Lets Go Hawks

As soon as our friend Charlie got some tickets to the Hawks game he called Mike. He asked
"You and Karen want to go to a Hawks game?"
It took us all of 5 seconds to say Hell Yes!
You weren't the first person I called, you are the ONLY person I called. See, Charlie understands that Mike and I love the Hawks too.
He provides the 4 awesome seats in the 200 level with a parking pass and Mike and I provide the ride in and his beer for the night.
Last year he got the tickets I got sick and stayed home. I swore that was not going to happen this year. Though I did spend the afternoon at Urgent Care getting exrays on my foot. Don't ask how it happened I ain't gonna tell. Way too embarrassing.
Nothing broke - just give me some Meds I got a hockey game to get to.

There is nothing like watching hockey Live!
The seats were $145 a ticket and Mike and I were so grateful, and gladly bought Charlie all the beer he wanted.

View from our seats

 I thought I would miss the old guys - but watching these young kids speeding down the ice. Man it's exciting to watch. I think it's going to be a good year.

2 happy Hawks fans.

Hawks WIN!!!!!!

Here is a suggestion to all the ladies out there - For you to spend a little less time prancing in line at the potties - how about leaving a little tail on the end of the toilet paper roll. There is nothing more frustrating than having to search for the end of the roll. Just Saying!

Race for the Kids

What do you do when your child is born with a health problem?
You research doctors, hospitals, treatments, and hopefully some day find a cure.

Bryan and Mary did just that when Luke was born. They found a Doctor who not only has Luke headed in the right direction to a (fingers crossed) healthy life, but genuinely cares about his little patients.

Luke and his Doctor

Mike and I joining the Flory family on Sunday to "Race for the Kids" at the University of Chicago, was a no brainer. We both would walk a hundred miles for Luke, if it meant he could get off all his medicines and Bryan and Mary could spend just one day without looking at the clock checking if it's time for his next dosage.

It' was 5k run/walk around the University campus.

We joined Luke's doctors Team "Robo Kids"  - so named because he does a good amount of surgery with a robot.

We started out strong, but just pass the 2 mile marker there was a short cut to the finish line. We were steadily falling into the back of the pack. The boys would want to walk a ways and Luke had to stop to pet every dog he saw, so we took the path,  just in time to witness the Kids Dash. Ok, I admit I was ready to cut it short too.

Roger saw all the kids running and insisted on running the rest of the way pushing the stroller. Papa, of course, helped him.

Mike and Roger running it out

Luke had no choice but to walk the rest of the way too (no stroller). He sprinted to the Finish Line with his Mommy and Daddy with the crowd cheering.

Bryan, Luke and Mary crossing the Finish Line

I was tailing behind to capture a picture and got a lump in my throat watching Luke waving at the people cheering for him.
He is why we walked, but there were so many other parents there with stories about Comer and the great work being done there. I am glad Mary fought and didn't give up until she found this place.
Luke is a bright, funny boy who knows that his smile will get him anything he wants.
Sign me up for next year!

Both Birthdays

We started out our September birthdays with a trip to Galena to play some golf. Mike has always wanted to play the General. Wish granted. The course was challenging and so much fun. You had to be a mountain goat to play some of the holes. See - they have goats to "mow" the grass where the grounds crew can't reach.

We had the place practically to ourselves. Breakfast was included in our package. The whole dining room and buffet and just 3 couples. Pretty sad.

The weather was perfect and the golf surprisingly was good too.

I already filled you in on Mike's birthday, and mine was pretty much the same. Celebrations with family and a special friend.
Sharen and I played some golf with our husbands and then we visited with our old childhood best buddy.
Barb lived just a few miles from the course, so we went to her house after golf.
She took us for a boat ride around her beautiful lake - Lake Candlewick - a hidden gem in Belvidere.

