Tall Ships

The Library

I took the boys to the library today. Which is really nothing out of the ordinary.

They each finished their summer reading logs - logging in over 15 hours of reading. I'm pretty sure we've read way more than that, but I always forget to give them the stickers to add to the charts and they usually forget to remind me.

Anyway, I took the boys to the library today. Which is really nothing out of the ordinary.

Except. I was looking for a few books for myself - not just browsing - I had a list (Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and something by Philipa McGregory).

Anyway, I was looking for a few books for myself and the boys were actually being pretty well behaved. In each aisle I spent time looking the boys would each find one of the little step stools provided and stand up on the top step and just sort of hang out. Perfect. They weren't bothering anybody, they weren't yelling at or pushing each other - they were just sort of hanging out.

Except my younger one - he doesn't just hang out. Quinn says to me, "hey, mom - watch this," so I look over at him to see him start to climb. "No way, put your foot down." I look past Quinn over at Liam. And Liam's step stool is empty - because he's up on the shelf.

I am not even kidding. He climbed up two shelves. From the step stool.

Thank goodness nobody else saw that - I wouldn't want to be banned from the library.

Oh right, and thank goodness the kid didn't get hurt.

Oh hi there, internet.

So, I know, my writing here as been lacking. Almost non-exsistent, really. Seems as though I just pop in every few days to post some pictures. It's not that I don't have anything I want to write about, oh no, there's plenty of half written posts up there in my over-crowded brain, just that there's so much I want to say, I never know which one I want to actually put together. So yeah.

Anyway, the boys and I met up with some friends at the "forest". The boys had a blast checking out the map and figuring out where we were. Also - the working well - how fun! Liam loved throwing sticks off of the bridge... Of course, here's some pictures...



It was decent. But I realized I need to start checking out more forest preserves around here... that was something I always enjoyed as a kid and then through high school and college - I've got to get back to that.

Today

Today we went to the Taste. Not the Taste of Chicago, the Taste of the Town in Which We Live.

We left the house with $50.

We came back with one large inflatable hammer, one plastic sword, a play gun, a racket and ball type toy, a bloated belly, heart burn, and one henna tattoo. Oh and $6.

The end.

Weekly Winners Thirteenth Edition

He Loves Me

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Growing Like Weeds

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Old International Truck

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Beach Baby

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Watching the Grandkids

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Cousins: Friends

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Lovin' It

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His Favorite Spot

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Little Boy, Big Garage

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Time To Go

For more weekly winners go visit Lotus.

Weekly Winners Twelfth Edition

All photos this week our from our little staycation. (thanks to Rebecca for giving me that term, staycation!) We visited many places, skipped many naps, and had a ton of fun! Somehow, though, our house managed to get messy even though we were barely home. How does that happen? Enjoy!

At the Morton Arboretum

pretty purple

lily pads

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At The Children's Museum

gonna getcha!

boys in the bubble

cheesy chair pose

makin' music

bangin'

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From the Not Fun List
What's the problem?

man hands

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At The Zoo
concentration

reflection

done!

making dirt soup

first ride

strangers

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To (and at) The City

first train ride

view from the Shedd

dinner?

hello

big fish

an old friend

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And Everyday the kids were sooo tired...

after the zoo

after the zoo

Quinn's new best friend. Moose, the moose.

so tired

train ride home

Will We Survive? Haiku Style

A busy week here
Tomorrow's the last "fun" day
Of our staycation

Hoping we survive
A train ride and a long walk
High of 91

Kids will be tired
We will be hot and sweaty
All for family love

Pictures from the week
Will be posted this Sunday
As weekly winners

Come see where we went
Or what we did with our days
It's been a good one.

How to Get Free Meals! And Free Desserts!

Option One:
Go to a restaurant just one week after their Big Opening.
Have a seat and order drinks. (one beer, one water, and one milk)
Order food. (one appetizer, two adult meals, and one kids' meal)
Sit there as the inexperienced waitress spills 2 pints of beer on your husband.
Watch as over 10 people rush over to clean up the mess.
Comfort your crying baby.
Assure your child that it's okay.
Watch as your husband tells 'em it's okay. He doesn't need a new shirt.
Insist that he takes the damn shirt.
Listen to the manager appoligize over and over and say, "we'll take care of you."
Eat your meal and enjoy the extra attention, "Can we get you anything else?"
Try to figure out a proper tip when the total included only two adult meals and nothing else.
Option One requires only 60 minutes.

