Ketchup & Greenie Beanies

Saturday, August 25, 2012

End of Summer Sunflowers! It's Tradition.

The Yankee Street Market sunflower field is in full bloom. The gorgeous flowers only last two weeks so once they are up it's like a mad dash to get to the field before they wither away.

Max indulged me tonight. He was so tired (so was I actually) but he was such a great sport and gave me some fun shots to work with, despite all the bees that he seemed extremely worried about. (I tried to reassure him the bees didn't care about him and I'd never put him in a position where he'd be hurt)

I took 202 photos in about a 15 minute time! Max said "I do believe you have a problem, Mommy." He's right.

Here is a sampling from our evening together... Happy End of Summer!

Thursday, August 23, 2012

First Day of 2nd Grade! 2012-2013

It's here! The first day of school!

Before I talk about that let me say that Max got to go meet his teacher yesterday, Mrs. Miller. He is in class this year with 5 girls from his 1st grade class, all of whom he adores. He also has his life-long pal, Kenleigh, in class with him this year. They are seated together (desks are paired in twos) front and center of the classroom. Good luck with that combo, Mrs. Miller. ;) Here he is in front of the school and then entering his new classroom...

Today, Max got up before 7am and got dressed completely before even coming out of his room. He was ready to go!

The bus routes must have been redone because this year his pick up time is 8:17 (vs. 7:35 last year) so he could get on the bus at our house. YAY!

Here are some photos I snapped this morning, much to Max's dismay. You think he'd be used to me taking pictures of him by now. Geesh.

Once the bus came he ran across the street without even saying "bye" or giving us a hug or anything! The nerve! I followed him across the street and tried to snap a pic of him getting on the bus. Then I made him come back down the steps to give me a kiss. He was so mad and embarrassed. Sorry but good grief, you're only 7 and it is the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! Give me a kiss!

Needless to say he was ready for school to begin. Here's to a great year in 2nd grade!

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Back to School Photo Session | Max and his BFF, Ben

We are still a week away from the start of the 2012-2013 school year here but that didn't stop me from wanting to do a mini-session with Max and his pal, Ben to celebrate the beginning of second grade!

I remember second grade well. My teacher was Mrs. Kesling. I learned all about monarch butterflies and got to make a monarch out of a wire clothes hanger, panty hose and paint. I learned to sew (kind of) when as a class we all got to hand stitch one square of material and create a quilt (wonder what happened to that quilt?). I won the class spelling bee that year spelling the word "beautiful" correctly. It was a fun year! I'm pretty sure second grade in 2012 is much more intense than second grade in 1980-whatever though. Even so, I have no doubt it will be a fun year for Max!

School starts August 23rd. I will be sure to post all his "first day" photos then. But for now here are some cute ones from the mini-session with Max and Ben...

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Chicago!

What would it be like to live in a world where you were always on vacation? I would love to know! And if I could spend that vacation time anywhere Chicago just might top the list. We were only there for a long weekend. I wanted to stay for more. What a great city. Great hotels, yummy restaurants, fun parks, loads of attractions within walking distance, clean streets, even cleaner cabs (we were impressed), great shopping, I could go on and on. Max cried when we packed up our things and headed home... and who can blame him? Heck, I'm teary-eyed just blogging about all the fun we had. Wouldn't it be nice to live in a world where you were always on vacation....

After arriving in town we walked two miles to the Sears... ahem... Willis Tower. (seriously, does anyone call it that?) Max was hell bent on going out on the Sky Deck on the 103rd floor. So it was first on our agenda. What a weird experience! The whole process of waiting in line then waiting in another line for tickets then waiting for an elevator then waiting to watch the movie about the Sky Deck, etc. took about 2 hours. It was worth it though. Max loved it. Stepping out onto the RETRACTABLE (if that isn't enough to make you squeamish then I don't know what is!) glass was pretty amazing. Being that high and looking down at the street and buildings below was unlike anything you could imagine really. Max giggled the whole time. I stepped on, looked down, then tried to step off but Max was holding my arm and pulling me back. I felt a bit panicky at that point. Chris couldn't bring himself to do it at all. It was pretty freaky. Some girls were doing handstands on the glass. Like whoa!

Saturday morning we got up and headed to the convention center bright and early to pick up my race packet for the half marathon on Sunday. I admit, I had a bad attitude about it because I have been plagued with this weird pain in my left side that worsens when I run so I didn't think I'd even make it to the three mile mark of the race. It left me sad. But we ended up having fun at the Expo anyway. Games were played, prizes were won, pictures were taken. Max had a great time even! And he experienced his first cab ride ever as is posted below. He was a little worried. He said "what if the driver smokes?!!" Not sure where he got that idea?

After the convention center we hit Millennium Park. We saw the fountains, the bean, the crowds... it was beautiful! We were just a block north of all this action all weekend and made frequent trips here to cool off and enjoy the city views.

Saturday afternoon we stopped by a Catholic bookstore to pay a visit to my aunt's friend, Sister Helena. She runs this bookstore and my Aunt Suzi had arranged for Max to stop in and choose any item from the children's section he wanted, her treat. We got to visit with the very charming Sister Helena while Max shopped and then posed for a photo as we were headed out. He decided on a book about Christmas, one that you could use water to color to create new scenes. He felt pretty special being about to choose anything he wanted. Thank you, Suzi for such a generous gift.

