My Kind of Town

The City of Chicago.  I never get tired of looking at the skyline, even after 25 years of living in the area.  This night view from Sox Park is one of my favorite:

Sox win 3-0 over Minnesota on a beautiful late-summer night.  Seeing the city look like this after a game is the cherry on top of the South Side Sundae.

From 24 Orange to 89 Blue

Erin has switched soccer clubs.  After several years of being #24 and wearing the orange Strikers uniform, she's now playing for OPRF One.  The One's colors are navy blue and white, and her new number is 89.  Even tho she switched teams, she's playing in the annual Schaumburg tournament this weekend for the fourth consecutive year.  And she's still as tough as ever on the field.

Movie Night

Tonight was Irving School's Back to School Picnic, combined with SEOPCO's Movie Night at Barrie Park.  Since I'm on the SEOPCO's board and also an Irving parent, I pulled double duty tonight, helping SEOPCO set up for the movie and also selling pizza for the PTO.

As I watched families stake out their space and settle in for the evening, it occurred to me that this movie-in-the-park event is almost the modern equivalent to the drive-in movie.  It's so much fun watching a movie outside in the park!

The Junior and the Fifth Grader

Today it was Kelsey's and Drew's turn to head back to school.

It seems like just a few weeks ago that the one on the right was the age of the one on the left.

I hadn't seen Kelsey play with Play-Dough for a really long time.  This scene took me back to memories of when the girls were small, and it made me smile.

Today Oak Park-River Forest High School welcomed the Class of 2015.

Two-thirds of my children are now in high school.

Thanks, Susie, for driving the girls this morning!

Last Night of Summer: Neighborly Star Wars

It's the last official night of summer:  the neighborhood kids start school on Wednesday, which means tomorrow night is a "school night."  The boys on the block waged in impromptu Star Wars battle on the parkway up and down the east side of our block.  The adults lingered while the boys played.

This is the part of summer I'm going to miss.

New Kindergarten Parent Welcome

I spent the better part of Kelsey's kindergarten year locked in a shell-shocked haze.  Six weeks after Kelsey went off to her first day of school, Drew was born.  Juggling a newborn's sleep schedule with a half-day kindergarten schedule was tricky.  I also found that navigating the modern public school system for the first time was daunting.  I remember measuring the stack of paper that came to the house from the district and the school the month before Kelsey's first day of kindergarten.  It was an inch-and-a-half high, and most of it was double-sided.  This was also about the time I realized I would be spending the next twelve consecutive years at Washington Irving Elementary School.

It didn't take me long to fall in love with Irving, but I realized there were lots of people like me who were nervous to send their first child off to school.  By the spring of Kelsey's kindergarten year, I sat down with some veteran parents and asked if there was any way we could coordinate an event for new kindergarten parents, that would take place the weekend before school started.  If it was an informal, come-and-go-as-you-please type of thing, perhaps it would be a draw.  And if we could get the principal and the teachers to attend too, even better.  I promised that if the veteran parents would help me put the first one or two together, I would run it until I left Irving.  They agreed to help me, and the New Kindergarten Parent Welcome was born.

I had no idea the impact this event would have on my family, and on the Irving community as a whole.  This event is where we've met and become friends with many Irving families, including the Rappaports.  Several parents have told me over the years, "It was at the New Kindergarten Parent Welcome that I decided I wanted to get involved at Irving."

Today was the eleventh year of this event, and my last year coordinating it.  I've passed the baton to a newer parent whose oldest child is in first grade.  She's right where I was a decade ago.

I honestly can't believe this is the beginning of the end of my involvement at Irving.  From the looks of things, the school is in capable hands.

Silliness

The picture says it all

Backyard BBQ

This afternoon we were invited to hang with the Kudo Clan and the Rennys for a backyard BBQ, and what a perfect afternoon:  high 70s, low humidity, slight breeze, and plenty of late-afternoon sunshine.  After a fabulous feast of ribs, cheesy potatoes, tossed salad, and fruit, we turned our attention to making s'mores.

