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.