Option Two:
Go to a restaurant that has been opened awhile, but arrive well before the dinner rush.
Order drinks (one beer, one iced tea, and one milk)
Order food (cheese pizza for the kiddo, Jambalaya, and one "house burger, with no mushrooms")
When asked, "no mushrooms, but you're okay with the onions?" Reply, "yeah, no mushrooms, but yes to the onions."
Wait FOREVER for the food to arrive.
Continue waiting and suggest that your husband takes the kiddo to the bathroom to 1. walk around a little, 2. go potty, and 3. wash his hands.
While in the bathroom have the kiddo go throw his paper towel away only to have the bathroom door hit him in the leg by the Chef!
Return to table and continue WAITING.
While waiting keep the baby happy by taking him out of the high chair and allowing him to crawl/cruise around (since the place is pretty empty).
Finally get food and take one bite.
Taste a mushroom.
Look through your burger and find a TON of mushrooms and NO onions.
Converse with your husband about the cons of sending it back - mainly - the WAITING.
Decide to keep it.
On the waiters first return say, "Um, there's mushrooms on my burger and no onions. No, I don't want to wait to send it back, I'm just disappointed." and be told, "I can comp. that."
Only to have the waiter return in a few minutes and say, "Oh, and the Chef wants to do something for the little guys, since I guess something happened in the bathroom. He'd like to give them both a free dessert."
Go ahead, finish your dinner (after picking off the mushrooms).
Order dessert.
and WAIT. and WAIT some more.
Enjoy dessert (ice cream sundae for the kiddo and one big ol' piece of carrot cake for you and your husband and freeze-dried fruits for the baby, which, by the way, is the last resort in the diaper bag to keep baby happy)
and WAIT for the check.
Get the check and notice that you're not paying for any of the desserts or your burger.
Send the check back with your credit card.
and WAIT for it to come back. (while waiting play peek-a-boo with the napkin with the baby)
Go to sign the receipt and notice that the amount on the charge receipt is $10 more than the amount on the check.
Take the kids outside to wait (run around) and instruct your husband to deal with it.
Get in the car and wonder how the hell going to dinner early took TWO hours.
Option Two requires two hours.

Cheesy Mastercard Commercial Post

2 slices of deep dish pizza:............................$8

1 "Polish Plate":.............................................$10

6 Drink Tickets:.............................................$24

1 Can of Punch:...............................................$1

1 Bottle of Water:...........................................$2

6 Chinese Yo-Yos:..........................................$1.50

ear plugs:.........................................................$6.00

snacks for baby:..............................................$8.00

22 Ride Tickets:..............................................$20

2 funnel cakes:.................................................$14

keeping kids up past bedtime........................ risky

watching kids' faces during fireworks............priceless

dealing with crabby kids the next day...........totally worth it

Haiku Fireworks

A celebration
Lighting up the sky, loudly
Watching fireworks

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Quinn will be enjoying (hopefully) his first fireworks show tonight. I hope he loves them just as much as I do!
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For more haiku fun
Visit Jennifer right here
Play along - it's fun!

So refreshing...

Last night I went out to a Cub's game. You may remember that I'm not necessarily a Cub's fan and that Mike is most certainly a Cub's fan, so yeah, a little tiny part of me felt a little bit guilty for heading out without him to go to his favorite baseball park. But not too guilty because last night was so refreshing for me. Now...what made it so refreshing?

It wasn't the beer...

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It wasn't the nachos with the spicy cheese that made me drink that beer very quickly...

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It wasn't even the fact that Cubs played shitty baseball for the first 6 innings...

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And it wasn't the beautiful view from the ballpark...

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It must have been the fact that I got a chance to go out with a good friend. And the fact that I was in charge of figuring out how'd we'd get there - and we got there just fine (thanks! Kristabella). Usually when I go out to the city I'm never the one to lead, but since my friend is from Townsosmalltheydidnthaveastoplight, WI - I figured I'd be in charge. Although it was very comical when the two of us were trying to figure out how to use a card for the L - oh! - you have to first buy a card and also add money to that card - we did survive 2 train rides, 1 L-ride, 1 cab ride, and 1 walk home all by ourselves! And that was refreshing.

This place is beautiful!

Last night we went out to eat at Brio. Oh how I love Brio, until we get the bill, and then I think, "Why does all the really good food have to come from really expensive restaurants?" Anyway, it was our first time there with the kiddos and when Quinn walked into the restaurant he exclaimed, "Oh! This place is sooooo beautiful!" Maybe we should vary his restaurant experience from the mall eatery, McDonald's, Ed's, and Omega (like Denny's). But then again we walk out of those places not feeling like we just spent a week's worth of grocery money for One Meal.

Daddy Longlegs

Father's Day is soon

A little lesson for you

Just what you wanted!

