Beating The Heat

My son is enjoying the finest fountains Naperville, Illinois has to offer. Today we went on our first official vacation getaway of the summer. We live near Des Moines, Iowa, so a suburb of Chicago is not super far away, but it is really the first time my son has really known what 'vacation' means. He has been looking forward to this for months. We drove about 5 hours today to get here, and we are staying with a very close friend who had a baby back in November.

Here my son is taking a break to look at the map while we are at a rest stop. Yes, that is his rabbit hanging from the clothing hook. His idea, not mine. Anyways, today we drove to my friend's house and needing food, went to tour the local "Whole Foods" store. I had never seen one of these before. It is kind of like an organic supermart. I was impressed by the sheer amount and variety of produce they had, it was beautiful. Anything you wanted organic, they had it. They also have a lovely card by each product telling where it was made. Unfortunately, I saw a lot of Mexicos, and United States, California, but not very many Illinois, or even Wisconsin or Ohio. I think it is kind of sad, because people obviously shop here because they care very much about what they are eating, or why else would you buy organic? However, there didn't seem to be much focus on what is local. In all though, it was an impressive selection. They seemed to have all the hard to find products that I usually have to go to three different natural food stores in Des Moines to get. I did purchase a cool Holy Cow shirt. It is organic cotton, which doesn't make a big difference to me, but is supersoft, and sweatshop free and fair trade.

"You wouldn't put chemicals in me, would you?" he seems to say. Ha ha. This is the cute little guy we came to visit. Look at those baby blues. My son is having a lot of fun helping to take care of the baby. It is neat to see a nurturing side to my son, because I kind have always wondered, if I had another baby, would he smother it?

After our visit to Whole Foods, we went to the Naperville Riverwalk area, to give my son a chance to unwind. He made himself comfortable splashing in the edge of this fantastic fountain. We are planning to come back Saturday and check out the farmers market (YaY, local produce) plus check out the paddle boats. Tomorrow, we are planning a visit to the Field Musuem in Chicago proper.

I love this picture. He is so peaceful looking. Yes, I do feed him; I know you can count his ribs, but if you saw his dad, you would know that it is genetic. He has been such a sweetheart all today, very polite and helpful. I just know it is going to be a wonderful vacation.