OZ ... the end

Before Ry had to leave for home, we went to visit his Grandma Thomas.  The boys had a great time playing with her and her magnetic bracelets.

Papa and Cheeky Monkey had some most-nap snuggles.

And we found Gummy Bear the coolest-ever video game at a garage sale. The bike and 4 games only cost us $20! He played it every chance he got.

The boys spent some more time in the baby pool.

And the night before we left, we got a cake for Papa and Grandpa and Tantie, RN. It was really good. Mmmmmm. Cake.

Tell me this is not the most mischievous smile you've ever seen. He wasn't even getting into stuff.

Because it was blazing hot all week, we decided to go to a great little children's museum in town, the Orpheum. Little did we know it was not air-conditioned. Thankfully, there were some water features. Gummy Bear had a great time damming the river.

And Cheeky Monkey had a blast looking for dinosaurs.

It was really freaking hot.

We made a cool archway out of giant blocks. I'm not really sure how it was a children's activity though, because it took me, Tantie, RN and Gummy Bear to put it together. Even then, it was a close thing.

Tantie, RN and I took the boys to Allerton Park one morning. Allerton is a really beautiful old estate donated by Robert Henry Allerton. It's a park I've probably been to a dozen times and until last week, I never spent the time to read about the history of the place. It's an interesting story, actually. Robert Allerton was the wealthy heir to a cattle and banking fortune. He never married, but met 22 year old John Gregg when he was in his 50s. Gregg became his protege, and about 30 years later, Robert officially "adopted" Gregg, making him his heir.  The gifts to the university came later, and the two continued to be great collectors and appreciators of art.

If you read between the lines, it becomes pretty clear that Robert and John did not have a father-son relationship. I find it very sweet that he legalized their relationship in the only way possible at the time.

Anyway, we had a lovely time, although Gummy Bear was disappointed that there was no playground. We were there for all of about 5 minute when Cheeky Monkey fell and took a header on the concrete. He was OK, but sported a fine bruise for the next few days.

About halfway along our walk, Cheeky Monkey sat down and stubbornly refused to move. We just kept walking for a while, until Gummy Bear became apoplectic. "Mama! We have to get Cheeky!" I told him that I would never leave him, I was just hoping that he would get up and follow us on his own. "But Mama, we can't leave Cheeky, I will miss him in my heart!" Dawwwww. And so, we turned around and I carried Cheeky's little round bum until he deigned to walk some more.

These little guys line the walk on the way through the gardens.

And hear Gummy Bear rides a stone fish in the sunken garden.

Snack time!

The rest of our visit was uneventful and quiet and Saturday we started our long drive home, stopping to pick up Ry at the Indianapolis airport. For the first time in my life I said the words "Hurrah, we are in New Jersey!" without a trace of sarcasm. We had a makeshift dinner, Cheeky put lots of food in his hair and so the boys had a bath.

Gummy Bear decided to help us vacuum up the cat hair tumbleweeds and we all went to bed, tired and happy to be home.