Romance on the Midway

Call me crazy, but there's just something about being on the midway at the state fair on a warm summer night that makes summer complete. The constant motion of all the bigger than life greasy fair food and popcorn and cotton candy smells, pulsating sounds of music and the voices of people and creepy carnies, and glowing, blinking, bright colored lights against the inky black night sky collide at just the right tempo to create a scene straight out of redneck heaven. The air feels sticky and warm. The muted glow of lights reflect off the bright but tired faces of fairgoers passing by. The carnies endearingly urge you to step right up and win a prize in such a way you almost forget the prize is a scruffy looking stuffed bear the size of your fist that you wouldn't give a second glance if seen on a shelf for $1 at the local Salvation Army.



Someday, he thinks. He's going to win her a prize.

Details Schmetails

I'll call this the first day of school that wasn't. The best part of our day so far was our morning cuddle. Fifteen minutes before it's time to leave Kekoa claims his tummy hurts. He's sick. He can't go to school. Poor little guy is more anxious about this school thing than Mommy realized. Gavyn screams from the backseat during the first half of our drive to the school because he wants his clothes on (I left him in his pjs.). Get Kekoa to school (right on the dot... nothing like being late to the first day of school!) and Daddy meets us there. Mommy discovers her camera battery is dead. Thankfully the "low battery" allowed her to eek out a few pictures with Daddy. Drop him off at the classroom and head on out - with plans of what she's going to do in the hour she has at home, of course. Phone rings. It's the school nurse. Where are Kekoa's immunization/dr. records, she asks. He can't attend class without them. State law. Details schmetails. After calling the doctors office to ask them to fax them to the school it becomes apparent they will not arrive in time for Kekoa to attend his first day of class, so Mommy turns the car around to go back and pick him up. He's contentedly drawing pictures of robots and writing his name in the nurse's office. Now we're home. *sigh* This is NOT how I envisioned this morning would go. Yes, I've cried. Yes, I'm tired. Yes, I'm frustrated. And mainly disappointed I took the day off from work and now won't be able to hear all the exciting things he has to tell me about his first day of school when I pick him up. Life doesn't always take the path you want or expect or plan, it seems. Especially when you're as disorganized as this Mommy is at the moment. We're off to a great start. Please tell me tomorrow will be better.

Out With a Bang

I have a feeling our last day at the pool this year happened on Tuesday. It was a weird summer. Too cool for much pool time. Next year, we'll have a brand new aquatic center in our very own town to try out. Lazy river, here we come. See ya next year, poolside sunshine. Boom, Boom, Pow.

G.I. Joe Underwear? Check.

G.I. Joe Underwear? Check. Spiderman backpack? Check. School supplies? Check. And yes. I did tear up (I slowed a bit and let Craig take over as I struggled to get it together and stopped just short of crying. Barely. What is my DEAL?) as we approached Mrs. Solomon's classroom today. And yes. It was only one hour of orientation. We'll see how Monday goes for his first day of Early Kindergarten. Maybe I'll be all broke in by then.

Maza

There's a Lebanese restaurant we discovered in Chicago back in 2003. Uncle Ryan's girlfriend, Libby, graciously offered to babysit for the boys so we could take Craig's parents out to eat on Saturday night. Beings Craig's Mom is Lebanese and all (her grandparents and their siblings came over from the old country). It was just as good as I remembered.

"Ghost-ez" Stories

Uncle Ryan gets to share his air mattress with two little boys tonight. Since their cousins came and spent the night earlier this week, they've been on a ghost story kick. Kekoa was in charge of the mood lighting and props as he swirled the flashlight at the ceiling while telling his story. I remember doing this when I was little with my very own cousins. We'd go in a room, turn out the lights and tell the spookiest stories we could come up with. Most of the time scaring ourselves in the process. Kekoa's story tonight involved a boy named "Seth" who lived far, far away. They always do. And how is it that Seth is such a typical ghost story name.

Mommy?

Uncle Ryan let us out on the corner of Michigan Avenue and the river while he went to park the car. As I stood there at the light waiting to cross the street, my hand in Gavyn's, I heard a tiny, sweet (and believe me, it's not always sweet!) voice from down by my knees say, "Mommy, is this She-cago?" I looked down at those little bright blue eyes gazing up, up, up in wonderment at the beautiful tall buildings and smiled. "Yes, Gavie, this is Chicago."



