Summer Days in Evanston, Take Two

I LOVE seeing what Jackson finds to play with when we are visiting my mom and dad! At home, Jackson loves hiding in the kitchen cabinet and playing an elaborate game of Peek a Boo. He has found the linen closet at Mimi and Bampa's to do the same thing! I barely brought any toys from home (just one bag's worth for the car). There is a good selection that we have inherited that stays in Evanston. Jackson doesn't seem to miss his "usual" toys one bit! We even have different books since we visited the library here on our first day. One of the best things Jackson has found to play with is a carry-on sized suitcase! My mom had a few upstairs and Jackson started wheeling the little one around upstairs. The suitcase took an unfortunate trip down the stairs, but then it was available to play with downstairs in the main play area! Jackson rolled that thing around and around! It did get put away tonight since he was starting to think it was a grand plan to drag it up or down the stairs...

Yesterday Jackson and I headed over to Barnes and Noble to meet my mom for lunch. We were joined by our friend, Roberta, her daughter, Becky, and her granddaughter, Annie. It was really fun to catch up! Unfortunately, we did not get any pictures :( But, Jackson was gracious enough to share a yogurt melt with Annie!

Our plan for the afternoon included driving to Hoffman Estates to visit the Tadelman family. So, Jackson "rested" in front of Jack between lunch and getting ready to leave for the afternoon. He was definitely a tired boy lounging in front of the TV!

When we got to Auntie Dale's house, we got some one-on-one time with Ryleigh. Jackson was not as interested as he was last time we saw them, but I think he was focusing on warming up to everyone. Ryleigh is such a happy little girl (she's almost six months old!), and she just loved looking all around and kicking her little legs! She really enjoyed the exersaucer and Jackson was funny to watch as he showed her all of the things she could do.

He and Ryleigh both enjoyed watching Auntie Dale dance to the music the exersaucer played :)

Jackson made himself right at home and tried to hide in Auntie Dale's pantry! He is such a ham!

For better or worse (usually worse), Jackson is very interested in whatever we are drinking these days! He especially loves if we have something we will share through a straw. He's getting in some practice drinking from a "real" glass, and he enjoyed some of Mimi's iced tea on this afternoon.

Auntie Dale gave Jackson an awesome racing ramp Chuck the Truck toy! Auntie Kelly and

Auntie Abbey were a willing audience as Jackson tested out all of the buttons.

We had a yummy dinner and had just enough time for our traditional group picture before taking a very tired boy back to Evanston.