Recent Fun Outings

Last Tuesday, we met Rob's family at a local restaurant for dinner. Much of the motivation was Carrie's birthday, but of course, we also got to see Penny and Eleanor. I know it is said over and over, but these little ones change so amazingly fast in their first years. We hadn't seen Penny in about a month, because we were at the lake, and by the time we got together again this week, she was all bright eyes and smiling.

Eleanor was sporting a cute new haircut. She is currently developing a very precise "within the lines" artistic technique now and is using color liberally. I'll have to get her together with her Great Aunt Paula, the artist—Paula would love that. Eleanor and I also had breakfast with her Pop on Friday morning. She is quite the story teller and regaled me with tales about muskrats and other wetland creatures appearing in a coloring book she brought along.

Last night, Will and Anders were in town, and so I suggested we all go to see a Hawkeye men's basketball game. This was Anders' first official Hawkeye sports outing. During our walk over to the arena, I tried to describe the big building to him. He was very excited, and his eyes were as big as saucers when we entered and he saw the large oval seating areas and basketball court below. Naturally, he was decked out in his official colors and cap.

He got right into the clapping for the band music and player introductions. There were lots of questions to be answered throughout the evening.

Anders and Grandma were doing moves to the music.

Anders had previously seen Herky at the Homecoming Parade a couple weeks ago, and so he was constantly trying to keep track of where Herky was and what he was doing. I thought it was just too good an opportunity to pass up and wanted to get a picture of him with Herky. However, the reality of being near that big, scary Hawk became overwhelming as we drew close. I thought he might pose with Herky if his dad held him, but Anders was not having any of it. He loved watching him, but he didn't want to be buddies with him—at least not yet. Later, he wondered where Herky slept and had other questions about him, so I guess he wasn't aware that there was a real human inside that head.