our resolution

I haven't mentioned new year's resolutions yet, have I? It's not because we don't have any. Actually, I personally have a whole list of them, including finishing repairing and painting/sealing the basement walls (this has turned into a two-year's resolution) and cutting up the fruits/vegetables as soon as we get home from the grocery store because otherwise we tend to let them go bad before we get around to it. But the biggest resolution of all is one I made for all of us: visit all of the state parks in Indiana this year. Ambitious, aren't I?

To help us on our quest, Barb and Kevin gave us a very generous Christmas gift: a state parks pass, along with a subscription to the official state parks magazine AND a gift card toward a stay at one of the state park inns. We were pretty excited to get started off on the right foot, so January 1 we set off to take part in a "First Day Hike," a program at all the state parks to encourage people to go for a hike the first day of the year. What a disaster! First we went to Tippecanoe River State Park, only to find that the trails were all closed because a big storm had knocked down a zillion branches. Undaunted, we went for our backup plan, French Park (a county park, so it wouldn't count toward our goal, but we wanted to see it anyway) but that, too, was inexplicably closed. So then we went to the unfortunately named Weenie Time drive-in restaurant for lunch (because really, how could we pass that up?) in lovely Peru, Indiana, and plotted our next move over burgers and dogs. We decided to try one last place, Frances Slocum State Recreation Area in Wabash. Google led us on a merry chase on dirt roads that bisected cornfields, and eventually we found the place ... only it was flooded, so all the trails were closed. HIKE FAIL.

Anyway. Liam had a friend spend the night last night, and Henry was feeling a little left out of their big boy activities, so I decided that since yesterday's beach trip was such fun, we should try something similar. So Henry and I dragged ourselves out of bed at dark o'clock this morning and went to Potato Creek State Park to watch the sunrise. And yes, we remembered snow pants this time! Henry had a blast running up and down the little beach, and was totally shocked when I let him go out on the ice (there were quite a few people ice fishing, so I felt pretty confident). What a thrill for him!

So what do you think? Does this count as our first official state park visit? Or do all five of us have to be there? I think that either way is fine because Potato Creek is closest to our house, so we are sure to go there again before the year is out. According to the first issue of our magazine, there are 25 state parks and 8 state lakes. I think we're going to at least go to all the parks; we'll see how many lakes we can fit in along the way. Get ready, Indiana!

winter beach

We took a quick trip to Michigan this morning. First stop was Lowery's, a small store that sort of puts me in mind of the Koontz Lake Supermarket, the little general store in the town where I grew up. Only Lowery's is known for being a huge meat market, and the store had the crowds to back up that claim. So we stocked up on dozens of pounds of beef, chicken, brats, shrimp, bacon, and sausage. Seriously, our chest freezer is full, and we shouldn't need to buy meat for months.

And next came the real payoff. We headed to Lake Michigan, found one of the neighborhood beaches where we probably (ok, definitely) weren't supposed to be without a pass (yes, we could have gone to Barb and Kevin's cottage and snagged the pass for their beach, but we just headed for the closest one and rolled the dice), parked, and headed down to see the lake in all its frozen glory. This is something I've wanted to do for a long time but just never felt particularly motivated when it's so much easier to just snuggle on the couch on a cold day. I'm glad we went, though. It was so BEAUTIFUL.

We let the boys go down a ways and throw the chunks of snow/sand, and they loved it. We didn't think ahead quite enough to bring their snow pants, but next time we will for sure. They stayed on the beach for quite a while ... probably the longest time we've ever spent on a beach without a fight breaking out.

There was only one other couple out there, a man and woman walking their dog. I felt a little vindicated about breaking the beach rules because the entrance sign clearly said NO DOGS but the couple stopped and chatted with us (for an uncomfortably long time!) and when I complimented them on how well-behaved the dog was, the woman said it was because he was very familiar with the beach since they come there every day. Take that, beach rules!

dinner with gramps, part 3

I know you've all been waiting to see how Henry did during his dinner with Gramps, right? Well, I'm happy to report that he was GREAT. We got delayed by a big car accident that closed the road on the way there, and even sitting idle for 20 minutes didn't put him in a bad mood. We went to the local Chinese buffet, and Henry was charming and cheerful. Since it is the weekend of MLK Day, Henry had tons of questions to ask Grandpa about MLK and the civil rights movement in general, and Grandpa was only too happy to accept the challenge. The two of them also bonded over the many different shrimp dishes on offer, and talked about how annoying yet rewarding it is to have to peel them.

At one point, Henry excused himself to use the restroom, and Grandpa turned to me and said, "Well, he's much less HENRY than I expected!" It was a compliment, believe me. Henry made a point of telling Grandpa directly how much he enjoyed getting to have dinner with him and talk to him on the ride home, and Grandpa made a point of telling me that he has enjoyed being able to talk to the boys one on one these past few weeks.

You'll notice that none of these posts have any pictures; I turned my phone off each time so I could just relax and enjoy our dinners together. The boys all decided to forego video games as well, even during the car ride, which, as you may know, is a BIG deal for them. Being connected and entertained is great, but as they say, time with Grandpa is priceless.

dinner with gramps, part 2

Last night was Max's turn to have dinner with his great-grandpa. We went to Symphony, a little restaurant by the park, where Gramps is a frequent diner. Max, of course, got a calamari appetizer for his dinner, then was still hungry and ended up eating half of my omelet. Gramps was brave and tried the seafood pasta, despite the fact that nobody could tell him what *kind* of seafood it was, other than "very good." It turned out to be some kind of seafood hash, and not good. And when the manager/owner came to ask him how it was, he was so deadpan smooth. "It's not the best thing I've tried here." I can never re-create his delivery, so you'll have to trust me that it was awesome and I hope to be that cool when I grow up.