I'm usually not much for tours, but if ever in Chicago, the architectural boat tour is a must do. Minus the rain we encountered, of course. The boys loved the boat ride. The adults loved the tour. And I'm sure what we learned about Chicago's great buildings didn't even scratch the surface.

White Sox WIN!

One of the secondary reasons we took this trip to Chicago was to take Craig's Dad to a White Sox game. He's been a fan for a long, long time. My brother, Ryan, hooked us up with some sweet tickets to Saturday's game against the NYY and then was able to arrange for Craig and his Dad to go down on the field pre-game where they could watch the batting practice and warm ups and stand on the field during the national anthem and the first pitch. To say he was thrilled would be an understatement. I was so glad we were able to do that for him. Thanks, Uncle Ryan!



If you know Craig's dad, then you would realize while it looks like he's barely smiling, technically his grin could not get any bigger. I LOVE the expression on his face. In the meantime, Craig's Mom and I took care of the boys in the stands. Here's Gavyn and I upon arrival:



The boys did amazingly well for an all afternoon game. The cotton candy, peanuts, popcorn, soda and cracker jacks helped.





Another highlight, was being able to pick up a couple "vendor bobblehead dolls". They happened to be the "brain child" of my little brother. To say they were a hit would be an understatement. People loved them. They gave them out free to the first few hundred into the stadium. It was all I could do to not tell everyone that my brother came up with this idea when I heard them talking about them. Ok. So I might have told a couple of people, but for the most part, I refrained myself. Like they care. People were even trying to sell them on the way out of the stadium. Sounds like other stadiums are wanting to copy the idea. Copycats are the best form of flattery, no?



White Sox won. Here's our happy faces on the way out.




What a great day we had at the ball park - America's greatest pasttime.

Party on the Patio Revisited

The weather we had in Chicago was fantastic. And Uncle Ryan had this cool patio deck out back. The really neat thing about these Chicago row houses is their backyards. They don't really have any, but they have these roof top deck/patios out the back and people really "green" them up with plants and decorating. It's endearing.



From babysitters we have loved, I bring you Susanna.




How awesome is it that we saw Steven and Susanna when we were in Chicago? THIS *stretches arms wide* awesome!



Ok, you two. Hurry up and move back soon.

Uncle Ryan's Surprises

Working hard at keeping their eyes closed while Uncle Ryan gets their "surprise".



No peeking, Gavyn!



It's a turtle cookie!



Yummy!

Eating on the Boat

This was a special trip for us. Craig's parents are both getting older (one of those things that happen that you try not to think about very often), so we decided they needed to come along if they could bear the thought of spending that much time in the same car with us and then be around us all weekend long. Probably the last one we'll take like this. But then... maybe not. Life has a funny way of mapping it's own path, sometimes. Wherever life goes, though, I'm glad we have the memories we made with them on this trip. I like this picture, because you can see Chicago in the background:



After spending time at the beach, we ate dinner on the top of this "beached" boat. Here's Gavyn chillaxin':



One on one time with Grandma M.:



And here's Gavyn giving Grandpa M. a run for his money:



Amazingly enough, I think they had a great trip. I know we did.

A Few Days of Summer

Well, what do you know? We've had our air conditioning on for the first weekend this summer. Wild. I'm glad, though. Was kind of hoping for a few warm days to thaw out the bones completely from last winter. When we were in Chicago last week, we went to North Shore Beach. The boys have been begging to go to a beach ever since we went to Mexico in February. They seemed content with the sand.



There were a few minor differences. The waves were smaller, the water was colder, the water was not salt water, there were no crabs, there were no palm trees, and there were no shells. But other than that it was all good.



We were there early so we missed the big crowds that arrived later around lunch time. I saw more body builders in one small area than I've seen my entire life. The guys? Well, they looked like they'd hooked themselves up to an air pump and pumped themselves full of air. I kind of wondered what would happen if I stuck a pin in them. And the women? Well, they did, too, except their air was pumped into two specific areas of the body and nowhere else. Craig pretended he wasn't looking.