Lowes Ghoul Bus

I've seen ads for kid type activities at Home Depot in Hawaii.  I discovered that KC loves going to Lowes in Illinois for some building activities for kids.

I stayed home to work on hemming pants instead of going on this outing, but I assigned Art to take photos I'd be able to post.

This was a wonderful father and daughter activity.  KC loves maps and instruction sheet pictures.  First she studied the directions carefully.

I am giving my son-in-law a lot of credit to trust his daughter with a hammer so close to his thumb.

Looks like this was a popular activity for a lot of parents and children.  It's a free activity, but I'll bet it will pay off for Lowes when those kids are older and decide they can do their own Do-It-Yourself projects.

Voila!  The perfectly completed toy.  Hmmm... Does Ed's thumb look a little flattened?

Friends

Along with our family, our greatest joy in returning to Chicago is to see dear friends who were and are an important part of our lives.

I was so touched that teacher friends waited for my return to celebrate Sally's retirement.  She is seated second from the left. Only one friend could not be there on that special night.  Our happy nine made going to work a pleasure and created a family of teachers who supported each other through two decades.

We've known Bill for nearly 30 years.  He had been a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sierra Leone, West Africa.  We loved meeting his lovely friend, Sandra.

I still find it interesting that Bill's son ended up working in Japan for a time and our son, Jon became a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali, West Africa.

Daisy and Alan's son was Jon's classmate from kindergarten.  We used to have lunch with Daisy and Alan every Friday.  Our goal was to find the most economical, tastiest restaurant in the area.  We succeeded again on this day.

We have celebrated our January wedding anniversaries with Jim and Terry along with Bart and Diane for about 30 years.

In some years it's the only time we've managed to get together, but the tradition keeps our friendship alive and special.

And in between all those happy get-togethers, I managed to hem up about 15 of Tiffany and Ed's pants. 

It was fun to get back in the groove of life in Illinois.  Our son-in-law, Ed suggested buying a home next door.  As lovely a thought as that is, Hawaii is also our home now and I knew Mom was impatiently waiting for us to return.

Chicago Marathon!

When we booked plane tickets for Jon to come and visit with us the first weekend in October, we somehow forgot to check with Tiffany on their schedule.  As it turned out, they had a wedding that they had to attend on Saturday and on Sunday, KC had been counting on watching her Auntie Jane run in the Chicago Marathon.

No problem!  Jon and Art were happy to observe their first Chicago Marathon.  We'd never gone to see it in the 35 years we lived in Illinois.

For one thing, we were always worried about the traffic and parking.

Amazingly, it was also not a problem.

We found a parking garage right away and walked the short distance to the spot where Tif told Jane we would be waiting.

Suddenly there it was!  Thousands of runners going past in high spirits.  Of course this was only about the 7 mile mark of the 26 + mile Marathon.

Message for my Canadian blogger friends:  You were definitely well presented!

We also noticed a large contingent from our neighbors in Mexico.

We quickly got into the excitement of the Marathon and clapped and shouted for everybody.  I had the feeling that Art and Jon were wishing they were out there (running) too.

We loved all the costumes that many of the runners wore.  There were also tutus and even a Captain Hook (I think).

Can you imagine how hot he'd probably be by the end of the race?

One runner was a sweet older gentleman who was holding Mardi Gras necklaces.  He veered toward us and draped a necklace on a thoroughly delighted KC.

There were a lot of volunteer Marathon enforcers who made sure people stayed on the sidewalk.

You can see empty water bottles strewn along the road.

We eventually learned that many runners had their names printed on their shirts so you could call out your encouragement to them.  We tried to do this with gusto.  This fellow helped us out by running along the road and pointing this sign at a runner.

And then, there she was!

Our wonderful, honorary Auntie Jane who has been a special part of KC's life.

Jane is a doctor and had made up her mind to practice what she preaches about exercise. 

This was her first Marathon.

It wasn't easy holding KC back.  She wanted to run out into the crowd to greet her "Auntie" and show her the sign she'd worked so hard on.

And then... after a quick high five, she was gone and we left with smiles on our faces and in our hearts.

We then picked up Ed and headed out to an IHOP for breakfast before taking Jon to O'Hare Airport.

Even though I've strongly advised Art to stay with Half-Marathons from now on... I was hearing rumblings of "Wouldn't it be neat to do the Chicago Marathon?"

And then, in the blink of an eye, a wave of a hand... our visit with Jon was over. 

Art and I have decided that when he graduates, we will make a trip to Baltimore and spend time on the East coast again.

