Tuesday, May 31, 2011

biking the drive

Mike is not a morning person.

Saturday afternoon, we watched Liam conclude his undefeated (!!) soccer season, then we hopped in Mike's car and headed for Chicago, while the boys got to spend some quality time with Yami, Aunt Bethany, and Aunt Avalon. We had a hotel room overlooking Grant Park, and a night where nobody would wake us up crying or begging to be taken outside. It was just about perfect. We found a fantastic Thai restaurant, Ma & I, and we tried all sorts of new food along with some old favorites. It was incredibly good. And after a solid night's sleep, we were up at 4 (yes, that's a.m.) to go retrieve our bikes and set out on a 30-mile ride up and down Lake Shore Drive.


This year's Bike the Drive was different than the last one we did because we didn't have a nice, sunny day. It was chilly, and the fog was dense all over the city, which gave everything a spooky feeling that I really enjoyed. It was a long ride, but peaceful, with occasional glimpses of the skyline and the lake when the fog lifted for a minute or two. It never lifted for long, though, and we finished our ride and had just enough time to shower and check out of the hotel when the heavens opened up. So we beat a hasty retreat back to the Hoosier State, replaced cold and foggy with hot and humid, collected our very tired offspring, and took our slightly sore selves back home.

Friday, May 27, 2011

happy memorial day!

On this holiday weekend, I ask the important question: Do you have any idea how hard it is to get these three to stop moving long enough for me to take a picture that has all of them in focus?

It's impossible, but I keep trying. Have a lovely long weekend!


Tuesday, May 24, 2011

another fun weekend


In this installment, Grandma and Grandpa visited to see the boys' soccer games. Max got a medal after his last game of the season (they all did) and insisted on wearing it all weekend long. The big boys got to go to a Star Wars-themed birthday party that was literally inspired by Liam's birthday festivities last year, and Henry got to enjoy some rare alone time with his parents.


Sunday morning, we hopped on our bikes (and by "hopped," I mean that Max rode his bike, Liam walked his bike, and I carried Henry's trike) and headed over to the school playground/field for a little practice riding. Neither Liam nor Max is quite ready to give up training wheels, and that is doubtless our fault. It really doesn't help that every time we get out the bikes, one or both (or all three, this time!) has outgrown the current bike configurations, and adjustments have to be made. Liam has outgrown his bike entirely, so now we're hoping he can make do with it until we retrieve Mike's childhood bike from Naperville. Since both Liam and Max will be home all summer (they opted out of the fun summer program the daycare offers, despite it featuring weekly field trips, pool trips, library visits, etc.) our goal is to have them both riding without training wheels by fall.


In other weekend events, Mike demonstrated the difficulties associated with riding a too-small bike, and Henry tried to make a break for it and climb a chain-link fence. Also, the mosquitoes are BAD already. Max is still the hardest hit. He got a bite on one side of his neck Sunday that swelled up by Monday to golf ball size despite the repeated application of cream specifically made for bug bites. Yikes!



Thursday, May 12, 2011

deus ex marlene, or a mother's day tale

Wednesday was the deadline for a side project I took on that turned out to be truly ludicrous in its time requirements. Seriously, readers, you will all be sad to know that I took the unprecedented step of skipping Mother's Day to instead devote 16 hours to work while Mike and the boys planted seeds, played on the playground with Charlie, and flew Mike's remote control helicopter. Anyway, by Tuesday night, the ticking of the clock was unbearably loud, and I resigned myself to pulling an all-nighter to get the thing done.

Then, out of nowhere, a text arrived from my lovely and talented (and did I mention lovely?) mother, with the magic words: "Do the boys have any plans for tonight?" As it happened, no, they didn't have plans, so my mom picked them up from school/daycare and took them all to the park for a chicken picnic, thus freeing me up for an extra few hours of productive work. And listen, she really is a saint for doing it: It was 90 degrees on Tuesday, and she chased after three very active boys for a very long time.

So the boys came home, exhausted and happy. And my mom went home, no doubt just as exhausted. And I got to meet my deadline AND get some sleep Tuesday night. And that's the miracle of my mom: Not just that she was willing and able to help out with the boys, but that I didn't even have to ask.

And that's what it's all about. Happy belated Mother's Day, Mom! You really, really, really are the best.