Why Have We Not Been Taking Advantage of This?

Sunday morning we went to the Columbian Park Zoo.  We thought we had better visit before it closes for the season.

One thing I didn't know about the zoo is that it's free.  Sweet!

There are tunnels where you can peak your head up like a prairie dog.  I'm not sure that Tommy is impressed.

 Even Dada went through the tunnels with the Tommy Hawk.

 We saw a 100-hundred year old turtle.  She had to nudge him in the rear to get him to move.  One hundred years old? Think of all the presidential elections he's lived through and gave absolutely zero craps about?

We saw some kind of dog species.  Tommy was a little freaked out until he realized there was a glass window in between him and the dog.

 Here's another example of Tommy not being too fond of animals. I tried to take a picture of him with a wallaby.  There was no glass window.  He was outta there before I could take a picture.

 Things were going well until the "goat incident" (a goat walked near him... THINGS WITH FUR!! AAHHH!!! Plus goats are a little devious anyway) so we stuck to the non-furry activities.

 They have a little area with specific playground equipment for his age and he LOVED it.

 He also loved (and his shoes matched) the swings!

 Then we took a $3 choo choo train ride.  Highlight of the day! You can see how excited he is! (Maybe he's scared of dad's enthusiasm in the background.)

 There's a smile! As we were walking to the train, he kept saying, "Chug-a-chug-a-chug-a-chug-a-CHOOOO CHOOOOO!!!"

 The train took us all over Columbian Park and most of the ride was by the water.

 This is one of my favorite pictures. Andrew is trying to tell Tommy something and Tommy is giving someone or something the side-eye.

Even our stroller got to ride on the train. CHOO CHOO!

WHY have we not been taking advantage of this place more often? Until next season I guess.

Kevin?

This is Tommy at dinner the other night.  He looks like he's wearing an applesauce tie!

With his hair while making that face, he also looks like Kevin the bird from the movie Up.

I would have posted a picture of just Kevin but then I found this gif and I couldn't resist.  ;)

Picture Day Fall 2012

Tommy is an old pro when it comes to Picture Day these days.  Today was his picture day at school.

He looked so cute cheesing it up by the door.  I can't wait to see how it turns out.  I also can't wait to see his class picture since we've gotten to know the little ones in his class somewhat.

 Hopefully they told him to say "Cheese". He loves to smile when he says that. He didn't smile last year and he has LITERALLY (Parks and Rec reference!) the cutest smile in the world.

(And that is literally the best gif EVER)

BESIDES THIS ONE. 

Anyway, I had the day off and we had all kinds of big plans to either go to the Indy Zoo or go to the Children's Museum.  We brought him home to take a nap and he was still so tired from the weekend that he took a 3 hour nap. Holy tired toddler, Batman! 

So instead of doing anything educational, we just took him to Toys R Us.  He loved that just as much as anything else, I'm sure.  Plus we can't leave there without buying something.  We bought a clearance stuffed Mater for $5 that toots and makes jokes.  (I mean, duh, it was cheap and hilarious, you can't pass that up!) and a CAT dumptruck and excavator. We can't help it.  Toys are cool.

 And so is Tommy!

 What a stud with those shades!

He was in such a good mood after his record setting nap and he put up with us dragging him from store to store to store.  He totally deserved those toys for being such a good boy.

Something That Would Never Happen in South Bend

We came home from running errands on Monday and found the Boilermaker Special in our neighborhood!

 We walked down to watch it drive by.  Tommy loved waving at the choo choo train.

 Our neighbors loved waving at us!

 Bye bye choo choo! (Also, I love Tommy's hat and jacket.  They don't necessarily go together but they are both so cute in their own right. My little dino.)

 Father son bonding moment: Trying to teach Tommy the intricacies of the 'Boiler Up'.
I swear that's what he's doing and not teaching him how to flip someone off even though that's what it looks like. ;-)

This is definitely something that never would have happened in our old neighborhood. Very cool moment for the Thornburgs.  We're going to have to talk to our neighbors to see what that was all about.

First Tailgate of the Year

This weekend we tailgated for the first time this season. We had a great time! 

We tailgated in the "Triangle".  This is a tree-filled grassy area in the Acres.  Our friend's parents bring their RV (so we don't have to use the portopots! Sweet!).  We bring food now unlike when we were in college... annnndddd bottles of water! WHAT? We care about how we feel the next day now? I don't understand. 

Also when you tailgate with people who are not on a college kids income (nor in their 20s), you get to hear live music.  Hey all you college students from the late 90s/early 00's, recognize this guy?????
It's Rich Hardesty!! Our neighboring tailgaters hired him to play at their tailgate.  Are you kidding me?
If you went to college in Indiana during that time, you might remember him from such drunk crowd ballads as "I Never Wanna ******' See You Again" and "Doobie Song".  Oh the memories.

