da plane! da plane!

so to give the boys a thrill and holli some time to work in peace (yes, she had a working weekend again, poor girl), i packed liam and max in the car saturday morning, and we headed for chicagoland. our destination: wheaton, illinois. our goal: to connect with mark and linus, ride some trains, and take in the annual chicago air and water show.

i had planned to leave plymouth around 8 or 8:15, so when i woke up at 8:05 (with little or nothing packed and the boys undressed and unbreakfasted), i knew we were in trouble. after some frantic activity, we were out the door a little after 9, and as max likes to say, we "floored on the gas"(i suppose that's some combination of "floor it" and "step on the gas"). we made it to mark and katie's in wheaton in record time, and after a brisk walk, mark, linus, liam, max, and i arrived at the train station just as our train pulled in. perfect timing!

liam has been with me on the L in chicago before, but other than that, the boys (liam and max, that is) have never been on a train, so this was an exciting experience for them. the first few minutes were spent yelling in amazement and rubber-necking, then the three youngsters all decided they were hungry. lunchtime. try to guess how many goldfish crackers max has in his mouth.






after arriving at ogilvie station in chicago, we had to hoof it to the L. liam and max and linus played the latest craze, "who can spot the tallest building?" this consisted of pointing at a building and saying, "look how tall that building is!" then another kid (usually liam) would shout, "oh yeah? look how tall THAT building is!" i tried to end the game (argument) by pointing at the sears tower (willis tower, whatever) and saying, "that's the tallest building for 8,000 miles," but it didn't work.

we shortly found an L station and waited for a brown-line train to show up. eventually one did, and liam was fascinated by the train's passage through downtown chicago. after a few minutes, max and linus joined him on a pair of seats, and the three amigos soon had half the car cracking up with their songs and obnoxious antics. so cute.






we disembarked at the fullerton station, and the real trek began. i had forgotten how far the fullerton L stop is from the lake (especially with three little kids and a pair of overloaded backpacks), and we were all dead tired by the time we arrived at lincoln park (the actual park, not the neighborhood). however, thanks to three weeks of yoga, i'm starting to see some definition in my upper arms. only one person in the universe will get that joke. liam still had enough energy to play king of the mountain, and linus and max were quick to follow. despite their faces (max's and linus's, at least), they were all really enjoying themselves.




finally, we made it to a good spot to watch the planes, so we set up camp. grapes and goldfish were distributed, and we all settled in to watch the doings a-transpiring. the lima lima flight team (based in naperville, coincidentally) was just finishing up, followed by the bizarre aerial antics of the oracle stunt plane (go search youtube for some of this madman's maneuvers). the golden knight skydivers jumped out of a perfectly good airplane. then the real excitement began.

first up was the A-10 thunderbolt, aka warthog. liam and max have a huge collection of toy airplanes, and the warthog happens to be liam's favorite, so he was especially interested. he even brought his warthog plane with him to the show. (in an extremely sweet moment later, liam gave his treasured A-10 plane to linus. we're going to need a replacement.)




after the warthog came an F-15 eagle. now, i've been to a lot of airshows, and i've even seen (and heard!) A-10s and A-7s use their enormous rotary cannons to shoot at ground targets. nevertheless, nothing can quite prepare you for how loud these machines can be, and the F-15 must be among the loudest. liam loved the noise, and you can hear his delighted laughter in the first video. eventually the F-15 took its leave by passing by and climbing straight up out of sight and hearing (second video). liam said, "he's flying to outer space!" very cool.





as we waited for the next flying attraction, uncle mark took the boys to get some ice cream. liam got a batman item, max chose a teenage mutant ninja turtle thingy, and linus had some kind of red-white-and-blue selection. we used a lot of our water cleaning them off.


after a little while, the next group of planes arrived. this formation consisted of the A-10, the F-15 (after a major descent), an F-16 (not one of the thunderbirds, who showed up later), and a WWII-era P-51 mustang (you can see it if you look closely). for some reason, they only did two passes, and neither was very picture-friendly, at least from our location.




after that, a big, lumbering plane showed up, then a group of loud prop planes. the boys were getting antsy by then, so we packed up and headed back to the L. liam, big-boy trooper that he is, walked with us the whole way. linus rode shotgun in mark and katie's awesome double stroller, while max promptly conked out in the stroller's reclining section.

