back to school, finally

After a week off, the flooding has receded, and the boys are finally back at school. The house is so quiet! Pluto and I aren't sure what to do with ourselves. Well, we weren't, but apparently he's decided to take a nice long nap right on Liam's slides. Puppy love!

the great flood

Friends, it's been a challenging week in Plymouth. In the span of 36 hours, it rained and rained and rained. Basically, in those 36 hours, we got the equivalent of a whole winter's worth of precipitation. And since the ground is still frozen and there was still snow on the ground that the rain subsequently melted ... there was really nowhere for all that water to go. (Note: These aren't my pictures, but they represent the flooding pretty well.)

The schools were open on Tuesday but have been closed since then. The river is supposed to crest tonight, and then the water will slowly recede, but so much damage has been done. We are lucky because our house is far enough away from the river that the flooding wasn't bad in our neighborhood. Which is not to say it didn't exist. Our house is up on a little hill, so we stayed dry, but you can see here that the bottom of our yard flooded, and that our neighbors had outright lakes (and most likely flooded basements).

I doubt schools will be open Monday, and it's going to be a long, long recovery for a lot of people and businesses. Yikes.

max at twelve

This year, Max had real trouble when people asked what he wanted for his birthday. He said he was interested in some video games, but not enough to want people to spend money on them. He is always in the market for new hooded sweatshirts, he said (and it's true; that kid has an endless array of hoodies), but he wasn't excited about that either. Basically, he told me, he is happy with what he has, and he doesn't really need anything else. In the end, he asked for money for his (woefully inadequate) college fund, which made us proud of him and grateful to everyone who contributed.

At 12, our Max is still the sly charmer of the bunch. He makes friends easily, has patience for miles (as long as your name isn't Liam or Henry), and makes everyone around him feel welcome and happy. He has a core group of best friends who have been together since they started school, but he also has a wide and ever-growing circle of other friends. Trust me, it's impossible to escape his charm when he gives you that impish smile.

Max is setting his own path at school, too. He is in advanced classes for every subject, but he's definitely showing a preference for language over math. (This could be because he's not a fan of his math teacher, but it also could be that he just isn't a math person. I guess only time will tell.) He still loves reading — every morning when I go upstairs to collect laundry and turn off lights (sheesh, boys!) I find at least three or four books in his bed because he loves to lay in bed and read. He needs to work on the cleanup/organizational aspects of life, but I'm a lot more forgiving when the mess is books.

This year, Max has taken some major steps toward finding his voice. After a crushing defeat in fifth grade, this year he was easily elected to the student council, and he's had a blast helping with everything from penny wars (this is a coin-based fundraiser they do at school) to assembling Val-o-grams, which he is doing this week in anticipation of Valentine's Day. He also joined the service club this year, which involves doing things like running the concession stand at sporting events. Every time I pick him up after one of these things, I find that he's more talkative and animated than usual. He really likes being part of everything — and telling us all about it. He continues to love spending time with his younger cousins, and he still wants to be a teacher when he grows up. And on the physical side, not only did he join Mike and Liam for the whole 30 miles of Bike the Drive this year, but he also hiked the challenging Ramsey Cascade Trail with Mike while we were in Gatlinburg.

Today is a snow day, so school is closed. Max is spending the day curled up in a blanket, reading and playing video games and bickering with his brothers and cuddling with his dog. Ah, to be 12 again!

Happy birthday, Max! We love you, and we can't wait to see what the next year brings.

eagles weekend!

It's that time of year again — time to freeze our butts off while standing around looking for birds!

Like last year, Johnny and Erin and the kids joined us, but this year we had an even bigger group. Barb and Kevin came, along with several members of Erin's family. I've never met some of them, so I had some concerns about how everything would work out, but it turned out to be a whole lot of fun!