We argued with Travis's dad that our tailgate was waaayyyy cooler than theirs.  We obviously won (being that we got to watch a Rich Hardesty concert AND had a flushing toilet).  But Travis's parents tailgate won major bonus points when Travis's dad marched along with the band.

We visited several tailgates that day.  I visited my cousin Christina's tailgate.  She made some amazing caramel chocolate rice krispie treats.  Yum!

 It was fun to see all the people from the wedding again.   Obligatory girl group pic!

 On that note, how about an obligatory boy group pic? This weekend was basically a big party for all the boys and they all stayed at our house.  All the boys except the ones on the ends.  The left end is Nate, a 6 week old baby, and the right end is his father, Jacob.  Neither of those boys stayed.  All the boys in the middle, AJ, Casey, Jake, Andrew, and Lower all stayed at our house.  Oy vey.

 AJ and Nate did a little manly bro bonding. Awww.

Not only was there a 6 week old at our tailgate but several other kiddies.  Here's Wyatt.  For some reason I love this picture.  He's snacking on some cheetos and saying to himself, "These boys are ridiculous."

 Wyatt's sister, Harper, was also in attendance.  Check her out in her Uncle Jake's shades!! She's so fab!

Here's Casey in those same shades of Jake's.  Notice the difference in head size.  Just kidding ya, Casey!

I came back early from the tailgate because my mom could only babysit until 5.  Katie, Laura, Wyatt and Harper came along too.  We had our own little at-home tailgate. Tommy and Harper played with fridge magnets.

The boys (as in Andrew and his friends) needed a ride home later than night so we sent Katie to pick them up while Laura and I babysat the kiddos. We put on Cars the movie and then tried to take a picture of all three of them.  Not a good plan.  Wyatt was pretty into the movie in this shot.

This is the best one I took.  Laura got a better one.  Still super cute though.  Awww.  Such sweeties. 

The boys LOVED the movie..... for about 5 minutes.  Then it was time to go off and play. 

 So it was just Laura, Harper and I watching the movie.  Harper got really into it for a couple minutes too!

 Then she was like, "Seriously? Don't you have Beauty and the Beast or Little Mermaid or something? Pah-lease!"

The kids had so much fun playing together.  Though after tailgating all day, it was still exhausting.... for them and us.

On Sunday once the weekend was nearly over, Tommy was so tired that even after his 2 hour nap, he decided to continue to nap on me for 20 more minutes.  He hasn't done that since he was a wee one.

Great weekend had by all.  Boy, is it different tailgating in your 30s.  A good different. ;-)

Time for Harvest

It's that time of year again... harvest!! Tommy was too little last year to ride in the combine but this year is a different story.  

Ever been in a combine before? This is the view of what a farmer sees while picking beans. Amazing machines, I tell ya. 

 Tommy's first ride was this weekend.  He was a little timid being a bit overwhelmed by the whole process.

It didn't take him long to be very comfortable in the cab of the combine.  He was standing up, leaning on the windshield and really enjoying himself.

 He even got to drive a little too!

 Except... my dad has GPS guided steering in the combine so if Tommy moved the wheel more than 3 inches, the guided steering would automatically shut off and my dad would have to set it up again. Whoops!
The things grandparents do for their grandkids...  :-)

 Tommy had an awesome time.  But like most toddlers, his attention span lasted maybe 3 or 4 passes.

 We called grandma to come down since my dad was farming the land around the house and she took some pictures from outside the cab.  He loved that!

 Then Tommy got to ride in the big white truck about a 1/4 of a mile back to the house.  He also loved that.  Unrestrained!! So exciting!

 Once he got back, he got out every single toy in the shop and pushed it around.  The firetruck, the go cart race car, the tractor... they all got a good lap or two.

Then it was time for dinner. I forgot to bring Tommy's chair so my parents came up with a make-shift high chair.  All you need is a huge pot and a belt!! Worked like a charm!

What a fun day for the Tommy Hawk.  I can't wait to go back up when he's picking corn.  Thanks Papa!

Hot Dog!

This video just cracks me up. I love when he carries the "Sooooollllvvveeeddd" note out.  For those about to rock (that would be you, Tommy!), we salute you!

Also when looking the song up on iTunes, we found out that the band They Might Be Giants actually wrote and performed that song (and the theme song for the show).  You might know this band from other songs like "Istanbul" and  "Birdhouse in Your Soul" which are the 2nd and 4th most popular downloads from the band where Hot Dog! and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Theme are 1st and 3rd respectively.

So kids, if you want your band to be famous, you're going to need to start writing theme songs for shows and songs with food in the title.