Sunday at 6:30 am was the race. Off we went. Max really really really wanted to see me do this race. I wasn't so sure and felt a little defeated before I even began. But what do you know I did it!?!? I did have to walk about 10-12 minutes or so because my pain started to arise but all in all I am seriously shocked I could pull it off. I haven't been able to run normally in 5 weeks so this was quite a feat. It was an awesome race and the city views were spectacular!! I hope the Rock n Roll Series heads back to Chicago in 2013 so I can run it again... feeling great! ;) The saddest part was Chris and Max didn't even see me finish! All that hoping and waiting and they missed me. I called Chris's phone about 10 minutes after I was done and he said "oh we are on the left near the finish looking for you"... I said "uh, I passed you all like 10 minutes ago then..." Ho hum. Don't worry, Max said he was still proud of me although hesitant to hug me afterward because "you're all sweaty, eww".

Sunday after the race we got breakfast, rested up, then met Suzi, Dalius and Andy out in Park Ridge for lunch at Harry Caray's Restaurant. It was so great catching up with family! We spent hours with them just chatting and eating and then visiting Andy's church... er... Father Andrew's church. ;) Pretty cool stuff. We are definitely looking forward to seeing them again soon! I'm thankful to Suzi for taking out her camera for a few photos!

After the late lunch we decided to hit up the beach. Not too many cities can boast that they have a gorgeous skyline AND a nice beach. Look to the east and you see nothing but blue water. Look west and it's skyscrapers as far as the eye can see. So cool. We spent time here playing in the sand and wading in the water. Lake Michigan was the first place Max ever experienced a beach about 3 years ago when we first made a trip with him to Chicago... now we are back!

If you ask Max I'm positive he will tell you the best part of the trip for him was visiting Navy Pier. We ended up going twice at his request. The first night I rode the ferris wheel and the swings with him. The second time Chris agreed to do the ferris wheel while I rode the swings once more. Here are Chris and Max before getting on; Max giving two thumbs up... Chris a big thumbs down (but smiling!). Well apparently that is not the attraction for Chris. Max said Daddy couldn't look at anything but his own chest the whole time and his palms were very sweaty. Chris doesn't like heights and this wheel went pretty high. Oh what we do for our kids...

We rounded out the weekend on Monday morning heading out early for breakfast and back to Millennium Park. We spent time exploring the entire park, even found a "real" park with swings, monkey bars and a slide. Max loved that. We went back to the big face fountains (what are they really called??) and then revisited the bean before getting cleaned up and heading home. We had an amazing trip and were very sad to head home and back to reality. I'm already looking for another excuse to head back to Chicago. With it just being a 5 hour drive we really should take advantage of it more often.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Summer Swim Team: Dunsinane Dolphins 2012 Champions!

So most of you know that this year we made the move from Sycamore Creek to Dunsinane. Max was pretty worried about having a new "home" pool for summer swim team. He had been at Sycamore for three years and made several friends (mostly girls... hmmpf) and wasn't sure about starting over somewhere else.

Turns out it was the best decision we made all summer! Max aged up to the 7-8 boys team for the Dunsinane Dolphins and immediately fit right in. He made many great friends (mostly boys! yay!) and quickly became known as one of Dunsinane's strongest swimmers in his age group. In fact, he is officially the fastest 7-8 year old butterfly guy on the team! That is now his favorite stroke, of course. :)

Summer swim season is only 6 short weeks. We had 6 dual meets and then the SSA (Suburban Swim Association) Championships to end the season. Dunsinane went 6-0 this year AND won championships by nearly 1000 points! Max and his buddies played a key role in this as well. And I'm sure all the screaming and hollering I did from the end of the lane totally helped, too. Right?

I am so sad it's actually over. I really enjoyed our routine of heading to swim around 8:30 and then staying after to play tetherball for a bit... and on the way home hitting Speedway for a drink. There is no rest for the weary though, short course (winter swim) starts in just one month. Max is making a move here as well, heading over to join the Washington Twp Sharks this year. His coach at Dunsinane is also the coach there and Max really enjoyed learning from him, so off we go...

Here are many photos from our great season, including from the banquet tonight. During championships the top three places per event overall get a trophy, places 4-8 get a medal and places 9-16 get a ribbon. Everyone else goes home empty. :( There are hundreds who swim and it's a pretty crazy meet. Max's Medley Relay A Team brought home a 3rd place trophy, his Free Relay A team also brought home 3rd... Max also won a 5th place medal for his backstroke (knocking 2 seconds off his previous best time and coming in 6 places higher than he was seeded) and he worked so hard and swam the individual fly so fast that he came in 3rd and got a trophy for that event as well. That was his favorite!

Thanks to my parents and to our friends the Weinbergs who braved the horrific parking and came out and stayed late to watch Max and cheer him on! Now we are REALLY ready for the Olympics. If only those "Thank You, Mom" P&G advertisements didn't make me cry so much...