First Day on Skates

We trekked down to Millennium Park to try out ice skating today. The Vancouver Olympics got our attention. It was a lovely, mid 30s day. E.B. made great progress. Dad and Nata, less so.

After, we did a scavenger hunt in the old library that is now the Chicago Cultural Center and caught the train home via the Block 37 redevelopment.

Another JSD Joint

Jules is working with her friends at Psychobaby and Subterranean to put on a kids concert series.







Yesterday we actually went. It was a big success. Eva Gomez recommended the kiddie cocktail - E.B. and Nata loved them.

Lots of the usual suspects in the house: the Allens, the Mercs, the Shapiros.

EBD joins the ranks of vision corrected

Dancing on a bench

Beats soccer by a lot.

Should have brought a shovel

Ten inches of fresh coming tonight should bury the field again for a while.

Overnight at Grandpa and Grandma's house

They stalked deer in the back yard, ate snow and snowmelt (none yellow as far as we know), climbed big piles of snow, and ran into an unsupervised 7-year old driving a snowmobile on a frozen pond adjacent to the Fox River. And people say the City is dangerous.

Owie tried on Elliot's Han Solo hat. It's a little small for him.

Elliot's week

Mom provided the structure and Elliot filled in the calendar for the month. Highlights include piano practice, Grandma Bonnie comes, Audrey and Emily come over, and sledding.

Dunes #2

Julie devised a name for a mix of snow and sand that looks like chocolate covered vanilla ice cream - snand.

We got great views of the ArcelorMittal plant in Burns Harbor and the cooling tower in Michigan City.

Our climb to the top of Mt. Tom (192 ft above sea level) was documented for posterity with E.B. and Dad simulating soaring crows.

Unsafe - Death Can Occur

Day trip to the Indiana Dunes State Park. Pretty spectacular. Strongest warning sign ever observed at a state park for shelf ice.

We played a mix up of the Jutland Wastes of Tatooine and Ice Planet Hoth.

We suspect that on a windy day in the winter this place is miserable but it was gorgeous today.

More ballet shots

More Ballet

Owie and Sue took Nata to her class on Friday.

Face bruises and other weirdness

Jules got an old, crapped out tooth pulled this week. Swelling and bruises followed.

E.B. has been into making masks and double light sabers.

Nata and Leia look more alike each day.

Dad and the kids played army guys. With force fields and mountains and lakes which made Elliot very tough to beat.

Cooking Class with Grandma Sue

E.B and Nata spent Friday night at Grandpa and Grandma's.

They went swimming at Grandma Cle's house in the morning.

In the afternoon, Elliot and Grandma took a cooking class at the Dole Mansion in Crystal Lake. He may have been the only boy/player in the class.

The Giacometti-style Abe Lincoln statue seems more than a little weird to me but, perhaps suburbanites are still feeling deeply alienated as a result of the horrors of WWII.

Uncle Geoff's Visit

A quick vist from Geoff Reed this week. He was "force choked" over fifty times in less than 24 hours AND SURVIVED.

Nata's Ballet Class

Sink Project

We are painting everything in the basement. D. D. Kitty may be next.

Finished up the sink today (1/20/10).

Sledding

Upper teens Sunday did not deter us. We hit Humboldt Park's hill (John Hancock visible in the background.). Both kids had long runs that got them out onto the frozen pond. We also hiked around the entire fieldhouse and found a cache of giant icicles. For the record, Dad did NOT almost drop 50 pounds of ice on Elliot's head, how could you even think that? Also, Nata was a "snow worm like on Ice Planet Hoth" for a time.

An hour plus was all they could take out there. Faces got really red and Nata's toes started to ice over.

Julie took them out to the hill on Friday when temps were in the upper twenties. No fair.