we eventually made it back to the L and got on a train headed for the loop. after we got off the train, i took a quick pic of liam (note the blue on his face from the batman ice cream).


we had to wait a while to board our train, then wait a longer while for the train to leave the station. and that sucker was PACKED. before we got on board, liam posed in front of the engine. somehow, max was still asleep in the stroller, and he didn't wake up until 10 minutes before we got back to wheaton. also enjoy linus's awesome "grrrrr" face. the boys were all awake and alert when we got off the train, and they waved a sad yet satisfied goodbye.








of course the boys all were exhausted (even max with his nap), and they quickly went to sleep after dinner. but they were up bright and early the next morning, ready to wolf down katie's yummy french toast.


after a little while, we leashed up the dogs and headed for the park ("it's a field, daddy! a field!" liam shouted at me) to burn off some energy. max and linus were almost unbearably cute as they held hands as they walked. they played t-ball with mark while liam and i played velcro-catch (we even stopped on the way home to buy our own set of paddles or whatever you call them, as our previous set broke long ago).






after a while, our time in wheaton came to an end. liam and max profusely thanked mark and katie and linus and leo for being such gracious and generous hosts (i think that was what they said), and we headed south and east. but we had one more stop: uncle johnny!


aunt erin was unfortunately at a wedding shower (i think), but the boys nevertheless had plenty of fun chasing each other around the house, petting koa the cat, jumping on the new couch, playing on the swingset, not listening to a goddamn word i said, and getting licked by jackie the dog (ok, maybe not that last one). however, they soon came around to jackie, and they spent a happy 10 minutes chasing her around the yard in a game i'm sure jackie calls "tiny two-legged bald dogs can't catch me."


after that, it was time to head back home. liam promptly fell asleep and didn't wake up until we pulled into the garage, but max stayed awake almost the whole way home, and we spent a lot of time talking about race cars and singing phish and primus songs (max LOVES primus). he fell asleep 10 minutes from home, of course, and he celebrated our homecoming by promptly puking on the bathroom floor. a little too much excitement and heat, i think. despite this, we had a great weekend, and a special thanks goes out to mark and katie and linus and leo and ripley and lily for hosting us.

the end.

batman returns

The baby monitor we have is almost six years old. The cord tends to fall out of it, cutting me off from hearing what's going on upstairs in the boys' rooms (our room is downstairs and at the opposite end of the house, so we can't hear anything without the monitor). So I didn't think a lot of it last night when, after Mike got home from work, he went upstairs to check on the boys, and the monitor cut out yet again. And then I started hearing these loud thumps. And yelling. Then feet thundering down the stairs. And the front door opening. And Mike talking in an angry voice. So I dragged my tired self out of bed and went to the dining room doorway.

"I told you to stay in the bedroom and shut all the doors!" said a voice from the floor at the bottom of the stairs. I looked over, and there was Mike, squatting at the bottom of the stairs ... and there was a bat, flying back and forth in the living room. Eek! Mike ran down to the basement and got his tennis racket, leaving the front door wide open, and when he got back, the bat was nowhere to be seen. Had it flown away? Nah, we couldn't get that lucky, so Mike commenced a careful search of the house.

Meanwhile, the boys were getting awfully freaked out over the whole thing. Apparently, Mike first spotted the bat in Max's room and yelled out something unprintable, which caused Max to wake up and start screaming because there was a bat flying frantically above his head. So Max ran into Liam's room, and the chain reaction began. And so, like any family under attack, I took the boys and closed us into our bedroom/bathroom, while Mike bravely hunted the thing.

By this time, of course, the monitor had decided to work again, so the boys and I listened to the sharp whoosh of the tennis racket slicing through the air several times, along with a bunch more loud thumps (which turned out to be one of the cats repeatedly jumping up and hitting the bat, being useful for once!), and after about 10 minutes, we heard Mike's maniacal laughter. The bat was vanquished!