We arrived on Friday night and went out early Saturday morning to see the eagles, and they didn't disappoint. The last count we heard was 125! Amazingly, after going out to see the eagles and having breakfast, we all went back to the room, and Mike and I napped the morning away while the boys just hung out and played video games. It was so peaceful. I would do that every day if I could. Seriously. Just a perfect rainy morning with my fellas.

In the afternoon, everyone else arrived, and we all spent some time seeing programs, walking around, hanging out in the lodge, etc. until dinnertime. We took a little walk with Barb down to Sunset Point, which is really pretty. We all had dinner together, and after that, all the kids went swimming and everyone wore themselves out. Hurrah!

Then Sunday morning it was up early again and back to it. There were fewer eagles (something like 68), but the sunrise was just beautiful, so I took lots of pictures. 

After another breakfast at the lodge, we all packed up and checked out. Barb and Kevin had missed the sunrise eagle watch and wanted to see the covered bridge, so they headed out to do that. Meanwhile, Johnny and Erin and kids joined us, along with Erin's aunt and her grandson, for a hike. We took the same trail as last year, but how different it was! This time it was covered in a river of ice, which made things very pretty if somewhat challenging to navigate. Just like last year, the kids all loved it. Lucy seems to have gotten over calling all the eagles "balden," which makes me a little sad, but I guess time marches on. Richie decided this weekend that he and Liam were BFFs, which was pretty great. It was fun to watch them together. Jesse was his normal happy self, and he even let me hold him ... for a minute. 

All in all, a very successful weekend and a much-needed break for us. But we really need to make a point of doing some hikes with the cousins when it's *not* the dead of winter!

happy birthday, pluto!

My, how our Pluto has grown! He's gone from a 10-pound cuddly puppy to an 80-pound full-size DOG. Max, for reference, has also grown, just not nearly as much.

happy new year!

Happy 2018, friends! We're hoping it's an improvement on 2017. (I would say it has to be an improvement, but I don't want to press our collective luck.) We don't have any formal resolutions, but we are hoping to make some changes this year around the old CFHQ. For example, depending on how things go, we're hoping to get Pluto a companion (NOT in the breeding sense, oh no) so he doesn't feel so sad when his visitors go back home. Right now, Lily is visiting, and I have a feeling he will be seriously let down when she leaves tomorrow.

Anyway, we hope your year (and ours!) is filled with new and happy adventures, and plenty of time with the people you love. Here's to travel, and long meandering conversations, and walks in the woods, and finding a way to make a difference in the world. And here's to the people who know you best, and show you in unexpected ways. Like my mom, who made these perfect pillows for us for Christmas.

Friends, in short, here's to you!

adventures in (terrifying) parenting

Max and Henry spent yesterday afternoon with my dad, while Liam and I went shopping with my mom. While we were gone, Dad, as he often does, decided to include the boys in what he was doing — in this case, rewiring some lights in his garage. Max declined to help, but Henry was glad to go out and get dirty. So out they went, and up to the attic of the garage. They finished the first light and were moving to the second, and just as Dad looked up and said, "Henry, don't step off that b—," HENRY STEPPED OFF THAT BOARD. And fell through the attic floor/garage ceiling.

According to my dad, it all happened really fast "just like in a movie." One second Henry was there, and the next he was gone. According to Henry, it was all "just a blur of weird shapes and then I landed." Henry called up to my dad that he was okay, but Dad was already rushing to get down from the attic — he went so fast he ripped his clothes on something along the way. And then the next thing Henry tells Dad is that his music teacher died that way (falling through his attic onto his garage floor). Which is true, and will stick in many of the kids' minds as their first real experience with death, so I'm not surprised Henry brought it up.

