If I had to pick the perfect day...

Dude and I packed our bags last weekend and hopped on a jet plane.  Just the two of us.  It was a much needed Mama, son weekend to go bond with our fam in Chi-town.  And bonding we did.  It's amazing how laid back and angelic my little man is when I stop and give him some QT.  Little sis doesn't allow for a whole lot of quality time, so he ate it up for 3 whole days.  We landed Thursday night after a smooth sailing flight (well, minus the fact that I left our boarding passes at the check in counter, left my coat at the gate and threw away Dude's dinner).  Dude did great, is what I was trying to say. 

Friday was the Best.Day.Ever.  My parents took off work and we headed to breakfast in LaGrange, where Dude chowed on 4 pieces of french toast.  Next we went to a trip down nostalgia lane to the Little Red School House.  I've spent many a field trip and family excursion to this quaint forest preserve destination.  I could have stayed there all day, watching my Dude walk the trails I spent my childhood walking.  He found sticks, leaves, bugs...and didn't even whine about how tired his legs were until we got to the last curve in the path. 

Best buds these two.  Love, love, love this shot.

 

I don't know what's happening with his cow licks in this shot - we'll blame it on the wind.

These two are also best buds.  My mom has such an amazing way with her grand kids.  They eat up everything she says and does - I guess that's the teacher in her.  The whole love part doesn't hurt either. 

The "little red school house."

After we left nostalgia lane we popped into Starbucks - what would a beautiful Fall day be without Pumpkin Spice Late and a Vanilla Steamer?  On our way to destination #4, we stopped in to say "hey" to my Aunt Lecia at work.  She's a loyal blog stalker.  Our outings concluded at Lake Katherine, which is this amazingly beautiful nature preserve within biking distance of my parent's house.  We napped in the afternoon (seriously, when's the last time I took a nap???) and I spent the night with one of my very besties from Kindergarten, Erin (Ernose).  We went shopping, got our nails done and had a late dinner.  It was a fabulous girly night that I'm sooo glad we got the chance to do. 

They weren't offering tractor rides, but we settled for a tractor sit. 

Their flower garden was a sight to behold.  Of course I went camera crazy.

 

I know, they're just ducks.  But Dude found them to be quite interesting friends.  So we had to take a picture.

 

And of course we had to take a picture of their butts. 

Bear with me on the nature shots.  This Heron flew in, 2 feet from where we were lounging in the grass.  He hung out with us for a bit before he started fishin. 

I know.  Birds have to eat too, but it was rather awesome to have a front row viewing of his lunch.  You can image Dude's reaction to it all.  He walks around doing a Heron imitation regularly now and says, "Da fish says, Get me outta here in dis heron's belly!  I'm stuck, I'm stuck!" 

That concludes our perfect day.  The next 2 days were great too - we'll reserve a separate post for those.  Stay tuned.