It was so nostalgic seeing her again. We had some great times getting into and outa trouble when we were little. We spent every waking minute together over our summers.
 She asked if we wanted to drive the boat.
Sharen jumped into the drivers seat.
Barb turns to me and said "I thought for sure you would be the one to want to drive, being the daredevil and all."
"No, I want to be the one to water ski!"

It wasn't that I was the dare devil. It turned out that they always talked me into going first at everything. I had to lead the way - Everytime.

We had to cut our visit a little short, because Dylan had a football game. Homecoming - can't miss that.
But Barb, We know where you live now and we are going to bring our fishing poles, our swimsuits and towels and load of liquor and spend a whole weekend. So watch out.

Surprise!!

Mike turned 60 on the 11th and Steve came out from NY to surprise him.

Mike has lunch with his friend Dave every week, so I thought it would be a perfect time for "Surprise!"
Their lunch was on Friday so I picked up Steve from his brothers house. His brother has 3 LARGE dogs - 2 St. Bernard and a Mastiff, and Steve spent the night there Thursday. Needless to say, he was very happy to see me pull into the driveway on Friday morning and escape from dog hair and slopper.

We surprised Mike at the restaurant.
Mike is not one for surprises. He is a man of very few words and would rather the attention be on someone else, but he was happy to see Steve and we had a great lunch.

Well Steve was staying for a week so we put him to work.
First they installed my new front door. Brian had a huge hand in helping also.

While Mike was at work Steve offered to help me paint the Adirondack chairs Mike had made me. I already had the paint so we spent the afternoon together in the garage, listening to music and painting the chairs - "claret wine". They were in badly in need of a paint job and my front porch needed color. 2 coats of paint and 2 sore backs they were done.
Yes, I know the deck needs paint too, but look past that at the beautiful chairs and door.

Steve is heading back to NY tomorrow and I am going to miss him.
We don't have to have big plans when he comes to visit. I like that about him. We usually eat out a few nights and Mike and him always take in a movie. He gets to take as many naps as he wants and sleep as late as he wants, without his dogs to bother him. (though he really misses his babies).
Friends like him are hard to find and I am proud to call him MY friend too.

And for all you readers who are also on Facebook - Steve made Mike a carrot cake (he used chopped apples instead of raisins) with a cheesecake filling. AND they taste as good as they look.

Power Washing

2 neighbors were walking down the street as I was power washing our front deck. They wave.
N:"What are you doing?"
Having to turn off the washer to talk.
Me: "Ahhh, I'm power washing our deck." Which seems to me to be pretty obvious.
N: Why?
Me: Cause it's dirty - And I just might do the house next."
N: "Where's your husband?"
Now, I am getting really confused why she asked, or she is just getting stupid, but I answer nicely.
Me: "He's working, and I need to get back to work."

It blows my mine how little women in our neighborhood are not outside doing stuff. NOT a one! It's all men. Not one female (besides my sister, Sharen) does work outside. It's all men mowing, weed whacking, blowing driveways, trimming hedges: anything that takes a power tool and a little hard work they seem to shy away from. I want to pull them all outside and show them that it's great exercise. Yes, some is pretty hard work, but it's not a race do a little at a time, get some fresh air, and get something done.

So, being the great neighbor that I am -  I am going to continue to set a good example and power wash the whole damn house.

Done!
Yes, it was not easy and it took me 2 days to get it done, but boy did it need it and now it looks amazing.  I am so glad that it was hot, like really hot, out, because I got soaking wet.
I am sore, but guess what female neighbors I enjoyed doing it and my house is clean both inside and out, all because of me  - So There.

Weekend Day 2

Ok these are in descending order, but you can get the idea.

I thought it would be cool to take Roger to the places that I took his daddy, so I planned a day at Lords Park. Turns out their petting zoo closed for the season on Friday.
Plan B we head out to the Randall Oaks petting Zoo instead.
Sharen warned me that it's not worth the money, but we went anyway. She was right, but Roger didn't care.