Unfortunately, it wasn't that easy to vanquish the image of the scary bat from the boys' minds, which meant that they ended up "sleeping" in bed with me for the rest of the night, while Mike slept on the couch. I'm not exactly sure who among us got the least sleep, but I can definitely tell you that it's a good thing it's Friday. All we have to do is get through the day, and then hopefully we can all indulge in a good, long, and presumably bat-free slumber.

some excitement

Our neighbors are doing some kind of mysterious* (though everlasting, or at least it seems like it) home-improvement project that involves lots of big trucks and heavy machinery parked on our street all the time. But last night, the big trucks hit something the wrong way, because when I got home with the boys, there was a steady flow of water down the side of the street, and Mr. Neighbor was walking up and down the street, talking animatedly on his cell phone. Within an hour, about seven trucks and heavy machines had descended on our corner, along with ten or so water department workers, and the streets were flooded for a couple of blocks. Good times! They got some kind of big jackhammer truck to rip up our street (which, by the way, they just put in last fall!) and eventually stopped the flooding, but in the meantime, they provided the boys with entertainment that lasted for hours, and Loni with the challenge of where to park her car since the roads were closed (she ended up going down the alley and parking in our yard). The boys were a little shy about getting too close, but you can see them lurking around, trying to get a good look at the proceedings. As it turned out, the best view of all (no pictures, sorry) was from Max's bedroom, which offered a view straight down into the giant hole.




*Or, you know, it could just be mysterious because I don't want to go over there and ask what's going on lest I get sucked into uncomfortable religious conversations ("The problem with the Catholics is that they worship Mary too much!") or asked to do some work for them, both of which have happened.

it's hot outside

Yes, it's August, and it's just now getting hot outside. My friend Darcy would say finally, but I say: already? Can't we just have a mild summer? But no. So Monday night, the boys and I set off for Bethany's house to have cake and ice cream for my mom's birthday, and since it was way too hot to jump on the trampoline (to Liam's everlasting and bitter disappointment), we had to make some indoor fun. And here's how that went:

Klaudia decided that Liam needed to accentuate his best features (as if those big brown eyes aren't compelling enough on their own!).



J and Max developed a new variation on water torture that was really just hard on my ears with all the squealing Max was doing (but he kept going back for more).



Bethany brought the puppies in for a visit.



And finally, Liam played three games of Wii bowling. He seems to be pretty into the Wii lately whenever we go anywhere there is one. Guess he comes by that honestly, since our house is already home to a Nintendo, Xbox, and Xbox 360 (am I missing one here, Mike?). I'm guessing a Wii of our own won't be too far in the future.

just beachy

So how was your weekend? Mine was filled with work, work, and more work. I did manage to squeeze in a short trip up to Barb and Kevin's cottage for a cookout, which was a really nice diversion from all of the work. Luckily, the boys don't have nearly as much in the way of work (does putting away their laundry to earn their allowance even count?) so they got to spend the whole day Saturday at Grandma and Grandpa's cottage, visiting with cousins Hunter, Destiney, Ryan, Rylee, and Reese, and heading to the beach for what turned out to be a very steamy afternoon. After the beach, the cousins decided to play an impromptu game of kickball, which may have been a little confusing for the three-year-olds, but everyone still had fun. Both boys were covered in dirt and giant swelling bug bites (despite copious applications of foul-smelling spray--those are some tenacious mosquitoes!) by the time we left, but they're already asking when they can do it again.

amish acres

Max was home for the day on Friday, Bethany was winding down her summer break, and I had a few hours between work shifts -- what better to do with our time than head to the Amish Acres Festival in nearby Nappanee? We checked out plenty of homemade crafts and furniture, had an extraordinarily overpriced lunch under a crowded tent with hundreds of strangers crammed in cheek-by-jowl, and I spent ten minutes I wish I could forget trying to encourage Max to use the port-a-potty. On the way out, we were looking for some kind of toy to get for the boys, and we ran across a booth with handcrafted name puzzles by a guy named Dave. What caught my eye to go in there in the first place was that one of the display puzzles was a "Max" puzzle. Upon closer inspection, there was also a "Liam" puzzle already made and for sale. I thought that was pretty amazing. I remember being a kid and looking at key chains or coffee mugs or those goofy license-plate things proclaiming this to be "So-and-So's Room," and I don't think we EVER found a "Bethany" one and a "Holli" one (or even a "Holly") at the same time! So of course, the boys are now the proud new owners (thanks, Aunt Bethany!) of puzzles with their names. The only semi-disappointment was that I looked all around the booth, hoping to find a puzzle already made with one of the boy names we like, a sign from above that we're supposed to pick that name. (Can you imagine me trying to explain that one to Mike? "Honey, look, they had a 'Beauregard' and I bought it. There's no turning back now!") But no such luck.