Then again... maybe we won't wait that long.

Jon's Visit

We were expecting our son, Jon to arrive on Friday evening from Baltimore where he is attending grad school at Johns Hopkins.  It had been about five years since he'd seen his childhood home and neighborhood.

Jon and me

He'd also not seen the changes that had taken place since Tiffany and Ed had bought the place from us.

Tiffany worried that he might not care for the changes she had made.  She need not have worried.

Jon in his old bedroom with Art

Jon was fine.  He was happy to see his niece in his old room.

KC had been waiting impatiently for her Uncle Jonny to arrive.

Whereas she was shy when she was younger, now KC pulled Jon along and begged him to play with her. 

On Saturday morning, she had fun showing him how to deflate his air mattress in the family/play room.


I was really proud of Jon for the attention and caring he showed KC.  Someday... he will make a wonderful father himself.

I was amazed at how quickly KC became attached to him.

We had a huge brunch at Walker Brothers Pancake House which is very popular in Chicago.  The line to enter wrapped around the building.

Once inside we laughed to see KC carefully rearrange the dolls in the display.  She is certainly her mother's daughter!

Jon had the famous Walker Brothers apple pancake.  He and Art  thought they'd be able to finish it, but ended up eating only half which happily meant left-overs.

We then went to KC's school playground where she showed Uncle Jonny her favorite swings.

KC has heard all the tales of Uncle Jonny's many childhood accidents.

Tiffany and Jon went to this very same school.  I'm sure it brought back many memories for them.

In the evening, Tiffany, Ed and KC had a wedding that they had to attend.

We cherished the time we could have our son to ourselves and went to a Japanese restaurant called Renga Tei. 

After Tiffany and family returned, we stayed up late into the night trying to savor every minute we could with Jon.  Tomorrow would be here too soon and Jon would have to leave.

Kindergarten Life

October 3rd was International Walk to School Day!

Considering the fact that the Midwest has been hard hit by drought this year, it was ironic that it should rain on Walk to School Day.

The fall colors were a little muted on this cloudy day.

We walked to a central meeting place which made it a longer walk to school for us.

It didn't dampen the spirits of all the students who took part in this fun morning.

A long procession of teachers, children and parents walked to school where refreshments awaited the children indoors.  I hope it was hot chocolate.

After school we worked on KC's homework.  This is a week's worth and was not difficult for KC.  However, I was stunned to see what the expectations were for a little kindergartener.  She is learning word families, alphabetical order, handwriting, beginning consonant sounds and digraphs (ch, sh, th), sight word recognition and spelling, creative writing, patterns, etc.  And this was only after the first month of kindergarten!

When I was teaching first grade in this same district, kindergarten was developmental.  Children were not taught handwriting and were certainly not expected to write on lines.  All that happened in first grade.  Kindergarten was a time for children to get adjusted to being in school and to acquire learning and social skills.

Although KC is loving kindergarten and feeling very proud of her new abilities I worry about children who don't  get the same kind of support KC gets at home from both parents.

In the month that we were there, I saw KC's understanding of reading, writing, and math blossom.  No longer shy about making new friends, I saw her confidence grow.

I hope the next 16 years or so of schooling will be just as happy.

And then... the Apple Tree

October 1st, Monday:

There was a time Art just loved planting trees.  Well... actually he still loves planting trees.  Unfortunately, they have a habit of growing too big.

The day before, it was the cherry tree. 

Today however, Tif was worried that the 30 foot apple tree was leaning toward the house and reaching toward the neighbor's power lines.

"NO way!" I told Art.  "That tree is too huge!  Look at the trunk diameter.  We cannot take down that tree."

(Art measured the diameter later at 9 inches.)

Did I mention that this was supposed to be a miniature too?

Did I also mention that Art likes a challenge and it's never a good idea to tell him he can't do something?

The backyard was soon getting full of branch bundles.

I had to guide the branch toward our yard so it wouldn't pull down the neighbor's power lines.

We eventually got most of the lower branches cut and bundled.

We couldn't find the large ax we used to have so we had to use this hatchet, but Art was determined.

Our neighbor was watching our progress and brought over his chain saw for us to use.

Unfortunately, the chain saw wouldn't work properly.

It was afternoon by the time we got the roots cut so we could pull the tree down. Our neighbor and Tif's handyman who was working on renovating their bathroom came to help pull.

I could not believe we actually did it!

We kept a bunch of the apple logs for our friends who said they were great for the fireplace and grilling.

Needless to say we had a lot of landscape bundles for fall pick-up a few days later.

We slept well that night!