Meadowbrook Park, Champaign-Urbana

 

 

This is Meadowbrook Park in Urbana, IL.  At least I think its Urbana.  Looking at the background if this happy little guy swinging only shows part of its greatness.  I've never done the art sculpture trail around it, but the park is so great for children of all ages.  I took Levi twice while we lived in the area and he loved it.   It had stairs and swings-he doesn't need much more than that to have a great time at a park.  (I even played here as a teenager.)

Water Painting

Like the humidity in this shot?

He was so hot and sweaty after about 20 minutes.

Water painting was an activity I found on moneysavingmom.com

GIving Levi a small bucket of water and a few different paint brushes and giving him the freedom to paint just about anything was a real treat for him.  He was able to paint the siding on the house, rocks, stairs, wood, his wagon, and even the car.  I would definitely let him do it again. You can do this virtually unsupervised outside. We'll do it again! 

July 2011

Goodbye, Houston

We loved and hated Houston.  We moved there for Josh to attend his final year of higher education.  He went to the University of Houston for a legal masters, LLM, in health care law.  It was SOOO hot.  The cost of living is low, that was a perk.  I had great couponing experiences.  We took advantage of a pass to a wolf park in California that allowed us to get into the Houston Zoo and Children's Museum free. I like professional baseball games, and what could be better than attending a baseball game in air-conditioning?!  Minute Maid Park is one of the best stadiums of  Major League Baseball. The Astros weren't well-ranked, but the games were so fun.  The traffic was bad (or so I thought until we moved to Northern Virginia). The malls are wonderful.  There is a temple. We lived 2 blocks from Target and 2 grocery stores.  Josh had an easy bus commute to school.  There were so many parks, most of which were shaded.  Levi was almost potty-trained and we lived near a (smelly, but nice) walking path.   Josh wouldn't have minded living there, but there was little to no green space near us.  He grew up hiking in mountains and trails-not much of that in Houston.
So, before we left we were sure to visit the Zoo and go to an Astros game. 

 Good-bye, Giraffes!  You were our favorite part of the Zoo.

 One must always stay nourished and hydrated at the Zoo.

 Goodbye, awesome fish tunnel.

 Other than a few carousel rides, the only money we ever spent at the zoo was for Levi's friend, Jerry the Giraffe.

 Oh, we saw a first movie before leaving, Rio.  We took the seat at our friend Ashley's suggestion.  It really helped keep him in his seat, along with a few Twizzlers and a child size popcorn.

Goodbye, Houston.  Thanks for everything.  Josh is licensed to practice law in Texas, so maybe we won't be gone for good.  We shall see, shan't we!

The Emerald Coast

Have you ever been to Florida's Emerald Coast?  If you haven't-make it your next vacation destination. Warm air, white sand, and blue water.  So, so pretty!  I always told myself I wasn't a beach person.  Why did I say that?  Apparently, I had never really been to the beach.  I had been to Florida as a child, but there was a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico at the time and we couldn't get in the water.  I grew up in central Illinois; I was land locked and had no idea what I was missing.  I had been to Indiana Beach and a few other places, but they were all lakes. After visiting Destin, Florida I can safely and confidently say that I AM a Beach  Person, well if its a nice beach.  I am still a picky person.  ;)

Levi, after a little warming up, decided he could be a beach person too.

 Isn't it gorgeous?

 Levi took his first of two bike rides.  They're in matching polos, by the way.  :)

 We were with Josh's parents and his brother Kyle's family.

 See, I can fit in here.  I will not shudder at the thought of going to a beach from now on.

 The view of the pool from our room.  Levi loves swimming.  He enjoys that more than a loud ocean.

The view of the San Destin resort  (and others) from our room.

Catching Up

Here begins our blog catch-up!  My, how time flies.

May 2011

June 2012

We had wonderfully fast and functional internet in Houston, but then we moved to central Illinois and the internet was not fast.  Therefore, I did not have the patience to blog for the last year.  We are now in Alexandria, VA and have again the wonderful internet connection speed required for Sloan to take the time to chronicle the parts of our life that we want to share with the world.  So, enjoy!