A Daddy Longleg

Should not be called a spider

And not an insect

It's a Harvestman

With only one body part

Spiders have two parts

It's a Harvestman

With eight very long long legs

Insects have just six

No matter what name

It's fun to play under one

And count all the legs

For more haiku fun

Go visit Jennifer now

Five, seven, then five

How to Successfully Avoid a Messy House

With the thought of a post-party-messy-house I decided it might be nice to treat everyone to breakfast. So after Liam and Quinn woke up I sent Quinn to ask Mike if he'd want to go out for breakfast. I know that this is the best method for getting Mike out of bed on the weekends - a promise of eggs, biscuits, and hashbrowns - prepared by someone else and cleaned up by someone else. So, we headed out to our favorite breakfast spot and commented on how lovely it was outside. The sun was shining, a light breeze offered a bit of relief from the morning heat, and there wasn't a cloud in sight. Or maybe there was, but perhaps Mike and I were still half-asleep. After a successful trip to our breakfast spot I started to feel a bit adventurous and suggested to Mike that maybe we should just stop at home, get some things, and head to the Z. O. O., being careful to spell the letters so as not to alert Quinn. But alas, Z.O.O. is one of the words that Quinn not only likes to read all over the place, but also likes to write. ZOO. Zoo. zoo. And he quickly exclaims, "Yes! Let's go to the zoo. Can I bring a juice box? And a lunch? Will Liam come with? Let's go!" So, of course, we had no other choice than to go to the zoo. But wait, I thought, the forecast calls for scattered thunderstorms, oh, but that's been in the forecast all week and practically nothing has happened here, so let's go and avoid the messy house.
Our first stop was to visit the sharks and stingrays that you're allowed to touch. Quinn wanted nothing to do with that, but enjoyed looking into the pool.

Wait! Oh my gosh! Do you see that horrible parent? That kid is going to fall right into the pool! With the sharks! And the stingrays! Oh my god. Somebody should have stopped her.

Oh wait. That's me. And Liam- who loved splashing in the water and barked like a dog anytime a stingray swam by.

After we visited the sharks and stingrays, we quickly visited the Monkey House, since strollers are not allowed and I was having a very difficult time holding on to antsy Liam who wanted nothing more than to climb into the area with the monkeys and well, monkey around with them. Next up - the pachyderms - where we witnessed a hippo getting it's teeth brushed. I was amazed at the size of their teeth and amount - not as many as you'd think. That hippo loved having it's teeth brushed and would sit there with it's mouth open just waiting for more.

Next up? My favorite spot - looking out at the giraffes. I'm not quite sure why it's impossible to get a picture of two kids with both of them looking at the camera, but either way - it is. By this point Quinn had asked to eat lunch for the 100,000,003 time and we finally caved and found ourselves a nice little spot to eat.

Quinn enjoy his juice box and a PB&J and Mike and I were all set to enjoy hotdogs and beer. Except, the zoo doesn't serve beer until after noon - and it was only 11am! So hotdogs and water it was.

By now the heat was really starting to get to me and since I didn't know we were going to the zoo in the morning when I got dressed I was starting to crave a tank-top. Sleeves, even short sleeves, really bother me in the heat and I decided to use our membership coupon to get myself a tank-top and Quinn an umbrella, because they're so much cuter at the zoo than anywhere else. So, we headed to the dolphin spot gift shop and are told as soon as we walked in that we should go downstairs, to the under-water viewing area, because they were just made aware of a Level 2 storm advisory. "And when it reaches a Level 3, we'll join you down there. If you want to take your stroller with, go right now, otherwise you'll have to leave it outside." So, we head down to the underwater viewing area commenting on the weather. The sun was still shining and wait, oh yes, there are clouds in the sky. I'm not sure how long we were down there, but it seemed like forever. Liam wanted nothing to do with his stroller or being held, and it was quickly approaching his naptime. Finally, I found something he enjoyed doing. Crawling around on the dirty floor - with Quinn chasing him.

I called my dad to see what was going on weather wise - what exactly does Level 2 Storm Advisory mean anyway? The report? No tornadoes, but extreme storms, high winds, hail, and according to my dad it should have been raining at the zoo as I was talking to him. But it was not. After quickly thinking of heading to the car, we looked out the doors, and it started pouring. Lightening, thunder, winds, the works. Liam so wanted to go outside and play in it, but Quinn would not allow that to happen.

So finally the storm ended after about 10 minutes of rainfall, but we'd been stuck down there for at least 8 hours, or, okay, 40 minutes, or maybe it was just 30. Then we decided to head out, another call to my dad determines that there shouldn't be any more storms for awhile, so we choose to stay at the zoo a bit longer.
And then once we saw that Liam had, oh my gosh, actually fallen asleep in his stroller (for the first time ever!) - we decided to stay even longer.

It was still raining just a bit so we made use of Quinn's new umbrella and a garbage bag to keep dry. (And, I didn't get myself a new shirt, because really, they were all pretty ugly, and after the rain - the heat went away and it was SO nice out).Finally, after Mike was able to get himself a beer, we headed home. Quinn had such a long day he was fast asleep.

And I guess Liam felt like his 20 minute Power Nap in the stroller was enough for him, because he stayed awake the whole way home...But did take a nice two hour nap once we got home.