Aunt G and the big day out

My sister took a day off of work to play with E when we were vacationing in GR. She had a lot of activities planned for him and got to most of them.

She drove him out to her house in the country to have him rake leaves in her yard. She thought it would be fun to have him jump in them. My father had the same idea but he didn't get a chance to get them raked up in time and hadn't considered putting a toddler to work with a rake. This plan didn't pan out too well because my sister has a beagle/basset hound mix and E was afraid of the dog.

Plan B
Aunt G took him to the zoo. The reports my mother got and the ones I got are different but together they paint an interesting picture. According to my mother every animal he saw was a KANGAROO! Though there are no kangaroos at the John Ball Park Zoo, my sister asked. I was told that each sleeping animal was greeted with the same directive. E would pound on the glass with both hands and yell "Wake up Jeff!" For those unfamiliar with the Wiggles Jeff is the one in the purple that sleeps all the time.

My sister is too cool for a diaper bag so she didn't carry it. Half way through the visit she realized how important it is. No Aunt G that wasn't an elephant that was E. She had to walk all the way back to the car to change him. When she got there she decided to take a look in the trunk to see if there was a stroller. An hour of carrying 30+ lbs wiggling boy begins to take its toll.

For lunch she tried to meet me at Yesterdog, with E of course. Yesterdog is to GR what the Billy Goat is to Chicago, only not as fancy or with quite the menu selection. Hot dogs are the only thing you can get there. You can have chili on it as well as relish, ketchup, mustard, onions but that's about it. Soft drinks, bag o' chips, it's lunch or a night cap. They arrived just as my museum friends and I were getting ready to leave. A hello to my friends and a hugga-kissa-cuddle from mommy and Aunt G and E were on there own in a crowded restaurant. E loves hot dogs so I was surprised to hear that he didn't eat any hot dog but just nibbled on a bun. (The dogs weren't that good that day anyway.)

That evening we all gathered at my dad's house to celebrate my sister's birthday. We were nearly a month late but there were gifts from us and my mother and we had Aunt G's traditional birthday pudding (she don't like cake). It was a nice finish to a good day.