A trip out west

Alright, so it wasn't an actual trip "out west" but we did go to the western suburbs yesterday. Or to the "suburds" as Sammy call them. I needed to get out of the city and just walk around somewhere (I've been a little housebound with the baby lately) so we decided to go out to Wheaton for an evening. Matt and I graduated from Wheaton college, so here are our little future Wheaton graduates in front of the sign!

Sammy's first stop was daddy's old football field. Matt played football all through high school and college so Sam wanted to play on the same field Matt played on.

Luella napped on the football field! I stood in front of her to shade her. It was HOT out there.

Claire took this. Wella was a champ. She just slept for our whole visit.

The 50-yard-line.

Matt showing Sammy his old moves.

The scoreboard.

Matt explaining how in the "olden days" when he played football at Wheaton, there was real grass. Now they have turf.

This is a building called Blanchard where Matt and I had lots of business classes.

But see that little bell tower on top of Blanchard? When/if you get engaged at Wheaton, you and your fiance can climb the steps to the bell tower and ring the bell together. Matt and I did that around Valentines Day of our junior year shortly after our engagement.

And here is a booth in "the Stupe" where you could got get ice cream and have dates or study back in the old days of Wheaton college. Matt and I were there when the Stupe was in its original building, but now they've built this giant new student center so they took the old booths out and brought them into the new building. Are you bored yet? Sorry...moving on from our old college.

As we drove towards downtown Wheaton we went through the neighborhoods. This place has the cutest Norman-Rockwell type houses that you can find in America. Look at this place! I love it.

This is the red door candy store. It is sandwiched between two other stores so the whole store is only as wide as this red door, basically. It just has rows of penny candy in buckets on the wall. The kids love this place. Okay, so do I.

When Claire was about 8 months old we moved to Wheaton for about a year. We had thought we were ready for the suburbs after having lived in a downtown condo, but we ended up moving back because we missed our city friends. But for that short time we lived in these townhomes which are located very close to downtown Wheaton's train station.

I used to put little baby Claire in a stroller and we would go pick up Matt at the train station when he got home from work each night. That whole time of life seems like such a blur. It was a peaceful time, though....with just one little baby girl. I think I remember being bored though.

Then we ventured to the neighboring town of Glen Ellyn to a little restaurant called Two Toots. It's the one with the little train that runs around the bar and delivers your food. 

And it has this sweet horse!

All in all it was a great afternoon/evening. Whenever I go out to the "suburds" I have such a conflicted feeling though. I love the city so much and I love our neighborhood, but sometimes I wonder if I'm missing out on some kind of quaintness or something. And grass. Sammy always talks about how much grass everyone has. Am I doing wrong by my kids by denying them grass? And restaurants like Two Toots?