Before we left Amish country, we stopped at Rentown Variety Store, which has an interesting mix of Amish-produced meats, cheeses, and breads ... and random non-Amish things (everything from pop tarts to pizza cutters) ... all kind of mixed up together. I found it far more interesting than the Amish Acres Festival, and lucky for us, it's open all year round. I think Mike will enjoy shopping there, too, once we exhaust the 20 pounds of cheese and the apple butter that I bought this time!

deep river water park

As a reward for successfully finishing swimming lessons this summer, the boys got to take a trip yesterday with Bethany, Klaudia, and Loni to Deep River Water Park. From the reports (and the pictures), they had a great time, although Max had a little trouble keeping warm (notice how he's got his arms clenched up in every picture). What lucky boys, and what a great thing to do at the end of Liam's very last summer as a preschooler!

klaudia had a birthday...

...and Max was thrilled. Really.

more than meets the eye/liam in disguise

Liam's friend down the alley was nice enough to let Liam try on his Optimus Prime mask the other day. I can already see what his Halloween costume will be...

ferris wheel etc.

After all of the excitement they had at our little county fair, the boys decided they wanted to go on a grown-up ride, so we headed off one day to take them to Navy Pier to ride the big Ferris wheel. All four of us wanted to go on the ride (although in Mike's case, "wanted" may be a debatable term -- I don't think he enjoyed it so much), so I was a little worried when I saw a sign that said you couldn't ride if you were pregnant. At about seven months now, there is NO hiding this pregnancy. But Mike figured, correctly as it turned out, that the people working there really wouldn't care as long as I didn't point it out to them. So on we went. The boys were not scared of the heights at all, and were fascinated looking out the window at the skyline and the lake. They had a wonderful time ... and then our seven minutes were over. Seemed like an awfully long drive just to go on one ride, so Mike took them on the carousel and we walked around the pier for a while and had some Dippin' Dots, and then it was time to go.








On the way back home, we stopped at Kent and Popi's house for a visit and some time in the pool, which was also a big hit with the boys. There were tons of cousins there to play with, and plenty of adults around, so we all got to relax and enjoy some good food and conversation. And after all of that, we even managed to get to Best Buy to get the new computer with minutes to spare before they closed! A very full day, but awfully fun, especially watching the boys check out the city after a long time away. Max, especially, was impressed, but he was so little the last time we were downtown that I doubt he remembers any of it.

i know, i know

Definitely not enough posting lately. In my defense, we just got a new computer (yay!!) so I've been spending most of my time archiving and copying things from the old computer so we can put it away until we're ready to install it upstairs for the boys to use (how lucky are they?). We've had the old computer for seven years, so you can imagine how much stuff there is to go through. Hopefully in the next couple of days I'll be finished and can get my office back into shape so I can think again. The current setup is just a little too far over the edge into chaos for me to be comfortable.

On the plus side, I'm so excited that suddenly the blogging thing seems to have really taken off for my family! I started a blog for the extended family last year, as a way for us all to keep up with each other, and in the past week, people other than me have started posting to it. Today's post is all about Klaudia's birthday, which is a source of excitement and confusion for the boys. They're very excited that today is her birthday, but very confused as to why we have to wait "ages" (Liam's term) until her party on Sunday. I think they'll find the waiting to be worthwhile, especially since they'll get to go out to the barn and see the NINE new Great Dane puppies Klaudia's dog Lilly had earlier this week!

5

It's hard to believe that five years ago today, Mike and I were sitting in the hospital, waiting around all day for Liam to make his appearance. And then, around 7:30 that night, he finally did (and what a relief it was!). We continue to be enriched and amazed by this adorable, stubborn, sweet, loving, argumentative person in our lives, and are grateful to have him around every day. This year, he'll celebrate some really big changes in his life (new school, new brother, etc.), but today, we're celebrating him. Happy birthday, Liam!

slip-sliding away

Loni's out of town for the week, so my cousin Brady kindly agreed to come over yesterday and watch the boys while I worked. He brought along some bubble wands and a slip-n-slide, which has instantly earned him hero status with the boys. After dinner, they blew bubbles, slip-slid, got ice cream from the ice cream truck, played wiffle ball, and rode their bikes for almost three hours. When it was time to return Brady to his family, the boys were oh-so-sad (there were tears! there was yelling!) but they calmed down pretty quickly when they realized that Brady would be back again Thursday evening for more fun and games.