Bre made me the absolute perfect marshmallow:  beautifully golden brown and crispy (but not burned) on the outside; warm and gooey in the center.  Yum.

On the way home, there was a gorgeous moon beginning its slow rise into the night sky.  It was so big and beautiful, Baird pulled over and snapped a photo:

The sight was the perfect ending to a wonderful day!

Tailgating for a cause 2011

Today was my friend Tracy's annual tailgate at The Cell.  The weather was terrible - this year the rain didn't wait until we were in the park, but hit us during the raffle drawing.  Tracy's not crying in this picture - those are rain drops.

The rain delayed the start of the game by about an hour.  We waited out part of the delay in our seats - about half way up the center field bleachers.

The Sox pulled out a 5-4 win over the Royals, but we didn't stay for the entire game.  At the top of the 8th inning it started raining buckets (again).  As the grounds crew hustled out to cover the infield, we hustled out of the stadium and made our way to the parking lot.  I very rarely leave a professional sports event early, but this time it was the smartest choice.  Erin was exhausted from a busy week, and we were both cold and damp.

In spite of the nasty weather, I'm glad we went.  Over the years, Tracy's raised over $26,000 with this fund raiser, and I'm honored every year to help out.  The rain didn't dampen her philanthropic spirit, and I'm so proud to be friends with someone who's so willing to give back.  Tracy, thanks for organizing this event every year!

Third Generation

When my mom was young, she spent many a summer day playing Monopoly outside on a blanket on her neighbor's front lawn.  The game would go on for days and days, and I'm pretty sure it was a favorite summer pasttime.  Even now when she talks about playing Monopoly as a kid, there's a softness in her voice that is pure nostalgia.  As much as my mom loved the game as a child, I don't ever remember her joining my siblings and me when we played.  I know she taught us the basic rules of the game, but when I think of my mom's participation in the Monopoly games I played as a kid, I recall that her role was more that of referee, as opposed to actually rolling the dice and buying property.  She did, however, pass along the Monopoly Gene to me.

I loved playing Monopoly so much when I was a kid, I would never let my siblings out of a game once they started playing with me.  I preferred slowly bleeding someone dry, rather than going for the fast kill, thereby prolonging the game.  I actually devised an elaborate set of rules to keep someone (usually a younger brother) in cash long after he should have been allowed to declare bankruptcy and exit the game.  In fact, I pretty much forced them to play until the bank was totally out of cash, at which point I'd give them a few days' respite before begging for another round.

The last time we spent Christmas Day at our house in Oak Park was the year Caleb and Julia got married.  I figured it was the perfect time to unleash Monopoly on the next generation.  Baird and I gave the game to all three kids, and we started our first family game of Monopoly shortly after the wrapping paper was off the box.  We wound up playing all day and into the night, pausing shortly for a quick dinner of roasted duck.

It became clear pretty quickly that all three kids have been blessed with the Monopoly Gene.  Kelsey has inherited my love of slowly bleeding her opponents into bankruptcy.  Erin cited Monopoly as the way she learned to count back change when she applied to help out at the Irving School Store.  Drew's preschool teacher was blown away on the home visit when he recited to her the rent rates of the entire board (including housing and hotel rates).

After being scattered hither and yon for the past week (each kid was in a different state), the underage element of the 5 Ring Circus were all home today.  This third generation of Monopoly players spent the afternoon bonding over the classic game.

Now, who do you think will win this round?

Retrieving Drew

I left Mom and Dad's place at o'dark thirty and headed northeast into Wisconsin to pick up Drew from Camp Timber-lee.  I pulled over shortly after crossing the Mississippi River to stretch my legs and catch the gorgeous sunrise:

I retrieved Drew and headed for home.  Here's the rundown of the week he experienced:

0:  number of showers Drew took while at camp

1:  number of times he brushed his teeth

2:  number of times he changed his underwear

3:  number of times Drew made the highlight reel

4:  number of times Drew wrote home (altho we haven’t received all the letters yet)

5:  number of days he ate Cocoa Crisp for breakfast

6:  number of days he spent at the lake

And here's how he looked when I pulled up to the house:

Welcome back, Drew!

