go fly a kite

It was almost bedtime last night, and the boys and I were in the living room hanging out when we heard a voice from the back of the house call out a hello. The boys raced back to my office to find ... Uncle J. Oh, the excitement! The jumping and barking and screaming with joy! The dog was pretty excited, too.

But wait, it gets better. As if a surprise visit from their hero wasn't enough, J brought them kites! So off we went to the big field behind the school to try them out, lack of wind and impending bedtime be damned. They got a couple of good flights, too, along with a LOT of running around. There were collisions, tangled strings, and frustrated exclamations, but the boys don't even remember them today. Go ahead, ask them about their night. But you might want to protect your ears first from the piercing shrieks of UNCLE J TOOK US TO FLY KITES AND IT WAS SO AWESOME AND WE JUST LOVE HIM SO MUCH. Seriously, don't say I didn't warn you.

model weekend

We had a pretty great weekend, the best one we've had in a long time. What made it so wonderful, you ask? (I know you are dying to know!) Nothing special, really. We didn't go out of town or do anything totally out of the ordinary, just had a good weekend hanging out with the boys, and the boys had a good weekend hanging out with each other without fighting too much (a factor that cannot be overestimated). On Saturday, we split up to run errands and get school supplies (yes, already!) and groceries. Liam and Henry went with me, and when we got home, we found Mike and Max working on bike riding, a skill Max has been just on the cusp of mastering for a very long time. And right then, it clicked for him. He was positively beaming as he figured out that he could do it on his own, and it was really something to see. And luckily, through the magic of the iPhone and about an hour spent trying to figure out how to get the video from phone to computer to upload it, you can!

Sunday morning, Max wanted to take his newfound skills on the road, so we all five rode out for a leisurely spin through the cemetery (which is big and has lots of paved paths). Then we came back home and hung out while Henry napped. Bethany and Klaudia came over and brought us carrots, potatoes, onions, squash, zucchini, and peppers from their garden (so awesome!), and after they left, we headed out to the dog park so Charlie could work on his social skills and Mike and the older boys could work on their frisbee throwing. After a while, Henry and I got bored and decided to take Charlie for a little walk on the Greenway trail, so we headed down and went over a couple of bridges and took Charlie down to the riverbank, where we discovered that although he won't take a drink from the doggie water fountain at the park, he'll wade right in to slurp up some river water.

Back at home, Mike made us a most excellent dinner (grilled tuna steaks, spicy pasta salad, and grilled asparagus and zucchini) and everyone was full and happy. And then the boys went to bed with nary a complaint, leaving us plenty of time to spend an evening just being together. Seriously, it's just the kind of weekend I could get used to -- and I hope I have a chance to!

pool party!

A great time was had by all (look at little Elly throwing diving rings for the big kids!) plus it was an excellent opportunity for me to test the capabilities of my zoom lens.

more from michigan

We did go to the beach, but I didn't take my camera. Also, it was chilly and windy and there was a storm coming in, so we didn't stay too awfully long. But there were still plenty of good times for the weekend, including a visit to a giant wooden playground, a stop for coffee that turned into a trip to a meat market for some homemade sausage and spicy mustard, lunch at a fancy tavern, pizza for dinner, and a birthday breakfast for Liam from the Swedish bakery. But the real highlight was our visit to Fernwood Botanical Garden, where we tromped around through the woods, visited a railway garden without having Henry cause a major catastrophe, navigated a plant maze, sampled from the herb garden, and got up close and personal with a bunch of turtles. Check it out:

liam at nine

We've started an unfortunate (for our pocketbooks!) trend this year of going away for birthday weekends. Liam's birthday fell on a Sunday this year, so we decided to celebrate by spending the weekend at Barb and Kevin's cottage in Michigan (hospitality for which we and our pocketbooks are profoundly grateful). We took the dog (his first trip with us) and we had a great time exploring the area and just hanging out together. We came back Sunday afternoon, which was a workday for Mike (inconvenient holiday schedule!) but the boys and I went to Hacienda for his birthday dinner and were joined by my parents, J, Loni, Bethany, Joe, and Klaudia. It was quite a meal to top off a pretty incredible weekend.

Our Liam is kind of at a tough age. He's old enough that I can trust him to be pretty responsible, but still young enough that he constantly ignores his responsibilities in favor of whatever fun thing is more appealing. He's old enough to ride his bike alone (within set boundaries), but still young enough that he doesn't always come home when he says he will. Yes, I know, these things will get worse as he gets older, but I'm hoping there is a sweet spot in there somewhere -- kind of the calm before the storm of the teenage years.

Right now, Liam is a blur of activity. He's spent his summer playing basketball, baseball, and tennis, and swimming. He got a new bike from us for his birthday, and has been tearing around the neighborhood. He has so much energy, and hardly sits still, though for the past couple of weeks has been spending his afternoons totally engrossed in reading. 

