Yoni at the pumpkin patch

We tried to find a nice pumpkin patch outside Chicago. There were a number of enthusiastic endorsements from a Hyde Park parents' listserv, however it appears that one's idea of what a pumpkin patch should be depends on how urban his/her upbringing was. Regardless, we still had some very nice photo ops, even if our pumpkin patch had greenhouses instead of a swath of green farm land, and even if we were surrounded by subdivisions instead of beautiful countryside. It is sort of amazing how commercialized the "country" experience has become (at least around Chicago). Perhaps if we were in one of the "real" parts of the United States it would have been easy to find a nice orange patch. Luckily Yoni didn't notice the difference, and would have thought our interest in these large orange vegetables would have been strange in either case.




Below is a Yoni-sized squash.


They even found a way to "baby-size" the pumpkins and put them into a big bin.


The week before our adventure to the suburban pumpkin patch, the Chicago Parks department created a pumpkin patch just around the corner from us in Nichols Park (and is what inspired us to go find a "real" pumpkin patch). In addition to having a bunch of pumpkins in a pen (silly urban folk must think pumpkins are animals), they also had a petting zoo, pony rides, concessions, and music (although it was incongruous with its surroundings; some sort of R&B hip-hoppy thing; lest we forget where we are, perhaps).

By far, the petting zoo was the highlight. Yoni got to see a porcupine (I got to pet it).

The porcupine used to chew tobacco, and his new owner can't afford to whiten his teeth.


There were also a couple of very nice sheep, goats, and a turkey. I think if anyone ever spent much time with a real turkey, they wouldn't want to eat it, and not for the reason you might think. Keep going and you'll see what I mean.


Yoni got to pet a Chinchilla. This particular one was the chillest chinchilla I ever met (it was my second). I don't know if it was downing brown bettys or what, but this was one chillaxin furry dude, and really, really soft.



Yoni also got to say hi to his first snake; a python.

Yoni obviously has no sense of self preservation.

O.k., remember the turkey comments? Look at this guy. Perhaps this is just an ugly turkey, but for the love of god, if they all look like this it amazes me that they haven't gone extinct. See that brownish area behind his eye? That's his ear with bristly hair growing out of it. Poor Tom has no Tilly to pluck his ear hair.

Conversely, this guy looks like someone unsuccessfully try to pull out his whiskers.

That's a hedgehog down there.

And this one didn't come from the petting zoo, although her name is Mousy; she came from Boulder and she should move to Chicago!

Nay sayer

The video below is from a little while ago; August 10th to be exact. I finally downloaded it to the computer and had a chance to view it again and am now sad that I didn't post it sooner. The video shows a couple of Yoni's talents. The first is his "nay" saying. Before he ever said nay, he started to crinkle up his nose, making him look like he has a little attitude. Shortly after that discovery the nay saying began. The other talent demonstrated about 1/2 way through the video is what I call Yoni's Teradactyl cry; you'll understand when you hear it. Interestingly, after about a week of practicing these skills Yoni abruptly stopped doing them. They resurfaced about a week ago. The Teradactyl cry is providing us with our first real test of recognizing the dichotomy between us thinking that pretty much anything Yoni does is cute (except pulling chest hair) and recognizing that others find his vocalizations somewhat disturbing. I hope that the smiles that occasionally cross my face while I shush Yoni don't frustrate those who are incurring hearing loss. I would also like to note that we aren't annoyingly imploring Yoni to perform his little tricks all day long.

Yoni goes up North (ern Michigan)

Yoni, Yael, and I recently took a little vacation to Northern Michigan to visit with friends, be in a more sparsely populated locale, and to do a little hiking and swimming. Below is a series of photos showing Yoni's reaction to be told we are going on a little vacation. . .

Hearing the news for the first time

processing the news (excited to go new places? scary to be leaving his feline protector Grendel?)

Realization that his language skills are not up to the task of having any idea what he was told

I never think about the difficulty of constructing a the blog narrative when I am taking pictures. For example, in the picture below, Yoni is playing at Ellen and Bob's (not pictured) temporary digs in Traverse City where we visited with them, their son Jack (in background, sort of), and Debbie, Mike, and Ben (not pictured).


The series of photos below is Yoni enjoying a couple of Baby Mum Mums (rusks, rice crackers for babies) on our way out of Traverse City and on to Vanderbilt. The crackers are aptly named for Yoni since he actually "mmmm, mmmm"s while he eats them (and almost everything else).

Yoni can now hold his own food. . .when he chooses to

Notice that Yoni can also eat mum mums and be cute at the same time

Proud Eema, hungry Yoni

Yoni up close and personal with lunch securely glommed onto his cheek

We arrived in Vanderbilt later on that evening to spend some time with Stacie (front, left), Jim (back, right), Xavier (back, center), and Cassidy (being held). Stacie's folks have a beautiful plot of land with a little lake, large cabin, and great foliage.

We did a lot of berry picking. I think I ate one, and the babies ate most of the rest.

Below, Yoni is trying to help with the berry picking (the eating part).

Poison berries?
This is the pretty little lake right outside the cabin at dusk.

After spending a couple days with Stacie et al. and beginning to smell like fish to our guests, we headed to Arcadia (the Watervale Inn, if you're nasty). Our friends from Ann Arbor days, Tom and Rachel (and Zoe), vacation every year in this cute bucolic old miner company town turned into a little vacation spot sometime after the scare of 1893 (we're still not sure what was scary; cholera, ladies fashion, bird flu?). [update: after a little Googling, we discovered that it was actually the panic of 1893 and was an economic depression greater than the Great one.] Regardless, it was very pretty. See below. . .

Pretty on Lake Herring

Pretty on Lake Michigan dunes

Pretty sans Yoni

Pretty sunset

Pretty tired baby

We next moved onto Saugatuck. We were originally going to share a cabin with our friends Ashley and David (and Sam), but after an encounter with a very mean cabin owner, we ended up having to stay elsewhere; here (below) as a matter of fact. It's a long story that would just frustrate you and distract from the pictures of Yoni, so there will be no further verbiage about it. Except, do not stay at the Maple Ridge cottages. We ended up staying at a very nice B&B for a very reasonable price (thank you G.W. Bush for tanking our economy, at least it has some benefit).

Yoni liked the big bed; we did not enjoy sleeping in his pack and play nearly as much.


Yael is chillaxin with her favorite reading material (a birthday present from moi. Don't worry, it wasn't the only one).Below, Ashley and Yael (and Yoni) are watching David and Sam play on the jungle gym (not shown).

Now Ashley and Yael (and Yoni) are not watching David and Sam play on the jungle gym.

Sleeping Yoni hand.

After having our Saugatuck cabin plans fall though, we decided to head back to Chicago a day early, which allowed us to spend Friday on the beach just a mile or so away from our apartment. Below is Yoni warming up after a swim in the waters of lake Michigan.

Yoni with his pail and shovel (spoon?). Although he thinks they are a drum and drum stick.

We don't quite have his drumming technique perfect, but it's light years ahead of his digging.

Putting spitty fingers on camera lenses is another favorite activity of Yoni's.

After a hard day at play, Yoni likes to relax with a cold one. Luckily this place didn't card.

A colorful vegetable interlude (via the Green City Market . . .)


Holy crepe!!!
Back at the beach on Saturday (or Sunday).

O.k., while it looks like Yoni is playing with his bucket like it is a bucket, not a drum, it is because someone has filled it full of water, which Yoni also enjoys, especially when dolphin can play too.


And sadly here ends summer. It was a great first summer with Yoni are we are looking forward to an autumn full of rides in the country, apple cider, and brisk, great smelling weather.