West of the Mississippi

I love this sign.  It means I've crossed over into my home state.

"Is this heaven?"

"No, it's Iowa!"

Unaccompanied Minor

This evening I took Erin down to Union Station, where she boarded an Amtrack train to Michigan to visit the Rappaports.  When Erin first asked me if she could take the train all by herself for the visit, my instinct was absolutely not!  But the more I thought about it, the more I thought, why not?  She is, after all, a mature 14-year-old-almost-high-schooler.  I reasoned that if I saw her to her seat in Chicago, and the Rappaports met her at the gate in Michigan, it would be ok.

For the record, sending a minor on Amtrack is nothing like sending a minor on an airplane.  Unaccompanied minors in airports are treated almost like rock stars.  There's the personal escourt to the gate after one crosses security.  There's a little bit of fuss by the flight attendants on the plane, which is followed by another escourt off the plane at the end of the flight.  It's not quite the same on Amtrack.

I wasn't sure at what point I'd need to say good-bye to Erin, but it was my goal to see her to her seat, unless I could hand her over to a uniformed attendant who would guarantee an escourt all the way to her seat.  At each juncture, I let everyone know that I was with Erin, I did not have a ticket, and was it ok if I continued on with her?  The agent who issued the ticket said yes.  The line organizer responsible for an orderly que down to the trains said yes.  I didn't notice the NO GUESTS BEYOND THIS POINT sign as the ticket was checked again and we entered the tunnel where the trains are held, but the agent there waived me thru when I said I didn't have a ticket, but could I please escourt my daughter a bit further.  I walked with Erin all the way to the door of the train.

The woman making the final check to be sure we were, in fact, headed to Michigan and not Milwaukee waived me thru, and allowed me to get on the train with Erin.  I made sure she was settled in her seat before making my way back to get off the train.   And that's when it started.

The conductor said to me, "Ma'am, would you please take your seat, we're about to take off," and I replied, "Oh, I don't have a ticket, I was just seeing my daughter to her seat."

WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T HAVE A TICKET?!  YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED ON MY TRAIN WITHOUT A TICKET!  ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT MY TRAIN HAS TO LEAVE LATE BECAUSE YOU HAD TO SEE YOUR DAUGHTER TO HER SEAT?!

Um, yeah.  Just call me an overprotective mom.  That's what I thought.  What I actually said was, "I'm so sorry, I'm leaving right now."

As I began walking back toward the lobby area, I saw three of Chicago's Finest walking toward me.  I thought Wow, who's causing such trouble on the train that it takes three cops to handle?  Then I noticed one cop hung back while the other two approached me.  "Ma'am, what are you doing here?  You are in a secure area; you are not allowed this close to the trains without a ticket.  This is a restricted area, didn't you see the signs?  You do understand that this is a security issue, right?  You are violating Homeland Security laws by being in this area."

While these policemen spoke in a much quieter voice than the conductor had, their message was very clear:  I was a perceived threat.  I had no idea that making sure Erin was safe on her train would cause such a stir!  I also had not realized that President Obama was touching down at O'Hare within the hour (celebrating his 50th birthday with some hometown fund raising), and the city was on heightened alert.  I couldn't have picked a worse time to breach security.  I apologized profusely to the cops, and explained to them that I was just seeing my unaccompanied minor onto the train, and that at each point I had asked for - and been granted - permission to move forward.  Thankfully, they let me off with a stern warning to NEVER enter that area again without a ticket (I won't!), and that was the end of it.  Although I half expected them to send someone to follow me to my car to make sure I left.

Erin called when she reached the Rappaport's house, and her leg of the journey was far less eventful than mine, and she arrived safe and sound.  Baird's picking her up at Union Station on Saturday, and I'm sure he'll wait in the designated area for our Unaccompanied Minor's return.