Roger the Llama

There are signs all around to be careful that the goats will grab your bag of feed. (small bag cost a $1)

 

While Roger was feeding this guy his brother grabbed Mikes bag as he was walking by. Ate the food bag and all.

 

 Roger got to pet a ferret.

 Sharen told me about a huge playground there, that you have to walk to. We stopped here but this did not feel right. This place was small.

We drove to the next parking lot and got out and walked down a path.
OMG good thing we did. She was so right. Roger and Mike had a blast. Someone needs to tell Mike that he's grown up now. This is only 1/2 of it.

 

Roger going down the tube slide.

 You guessed it - Mike soon followed. Bumped his head, but he made it down. I was pretty sure I would get stuck. I stayed on the open slides.

Then on to the tetter totter.

We were having so much fun and we had the place all to ourselves.
But it was so hot out, we put it on our list to come back, and headed home.

Roger has been asking if Uncle Brian could come play legos with him. He wanted me to call and invite him over. He was already planning on coming over for dinner so he just came early.
WITH MORE LEGOS IN HAND. They built a conveyor belt, a dump truck and a excavator that actually picked things up.
Mike sitting in the background is putting together a house that Roger dismantled.

We took a short break from building to venture outside in the heat. Roger had to show Uncle Brian his motorcycle.
He was very proud to ride in the street. His Mother gave him permission as long as he listened. It's a dead end street that sees maybe 10 cars a day.

I took this walk with him earlier in the day and when we got to the end of the block he turns it off so we could sit and enjoy the scenery. The neighbors must thought I had fallen down or something. I'm siting in the street next to Roger on his cycle.

Weekend with Roger Day 1

Hi there,
We've been very busy around here being Grandparents.

Roger was visiting us for the weekend.
How do you keep a 4 year old busy?
Our first stop was LEGOLAND. He was VERY, VERY excited. He loved the Chicago  - his favorite parts were the city park and the construction site.

 We rode the dragon ride. I really thought he would get scared - it's in the dark and you have to shoot big spiders. Nope, he grabbed the gun and started shooting.
Then we got in line for the 4-d movie. This was Rogers first time in a movie theater. He wore his 3d glasses for the whole thing, but got a little scared when the rhino jumped out of the srceen and climbed up on Papa's lap. I jumped too. He didn't get wet when the bad guy fell into the moat, but I did.

You have to build a car to race down the slide.


Papa and Roger hard at work

I had no idea, Looking for inspiration



Trial runs

Roger's and Mike's didn't make the jump, but stayed together - Mine, Fell apart at the bottom.
"That's OK Meemaw, at least you tried."

Roger wanted to go on the pedal ride. Papa said OK. After Mike got off he remember how hard it was on his knees to pedal. He went on this a few years ago with Kaylyn and it wrecks your knees.

 The playground was pirate themed. Roger shooting the canon.
LEGOLAND does this right. They only let a few kids in every 15 minutes. I got tickets for the first entry at 10:00 so we didn't have to wait for anything.
I was thankful to Mary for putting him something bright. Wasn't too hard to spot him. That  was until a preschool group came in with orange t-shirts on. Ugh...

 We lost sight of him for a minute. Then I see him in the cubbie hole under the pirate ship playing with another boy in the bigger soft legos.

 On the way out there is this dude.
"Do you think we can make one of these?" Probably not, but we can try.

I was very proud when we stopped for a snack and Roger picks out the fruit cup. Could of grabbed chips or candy.
The rest of our afternoon was playing with a overwhelming amount of legos back at the house. Thanks to Uncle Brian.
Helping Papa putting back together a bull dozer that Uncle Brian had bought and built.
Roger loves to dismantle almost as much as putting them together. I have to admit I had no idea how to use the "tool" for getting these suckers apart. Roger showed me the way.

 This is the extras. Yup that is 2 boxes of extras.

It was so hot outside we stayed in and played legos - ALL DAY.