks, she was happy enough to just stand next to them and give me an obligatory smile for the camera. Next year I believe that this event will be a big hit for Ethan - there were around 20 large trucks, fire trucks, ambulances, tractors, police cars, etc. there for kids to explore.

While you would think that watching a helicopter land just yards away from where you are standing would be exciting, it just couldn't top the free ice cream that was being handed out.

Our version of Knights Action Park.

Ethan is not too happy about the water's temperature right now as it is freezing cold straight from the hose! The red stains on his shirt are all that remain of a watermelon slice that he devoured.

The Joys of Summer

We have returned to central Illinois, and we could not be more thrilled. Joe has started his new job, and aside from being terrified and stressed, he is enjoying it. Almost every single box has been unpacked and the house has been scrubbed, so I am declaring us officially moved in to the new homestead. Olivia is getting back into the swing of things with her previous group of friends, and Ethan is a non-stop walking and climbing machine. Life is good for the Baimas.

Joe and I upon entering our new house. We were not sure if we would make it here with the Iowa floods. Interstate 80 was closed in a key section, and the detour was 120 additional miles! We traveled down on a highway through Hannibal, so several days after our trip this highway was also flooded - we were lucky with our timing! Anyway, the moving company was fantastic in making sure that our belongings arrived on the promised day, even though the detours were terrible for them as well. If you ever move from Iowa City, we recommend Adamantine Spine Moving Company - they were fantastic even with the floods. I guess you just cannot understand how devastating a flood is until you live in a town that is affected by one. We had many plans of things we had wanted to do one more time before leaving Iowa City, but we were completely homebound for the last 4 days or so due to the majority of the main roads being flooded and the city asking people to stay home.



Joe, Ethan, and Olivia catching a game at Busch Stadium. Joe and my dad took the kids to the game the day before we moved in. I decided to stay at home and decompress from the moving process.

Olivia having fun at Washington Park. She had to climb on top of just about everything and have me take her picture.

On a playdate at the park with friend Kellan (and mom Nicola). This was one of our many distractions after our move into the new house. I was alone with the kids for the first 2 full weeks while Joe completed his fellowship in Iowa City. He returned to us 3 days before starting his new job. He did not have much of a transition time! Although we survived the floods of Iowa, we fear that Iowa City will be completely changed if we ever do go on a return trip. Joe said that many of our favorite places (like the Devonian Fossil gorge, several restaurants, etc.) are completely gone. He also said that the entire town smelled like pond scum after the water had receded a bit, so I was not at all sorry to be gone. Luckily the water and sewer system was not affected in Iowa City (unlike Cedar Rapids). One point to make on how bad the flood was - in the June 11 post we were standing on a pedestrian bridge over the flood water. The very next day that bridge was submerged by the flood. I wonder if it is still standing?

Olivia thoroughly enjoying a lemonade shake-up on the 4th of July.

Water fun!

This picture captures summer fun - a very first slice of watermelon. Ethan loved every single bite, although he did think that we were being a bit mean when we wouldn't let him taste the rind as well.

BNL for all ages!

While this blog is usually about the family comings and goings, sometimes something else comes along that is worth posting. As you may know, I (Joe) am obsessed with the band Barenaked Ladies. Recently, the band came out with a fantastic kids album called Snacktime. Every time Liv asks to listen to "my Snacktime songs", it pretty much makes my day. Once the kids start asking to watch Star Wars, I may spontaneously combust. Anyway, one of our favorite songs from the album is about the transformation of a tadpole (or pollywog) into a frog called Polywog In A Bog. The band just made a video for it along the line of another old favorite, Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas. Enjoy.