Best quote of the summer - Deanna, speaking to me while changing Cooper's diaper one night after a long day during 4th of July weekend: "How did Cooper get orzo on his scrotum??" How indeed my young friend. If you end a day with orzo on the scrotum, you can say with some authority that that is a day that has been lived to the fullest.
With October here and temperatures hovering in the 50’s and 60’s, it has become futile to argue that it is still summer in Chicago. It is thus time to formally bid adieu to what was truly an outstanding season. We laughed, we cried (including over spilled milk, my parental admonishments to the contrary notwithstanding). Those of us who didn’t know how to talk at summer’s outset are now little talking machines, a bike laden with training wheels at the outset of summer is now a sleek two wheeler, and the water that looked so deep and intimidating on Memorial Day was simply a place to joyously jump into and swim by Labor Day. There was a week in Wisconsin, three weekends in Michigan, five hours in Canada, one weekend in Springfield celebrating my grandmother’s 94th birthday, lots of days at the beach, visits to the zoo, and bike rides with me towing the twins in a trailer and Owen trailing Deanna on a tagalong. We went to the horseraces, car shows and cruise nights, to parks and parades and picnics, watched fireworks, hung out at the pool, ran through sprinklers, slid down slip and slides, rode the rides at Kiddieland, climbed on tanks at Cantigny, saw the sights at Navy Pier, went up in the Sears Tower, and visited Millennium Park and Buckingham Fountain. We ate hundreds of cherry tomatoes off of the vine, grew sunflowers from seed, and picked blueberries at a farm. We bought a new car (2004 Toyota Corolla) and said goodbye to our beloved old one (1993 Camry). Owen played t-ball and took swimming lessons, I ran a 5-K and went kayaking. We went to concerts, barbecued, spent many happy hours visiting with family and friends, and drank to excess a couple of times. We gathered around a fire pit with friends, telling ghost stories and roasting marshmallows. We endured floodwaters in our Village and were caught in a torrential downpour at the beach in Michigan after lingering too long watching the rain and lightning roll in from Lake Michigan. We watched sunsets, slept in hammocks, and Owen and I spent a great night camping in a tent in the backyard, where we read old Calvin and Hobbes cartoons and ate junk food. All in all, not a bad way to spend four or so months. Here are a few final pictures – soon, all that will be left to warm us up until Spring:
With October here and temperatures hovering in the 50’s and 60’s, it has become futile to argue that it is still summer in Chicago. It is thus time to formally bid adieu to what was truly an outstanding season. We laughed, we cried (including over spilled milk, my parental admonishments to the contrary notwithstanding). Those of us who didn’t know how to talk at summer’s outset are now little talking machines, a bike laden with training wheels at the outset of summer is now a sleek two wheeler, and the water that looked so deep and intimidating on Memorial Day was simply a place to joyously jump into and swim by Labor Day. There was a week in Wisconsin, three weekends in Michigan, five hours in Canada, one weekend in Springfield celebrating my grandmother’s 94th birthday, lots of days at the beach, visits to the zoo, and bike rides with me towing the twins in a trailer and Owen trailing Deanna on a tagalong. We went to the horseraces, car shows and cruise nights, to parks and parades and picnics, watched fireworks, hung out at the pool, ran through sprinklers, slid down slip and slides, rode the rides at Kiddieland, climbed on tanks at Cantigny, saw the sights at Navy Pier, went up in the Sears Tower, and visited Millennium Park and Buckingham Fountain. We ate hundreds of cherry tomatoes off of the vine, grew sunflowers from seed, and picked blueberries at a farm. We bought a new car (2004 Toyota Corolla) and said goodbye to our beloved old one (1993 Camry). Owen played t-ball and took swimming lessons, I ran a 5-K and went kayaking. We went to concerts, barbecued, spent many happy hours visiting with family and friends, and drank to excess a couple of times. We gathered around a fire pit with friends, telling ghost stories and roasting marshmallows. We endured floodwaters in our Village and were caught in a torrential downpour at the beach in Michigan after lingering too long watching the rain and lightning roll in from Lake Michigan. We watched sunsets, slept in hammocks, and Owen and I spent a great night camping in a tent in the backyard, where we read old Calvin and Hobbes cartoons and ate junk food. All in all, not a bad way to spend four or so months. Here are a few final pictures – soon, all that will be left to warm us up until Spring:
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Of 10 photos in the giant chair at Julie's in Fish Creek, Wisconsin, this is the only one where everyone is vaguely looking in the same direction.
Awesome Norwegian flag tattoo sent to Owen by CloudEight reader Gail in Minnesota.
Thanks Gail! Owen wore it on his head for 4 days straight until we made him wash it off for the start of the school year.
Hayden goes full on patriotic, right down to his NASCAR sippy cup, the toddler equivalent of the American flag lapel pin.
Buckingham Fountain!
Summer takes its toll.
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