I know, you're waiting for the dramatic conclusion. It was a Christmas miracle: He scraped his armpit on something on the way down, but that was the only injury he sustained in the fall. We are all counting our lucky stars around here, especially when you consider where he landed. (Note: My dad's garage is ... not the cleanest or least crowded place in the world.) I would say we should buy a lottery ticket or something, but I think we won the jackpot already.

the tall one

We spent some time in Naperville yesterday visiting the family. It was cold outside, so all the kids retreated to Barb and Kevin's basement to run around and play. It's an unfinished basement, so it's not like a rumpus room or anything, but all the cousins were perfectly happy running around in circles and shrieking at each other. Funny how that works.

Anyway, in the course of our time in the basement, we found a growth chart that dates back to when they moved to Illinois. We managed to wrangle a very sweaty Liam away from running with his cousins for just a minute to stand next to it.

I know it's hard to read, but according to the marks on the wall, Liam is taller now, at age 13, than Mike was in 1992, at age 18! I mean, we knew he was tall, but this is still pretty amazing. Side note: Liam's age is the same as his shoe size, and I definitely hope that trend doesn't continue!

thanksgiving travels

For this year's Thanksgiving, we chose Illinois Beach Resort at Illinois Beach State Park. It met our criteria quite nicely: (1) it was close enough to drive to, (2) it had a buffet-style dinner for the holiday, (3) it had plenty of available rooms, and (4) it had dog-friendly (!!!) rooms. That last one was the clincher, because while we will board Pluto if necessary, we would rather bring him with us and have him be the kind of dog who is comfortable traveling and exploring different places. We didn't do a great job of that with Charlie, so we've been making a point of taking Pluto where we go whenever it's feasible.

As an added bonus, Illinois Beach is only about an hour from Naperville, so Barb and Kevin joined us for Thanksgiving dinner and a brief stroll on the beach. It was a little chilly, but really not so bad for the end of November. After Barb and Kevin left, there was a lot of lounging around playing video games and watching movies. My kind of holiday!

Friday morning, Henry and I took Pluto out to see the sunrise and walk along the beach. As a little test, I let go of Pluto's leash to see what he would do. Shockingly (or not, because he is a dog, after all), he ran off down the beach, drank a ton of lake water, and didn't want to come back when we called him. So much for all those lessons at dog school! Anyway, eventually he came back to us. Later on, we all headed out for a hike. It was kind of duney, with some grasses, but honestly not my favorite hike or park. But you know what? Any day we get to spend outside together instead of at school/work is a win for me.

a veterans day tale (sort of)

The other day, I picked up Gramps after work to take him to the library. He loves listening to audiobooks, especially Westerns, and the library has a huge collection. I love the library; always have, ever since I was a little girl. But spending time with Gramps is always the bigger draw.

I found him in his office, writing on one of his ubiquitous 3x5 index cards. This has been his habit since retirement, to write down little snippets of things to keep their memory alive. I asked what he was writing about, and he took me to the kitchen, where a freshly polished antique wooden radio sat on the table. And then he told me a short story:

I bought this radio in 1956 as a Christmas present for your grandma. Notice how it has both AM and FM? I believe FM was the new innovation at that time, so it was a big deal. It cost most of my monthly pay to buy it. I think Bev was expecting a ring, but she got a different R word instead. And anyway, she didn't have to wait too long for the ring — I ended up buying one just two weeks later!

 

While he was talking, I glanced at the index card, and noticed that it mentioned his exact salary at the time: $122.66 per month from the army. I asked him about it, and he laughed and said yes, that was his salary, and that was four grades above the basic pay! Then he said, "And did you know they paid us in cash?"

WHAT??

That's right. According to Gramps, once a month, there would be one officer with a big box full of money, and another one with a machine gun or submachine gun standing guard, and all the soldiers would line up and collect their dough. Isn't that amazing?

Gramps with Great-Grandpa Jeff, Midway Airport, circa 1956

As a bonus, Gramps laughed in delight at telling me something I didn't know. He said he's made it his mission to think up things about history that will surprise/amaze/entertain me every time I see him, and it's a triumph when he hits on something like this. 

Could I adore my grandpa any more? I don't think so!