Father's Day at the Gram's

Big fun today. Grandpa and Grandma and Grandma Bonnie all came with us to Bill and Jean's. Matthew, Jamie and Dawn were super good with the kids. Their good buddy Vill was there too. We ate, played LOTS of soccer and bounced on the trampoline. Nata had her nails painted by Dawn.

Helado at north avenue beach

Hoyne and thomas

A big storm knocked out power for several hours tonight. A falling tree blasted this Jeep around the corner from our house.

Last Day of Pre-School

Some sadness leaving Ms. Russell. Luckily, Nata will be in her class next year.

Elliot and his classmates have been scattered to the four winds by good old CPS. Hope we keep up with them.

Galena - Eagle Ridge

The Illinois City Manager's Conference was a real treat. Bikes, pool, hikes, video poker in a downtown Galena bar/restaurant.

Norman Rockwell stuff here.

Bemused face. Cheese face.

Facepainting

Do Division #2

Mary Macaroni's balloon animals also ripped. Two bunnies and a pink alien later, we were on the way home.

Do Division

Festival Season is upon us. We went with the McMahons, Mercs and Rats today. Jules was there working like a turk while the rest of us ate grilled meats beforehand.

We got lucky and got a few rain free hours while we were there.

Mike Merc's stovetop smores, pony rides and the bounce house were highlights.

Monticello #4

It turns out, Elliot likes malt vinegar on his fries.

We also made a couple of stops at key spots: Willow Branch looks OK, Buck and Max's house is getting a new front porch and looks pretty well loved. We stopped by Buck and Max's graves too for a quick visit.

Monticello #3

We found water in the hedges on the way to the sunken garden. Great place to fill the Nalgene on a hot day. The first trip to the Sunsinger was a success.

Monticello #2

Natalie held the toad too.

E.B. pulled some MASSIVE snails out of the creek.

There were blue martins in the martin houses. First time for that!

Monticello #1

We hit the usual spots: The Brown Bag, Dairy Queen, Buck's trail at Allerton. The pool at the Best Western was very popular. The car show was an unexpected treat.

We caught another toad. Also, we found a dead snake and a beautiful dead butterfly which made E.B. very sad off and on throughout the trip.

Shapiro BBQ

Friday night Scott, Laurel, et al came over. Dad was late, so Scott got to grill his own dinner. Classy.

We were up until 10pm when the wheels came off of EB and Caden.

It was Devin's first time hitting off a tee. He may have been drafted already.

Sunsinger

A couple from the Birdhouse event

Facebook may break when Julie posts all her pics from last night. Here are selected faves for our blog readership. Great party. Great fun.

Julie was fired up. She took tons of pics but people got her in a few. She looked spectacular.

Wesley was a full service host. He even put on his blue suit and smashed down the garbage in the dumpster outside his studio.

Carmelo, Alex and I got caught checking our phones at the same time. The moment was re-enacted for posterity. They won that really cool Pac-Man looking birdhouse.

Jules gave a great speech from atop some scaffolding. I took the picture from really far away. I promise that's her.

New table in the garden

We pulled out the bushes and added some fresh mulch last weekend. This weekend, we assembled the Jane Hamley Wells picnic table. It was a sunglasses in the shade type of day today.