Anyway, the topic of the night was travel. Max is so interested in going places, and Grandpa has been to them all, so it was a perfect match. Grandpa told us about the many trips he and Gram took to Las Vegas, his favorite destination for taking in a show and playing the tables. ("But that's not all we did! We made sure to go to museums and cultural attractions too, you know.") He told us about the times they went to Europe ("I would have rather been home working in the yard, but Bev loved it there.") and their travels around the country with a dozen kids. And even better, he asked Max about HIS travels and took the time to listen to him and engage with what he was saying. It might surprise you (it surprised me!) to know this, but Max was way more talkative and outgoing than Liam was last week. It is pretty uncharacteristic for Liam to be the shy one, and way more characteristic for Max to play it close to the vest, but he was just basking in being able to hang out and talk with Grandpa.

Of course, it didn't hurt that I bought him a milkshake after we dropped Grandpa off because he was still hungry ...

james and the giant peach

by Max

Yesterday, Mom and I went to see the play James and the Giant Peach. Two of my cousins were in the play. My cousin Jenna played Aunt Spiker, and my cousin Jayci played James. So Mom and I went all the way to Naperville to see this play. First we went to pick up Aunt Erin and Lucy and baby Jesse. Then after another 45 minutes we arrived at the play. Then we went and got our spots and we waited another 20 minutes for the show to start. Finally! The play started.

In the play James's parents die because a wild rhino escapes from a zoo and eats them. So now he has to live with his mean aunts, Spiker and Sponge, who make him work all day. After that, James has to cut peaches off the peach tree but then he finds a weird wizard who shows him a book of spells and potions and helps him make a potion. When James uses the potion it makes the peach huge (unfortunately the inflatable peach popped). Then Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge think that they have struck it rich when they see the peach "We will be famous for growing the world's largest peach," Aunt Sponge says. Then a ton of people come to see the the peach, and everyone starts singing a song about how rich Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge are. Then James says that they should thank him because he made the peach so big but Aunt Sponge says he is a huge liar and that he has to sleep outside.

During the intermission, I got to eat a chocolate bar and hold my baby cousin Jesse. After intermission the peach falls off the tree and James is in it. The peach rolls down the hill through the Willy Wonka factory and into the sea. Then James meets five bugs: Centipede, Earthworm, Ladybug, Spider, and Grasshopper. They become good friends, all except Centipede. Centipede hates humans because they kill bugs. Grasshopper notices something in the water and they are sharks bum bum bummm! James comes up with a plan pretty fast. He uses Earthworm as bait and gets the seagulls to come down, then Spider ties a web to their necks so they can carry them and the peach. After that James sees land and they see Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge. They land right on Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge. That was the end of the play.

Next we got to meet the characters so I got my picture taken with Jenna and Jayci. Last we went to Trader Joe's and got bread and fancy cheese, then I got a giant burrito at Chipotle. Then we made the long drive back home and it started snowing, and this morning we have about three inches of snow outside. I'm off to shovel now!    

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

dinner with gramps, part 1

I have something to be extremely grateful for: Uncle Greg and Aunt Milene have traveled to her native Brazil for a couple weeks. For me, this has turned out to be a great opportunity. See, Greg has a long-standing Friday date with my grandpa; that's his night to pick Grandpa up from work and give him a ride home, with a stop for dinner along the way. So with Greg out of the country, I get to fill in the schedule. It is always a treat to give Grandpa a ride, because I love spending time with him, being able to hear his stories (which are invariably fascinating), and being able to do something for him, however small, after a lifetime of him being there for everyone else. (I should say here that my grandpa's vision has declined to the point where he can't drive, so his village of children and grandchildren make sure he gets anywhere he needs to go, including to and from work each day.)

Anyway, Greg is gone for three Fridays, and I have three boys, so each week, I am bringing one boy with me. This way, the boys get some special time with their great-grandpa, and Grandpa gets to see how wonderful the boys are when there's nobody around to fight with. (Don't feel bad for the other two; they get to stay home and cook a fun dinner with their dad.) Yesterday was the first Friday, so it was Liam's turn.

During dinner, Grandpa told Liam all about the lost art of shoe shining. You should have seen Liam's face ("That's a thing? Really? No, you're making that up!"). He told us how there used to be a shoe shine area in the back of the sporting goods store downtown, and that one of the two brothers who ran it went on to become our town's mayor, so everyone's favorite joke was how they got their shoes shined by the mayor. He also told us that there used to be four gas stations at the main intersection in town (there are two now), and that each one of them did a brisk business. He knew all the owners, and they all made a decent living despite the market saturation. There was a fifth station, a Texaco I think, located slightly off of that intersection (where the County Building is now, if you are familiar with Plymouth), very near to St. Michael School, so after school, Grandpa and his friends would go hang around there, and sometimes the owner would let them pump the gas for the cars that came in (this was, of course, back in the days of full-service gas). We talked about how he once caught a very big fish, big enough that he got his picture taken, proudly holding it up in both hands, but that he only went ice fishing once (sitting on a bucket and freezing was not his idea of fun). Ditto for fly-fishing; apparently it's no fun to stand around in your waders, braced against a current, and your arms get really sore from all the casting. We agreed that the only worthwhile fishing is done from the deck of a pontoon with a cooler full of icy beverages nearby.

Liam was relatively quiet during dinner, but he did tell Grandpa that he wanted to play baseball again this year, which is news to us. I was thinking that his quiet meant that he wasn't really having a good time, but it turns out he was just listening. Once we got home, he made a point of telling me how much fun it was and that he hopes to have the chance to do it again.

I don't have a picture of the big fish, but I do have a picture of my grandpa with his dad, Grandpa Jeff, circa 1940. See the way he's looking up at him? That's exactly the way my boys look at Grandpa when he talks.