a quick stop and he's off

Tomorrow morning, Max is headed to San Diego with Barb to see his uncle and cousin. It will be his first flight, first visit to California, first trip taken without us. I am excited and nervous for him in equal measure. I know he will be in excellent hands, and that this time alone with his grandma is something precious that he will remember his whole life. But I'm still worried. What if he hates flying, or gets airsick? What if he is so homesick that it colors his whole trip? I doubt these things will happen, but still.

Anyway. Since he is heading out and coming back on school nights (this IS educational, so I don't feel the least bit bad about him missing school for it) we had to figure out his transportation to and from Chicagoland. Luckily for me, Erin texted at just the right time to see if we could all meet up at Taltree Arboretum so the kids could play together. It worked out perfectly. Taltree is halfway to Chicago, so we met up there, spent a couple hours exploring and enjoying a picnic supper (courtesy of Erin) on the grounds with Barb, Erin, Lucy, and Richie, and then Max hopped in with them to head west and Liam and Henry hopped in with me to head east and off we all went, tired and happy. Not too bad for a school night, but I know a couple of boys who are going to be VERY unhappy when they have to get up early tomorrow for school and realize that Max, a state away, doesn't have to. Oh well, we'll cross that cranky bridge when we come to it.

The arboretum was beautiful as always. The train garden was decorated with skeletons and other Halloween things. There was pumpkin bowling for the kids, and there were scarecrows everywhere. We got to vote for our favorite one -- I think the consensus was the Minions one. We explored the children's garden and the music area, and the kids had a blast, especially since we got to watch two goats fighting for an extended period of time. What could be more fascinating? We have yet to make it out to the other areas of the arboretum with them though. Someday we'll walk around the pond and look for frogs and turtles and fairy cottages, but not today.

I took approximately a million pictures. Here are some of my favorites: