Long Run Goal for the Week

Listed below is my favorite mapping software. I am unoficially training for a half-marathon. I am slowly increasing my distance and hope to do a 6 mile long run this weekend.

Dan has been a great supporter. In Wisconsin, he ran with me every day. He would stay with me for about 2.5 miles of my 4.5 mile run. This is great considering he had not been running prior to our vacation!

[Edit: Dan is physically, morally, and fundamentally opposed to any sort of organized, premeditated exercise. That's cruel and unusual when it is forced upon another person; it's downright frightening for someone to knowingly submit himself or herself to that kind of torture. No thank you. I'd rather be waterboarding. If it happens spontaneously (i.e. chasing three and five-year-old children through parks, zoos or museums; flash soccer/ baseball/ ghost in the graveyard games in the backyard; emergency walking treks for beer ten minutes before the game begins, biking to work work because gas prices make you nauseous {that's a true story!}, etc.), great! Put me on the front of a Wheaties box!]

Happy 9th Birthday, Jacob

Here is a video I made when Jacob was two(?), three (?)... Before we had even two kids... I'd like to eventually do something like this with all the children, but... Well, you know.




My favorites things about my eldest son (in no particular order):

• He introduced me to the comic genius of Captain Underpants. Although, his spelling and grammar has regressed. Go figure.
  
• He can explain to me, citing accurate stats, why Reggie Bush is his favorite NFL player.
• He shares my opinion (I KNOW he does) that Alfonso Soriano is a bum; but, like a true, blue fan, defends him vehemently.
• He lets me win, sometimes, when we play each other in FIFA on Playstation.
• He laughs at my jokes, and is a true, hard critic when my jokes aren't funny; which, he has just informed me, "happens, like, 11 times out of 10"... He also banks at the 5th/3rd Bank.
• After every soccer game, no matter if his team wins or loses, he comes to me for a big hug.
• At nine years old, while he is embarrassed of my spontaneous breaking into Britney Spears/ Drake & Josh/ Hanna Montana/ iCarly songs in public, he is not yet too embarrassed to walk up to me at a crowded picnic and give me a big, genuine, kiss on my bald head.
  

Welcome to Wisconsin!

Yes, dear family and friends, we travel at 4:00 AM. Why such craziness you ask? My parents' summer home in Wisconsin is a 5 hour car ride (sans stops) and we find that by the time the little monsters awake from their slumber we are most of the way there.

When we arrived in Stoddard, Wisconsin (population 815), Grandpa Pretzel, Grandma Bobbie and my Godmother Marilyn were enjoying the beautiful scenery and quiet company. Well, that changed quickly as the kids ran wild, happy to be released from the captivity of the car. We strolled the few hundred feet to the bank of the Mississippi river and admired the beauty of the river and bluffs. We also found a small park and sandbox adjacent to a Field of Dreams-like baseball field. Jacob promptly ran and slid into every base. He came back with a satisfied grin and covered in dusty dirt and white chalk from the fresh lines on the diamond.

We took the kids to Grandad's Bluff which is the highest point on the local bluffs. Due to the very wet spring, much of the area was not accessible because of sink holes (yes, a new nightmare for me as a mother). Afterwards, we went to the Alpine Inn where we ate hambugers, played music on the juke box, played a game of pool and played in the sand volleyball courts. That night, Dan and I went to dinner at Schmity's with my Dad and Bobbie. The kids stayed home to take a bath and go to bed in anticipation of the next day's adventure.

Caity asked me throughout the day (and week), "Mama, where you going? You going to work?" I responded that I was not going to work because I was on vacation and my job was to play. And play we did!

Farewell Chicago Fire Juniors

It is hard to believe, but Jacob's travel soccer season with the Chicago Fire Juniors has ended. For those of you who have not had kids in travel sports, it is an exciting but demanding experience. We have traveled to Cary, Arlington Heights, Oak Park and Glen Ellen to name a few towns. Jacob played goal and forward.


Next year Jacob has decided to try his new passion - baseball. In order to do so, he will need to forgo travel soccer. Dan was heartborken because he really took a liking to the sport and this team in particular. It has been exciting to see Jacob improve over the last two years. Knowing Jacob, he will try a few more sports on for size before dedicating his focus to just one.


One of the families paid to have plaques made for each of the boys. After their last game, we had a small award ceremony.

Thanks, Miss Jessica!

Caitlin and Isabel were so excited to get new clothes for their birthday. This particular outift was a present from Karen's friend Jessica. The girls wore the outfits on a preschool field trip to the Morton Arboretum.

The Most Normal Weekend in Months

Soccer season is over; Karen did not travel; Dan did not steal off somewhere to fulfill dreams of Rock and Roll stardom... We were all at home with nothing to do. Here are pictures from an impromptu trip to Brookfield Zoo on Saturday. We got caught in the brief, but heavy, thunderstorm when we arrived, but the weather cooperated and cleared up gloriously. We had a wonderful time, with many firsts for the girls: first dolphin show, which completely delighted Isabel and Caity, and genuinely impressed the boys. Notice in the pictures, Jacob and Dan are decked out in their Cubs regalia. They learned, through repeated phone calls from Dan's friend and fellow Cubs fan, Vic, the progression of the Cubs throughout that electric (and, dare I say, historic) fourth inning.

On Sunday, we spent the day at the Sea Lion Aquatic Park in Lisle. The boys enjoyed the water slides, while the girls played in the toddler pool and the sand area. Mom and Dad soaked up some rays and enjoyed another amazing weather day in the Chicago area.

Now, if the Cubs can sweep the Sox, this will be the perfect weekend. :)

There Were Ponies.

Indeed, there were: one named Splash, and one named Skye. This past Saturday, June 7, was Caitlin's, Isabel's, and Aidan's annual birthday blowout. They did party as if it were their (actual) birthday; however, they did not sip Bacardi for the aforementioned reasons. At least not to my knowledge.

Karen and I are the stereotypical suburban over-the-top parent party-throwers, but this observation and title must come with a disclaimer, one that Karen and I, both highly sensitive to the acknowledgment that we are those kinds of parents, have painstakingly fashioned in our own defense. Here's how it goes: This is the only party we host during the year. We invite family from both the Ephraim and Ridges side as well as friends and whomever else we can think that might enjoy seeing the kids. We want everyone invited to come because this is sometimes the only time we get to see some of the family members during the year, so we offer some fabulous swag for those who attend.

This year we had ponies and a bounce house, two children's party events that one might not think would have much of an impact on each other; however, it turns out that Splash, the small pony, is not fond of bounce houses, and we were told by the handler that we needed to deflate the apparatus or strange violent and terrible things could happen. My brother, David, surmised that both ponies would just want to go in the bounce house, and we'd never get them to give the children rides.

The weather did hold up, right until the girls began their ride, then the clouds burst into a torrential downpour. Splash, we found out, is also not a fan of rain, so he bucked a bit, and Karen had to get Isabel off pretty quickly. Isabel was not fazed in the least, and as soon as the rain stopped, she was right back on. The pony Caity was riding, Skye, was described by the handler as "bomb-proof", and didn't bat a single of his pretty pony eyelashes. Caity was not affected by the rain at all. She just wanted to finish her ride.

When the rain subsided, the rest of the children were able to get their pony rides. The adults stayed in the house, mostly, but we thought it was nice and cozy, and Karen and I got to visit with family while the kids finished their pony rides or slipped around in the wet bounce house.

Once the guests left, we cleaned what we could and headed off to bed. Karen's sister Donna was in from Maryland, and on Sunday morning the two of them met up with their brothers, Greg and Kyle, for a 5K run in Glenview to support a hospice-type care facility. Every year, they try to get together and run a race in memory of Gerry.

The party was a success. Dan had three crabby kids on Sunday (Jacob did remarkable well, despite having a sleep over with his friend Marcus the night before and an intense soccer game on Sunday morning [Chicago Fire Jrs won 5-3, which is a HUGE deal this spring season.] but had a chilled out day watching the rain from the family room with the girls and Aidan.

Thank you everyone who came to the party and made it a special day for us and our children. Your gifts were very generous and will bring the kids hours, nay, months of good times.

Our camera crapped out on us during the party, so we got very Ridges-centric pictures for fear of total demise. If anyone has pictures of the guests of the party, please email them to me. I will put them up.