Liam's the elder statesman at home, and when school starts, he'll be in the highest grade (fourth) at the elementary school (next year, he moves up to intermediate school). Sometimes he tries to set a good example, but (and I totally get this) it's just so *hard* to be good all of the time. That part has been a real challenge for Liam (and his brothers!) lately because he wants to be good, but fighting and running and arguing are just too tempting.

For the third year running, we had a party at the local pool for Liam's birthday. This year, a whole bunch of kids came, and everyone (except for the kid who mysteriously got a bloody nose) was perfectly happy splashing and swimming and diving and horsing around. I am pretty sure that Liam's face hurt by the end of the party from all the smiling he was doing. And that, my friends, is what it's all about.

Happy birthday, Liam! We love you ... and we hope that you spend every birthday from here on out smiling until your cheeks are sore.

happy father's day!

This morning, Mike slept in while the boys and I went to a Father's Day breakfast at my parents' house. On the drive over, while Max and Henry watched a movie in the back, Liam and I talked about all the things he loves about his dad. Here is his top five list, in the order that he gave it (although he wanted to be clear that he was doing a top five because he couldn't narrow it down to just one thing he loves the best).

1. He plays catch with me all the time.
2. He teaches me about gardening.
3. He pitches to me so I can do batting practice.
4. He tells me all the time that I am tall and strong and smart.
5. He gets up every morning to drive us to school even though he is tired from working late.

Being a parent is hard work, and Mike (like every other parent!) worries sometimes that he is not doing it as well as he can be. But I think it's pretty telling that the things his son has to say about him are about how his dad spends a lot of time with him doing things they love together and makes him feel good about who he is. In my book, that means he's doing it exactly right. Happy Father's Day, Mike!

nature boys

During the summer, Mike has a lot of mandatory overtime (boo!) on Saturdays, which means I am left to my own devices to figure out something fun to do with the boys. This weekend, I planned to take them to Taltree Arboretum in Valparaiso. Unfortunately, Max's plans (hitting and kicking) weren't compatible with mine, so he went to work at my parents' house for the afternoon while Liam, Henry, Klaudia, and I headed out. We checked out the Railway Garden first, of course, because no little boy can resist its charms. And everything was great, everyone happy as we walked around and checked out the scenery...

 ...Until Henry touched a train and derailed it.  Liam went into the office to alert the staff, but before they came out another train came barreling down the track, there was a collision, and one of the cars fell off the trestle and into the water below. As you can imagine, that was the end of the train portion of our visit.

Next we checked out the Children's Adventure Garden, which is new since we were here last year (and is still partially under construction). We investigated the chicken coop (in which one of the chickens was raising some orphaned ducklings -- awesome!), a building with a turf roof, paths made out of logs, a hidden music garden, and lots of other fun stuff.

After that, we took a walk around the giant pond where the bullfrogs live. This month's exhibit is called People of the Woods. The staff at the arboretum took fallen logs and carved/sculpted them into the forms of some famous environmentalists. Neat!

All in all, it had all the ingredients for a successful afternoon: not too crowded, plenty of interesting things to see and do, and lots of room for the boys to run around and exhaust themselves (which made bedtime a real treat).

sunday drive

Today we headed up to Michigan to see Barb and Kevin and have a little adventure. We met them at their cottage, then had a lovely brunch at Blue Plate Cafe, where the boys were shockingly well behaved. It was nice to see them--somehow we all got busy and hadn't gotten together since before Easter. After brunch, Barb and Kevin headed back home to Naperville, and Mike and I took the boys to Warren Dunes State Park. It was way too chilly to hang out on the beach, let alone dip a toe in Lake Michigan, so instead we set out to climb the 260-foot dune. As you can see, the boys really dug it. They are still talking about it hours later, and already wondering when we can go back for another round!

opening day!

Today was Liam's first baseball game of the season. This year he moved up from T-ball to C League, which pretty much means more of everything: more practice, more innings in the game, more games in the season. He is really loving it so far (even if I am not loving that later games and practices mean I have to keep the little boys up way past their bedtime!) and seems to be doing well. In this game, his team lost, but Liam got his first hit and first RBI of the season. As you can see above, Liam plays "pitcher," which is really just a fielding position since they use a pitching machine.

One thing that's kind of stinky: This game was the only one all season to be played on a weekend day. The rest of the season will be played on weeknights, which sucks for Mike, who is at work in the evenings and won't get to see many games at all. He has arranged to take at least one night off to see a game when his parents come to town to cheer Liam on, but that's pretty much it.

Anyway, back to the game: Max and Henry were pretty good spectators, mostly because I brought a truck and a bucket and shovel for Henry so he could dig in the dirt, and Max discovered that C League has a hidden benefit: a concession stand. Amazing how long a bag of popcorn can keep a kid entertained. It helped that Bethany and Klaudia came too, giving Liam a cheering section six strong. His next game is Wednesday, and I'm pretty sure we won't have any extra spectators, so it will be interesting to see if Max and Henry behaving was just a fluke or a sign of a fun and more relaxed (for me, anyway!) season to come.