Happy Thanksgiving!

From our family to yours.

Chicago, marathon style

Tuesday, tuesday, tuesday – dance class, laundry, dusting, work, and dinner –  the routine is always oh so boring when following on the heels of a mini vacation such as the one to which we were treated this past weekend.  On Friday, for Jon's birthday, my parents loaded us all in the van and treated us to a weekend in Chicago to visit Curtis, who also got older on Friday!  Big city living is fun in small doses.  Curtis's new apartment offers both a great location and a marvelous view (think walking distance to the Pier, Millennium Park, and the Magnificent Mile, all places that we visited), and  even had a closet in which Calvin could sleep (important unless we all plan on going to bed at eight with the baby).  On Friday we arrived in time to enjoy a fantastic birthday dinner, French style, at Cyrano's Bistrot.  Mmmmm escargot.  On Saturday we stuffed ourselves at breakfast, enjoyed a late morning outting to The Navy Pier (mmmmm local beer), and stuffed ourselves again with an early dinner at the Grand Lux Cafe.  Mmmmmm  carbs.  And that brings me to the second reason for our weekend visit–The Chicago Marathon, in which both Curtis and his friend, Julie, were running.  So Sunday morning we stuffed ourselves once again at breakfast and then made our way through Millennium Park (a fun destination in itself, too, what with the bean and Crown Fountain) and over to mile 26 of the 26.2 mile marathon route where we camped out against the barricades for an hour in order to see them run by (and snap some pictures, of course).  A successful endevor!  They both finished what was their first marathon in just under 4.5  hours AND managed to look pretty peppy in the aftermath.  Our final day, Monday, found us shopping the Magnificent Mile and enjoying a deli lunch before packing it in and heading for home (at which time Curtis probably heaved a sigh of relief at having his apartment to himself again and the tme to rest his marathon weary legs).  One more stop, this one for dinner at the nearly century old Schuler's in Marshall, Michigan, for their famed prime rib.  And that brings us to today.  How boring.

Pictures galore in the Chicago Trip album.

Well, we've pet everything else...

...so why not giraffes?  This summer Calvin has ridden both a quarter horse and a dromedary camel, fed goats, llamas, sheep, and a bison, and pet an  armadillo and a fennec fox (in addition to the aforementioned species, that is), so to elongate that list we took a morning trip to Binder Park Zoo to feed the giraffes.  This isn't actually a new activity for us–Calvin's first giraffe encounter took place when he was only a few months old, and he fed them for the first time last year–and we couldn't let a year go by without partaking in this joy, so we took advantage of the additional week of summer we've been granted and headed to the zoo yesterday morning.  Mid week during the school year can make a zoo feel down right deserted, but in a very good way, and we soaked up all the one-on-one attention the apparently lonely  docents could lavish on us.  The giraffes, too, seemed almost hungry for attention, or maybe it was just the biscuits we were holding.  Either way we enjoyed some great one-on-one time with the giraffe species as well.  There are, of course, other animals at Binder Park Zoo, such as the baby snow leapoard (who was being fed), the colobus monkeys (who were bouncing around), and the gibbons (who were whooping quietly), and the frog on the Pepsi machine, but they make for less impressive story telling and picture taking, so we'll leave those encounters up to your imagination.  What a great day to be at the zoo.

Pictures, pictures everywhere - in the September 2008, Too album.

(almost) Everyone wins

Yesterday, Michigan suffered an (almost) unexpected loss to Notre Dame.   It was a rather wet road game – when I say wet I mean wring your socks out before the next play kind of wet – and between the pouring rain and the poor officiating any effort by our inexperienced offense was really for naught.  Thankfully, while we were subjected to the rather wet weather, we were not forced to endure much of the game because we were off enjoying some much coveted child free time at a family wedding (the  wedding of Mark Karow, whom Curtis and I grew up with, to his bride CJ).  Rain or shine weddings are always enjoyable - who can say no to doing the Thriller dance with a pink flip-flop clad Curtis?  Or a little disco, a little swing, a little foxtrot, right after devouring wedding cake, of course.  And before anyone accuses us of leaving Calvin out of all the fun, he was home enjoying a visit with his Aunt Ann and his Grandma and Opa, who we hear  showered Calvin with affection, fun, gifts, and games.  To hear him tell it this morning they had an all out fiesta while we were gone, complete with a pizza party.  That must be the real way to ensure we get to go out every once in a while without much fussing - make sure the kid at home is having even more fun than we are.  Thank you Aunt Ann, Grandma, and Opa  =o)

Game Day with Calvin

Lee Corso may understand play making and statistics, but he's got nothing on Calvin in the enthusiasm category. While this is really his third season of  the Michigan Football Experience it is only his first truly conscious one, and that makes it especially fun for us.  Over the past few weeks we've been preparing him for the game day phenomenon by talking about college, football, college football, and, of course, the maize and blue (there is no such color as yellow).  The Friday before the first game we went to the resale shop to pick out some clothing in those particular colors and on our way out the door Calvin gave a rousing cry of "Let's Go Blue!" that he kept up through the parking lot, and I knew we had done our job well.  In good weather we start our home game celebrations with a Friday evening picnic at the Michigan Marching Band rehearsal.  The Friday evening band rehearsals are a popular Ann Arbor event and this week we spread our blanket and picnic foods out on the ground between several other families with young children and settled in for a good show (Calvin, we mean, who kept pointing out and naming all   the instruments and repeatedly remarking "they're marching down the field with their instruments, mommy!").  Calvin's favorite part of home game weekends, though, is probably the Saturday morning tailgate, where food, playmates, and adoration are all abundant.  My family has been tailgating with the same group since before I was even born, and the kids that I grew up with now all have families of their own that take part – the next generation of  the Go Blue club.  And though we don't go to the games themselves, after some great tailgating we trek back through the crowds (Calvin imparting an emphatic "Go Blue" to all we pass) to take in the action on TV.  Football games are the only television Calvin is allowed to watch (really it's the only television WE watch), and he has yet to take any interest, but it's clear that he's listening when we hear him repeat phrases such as "overthrown pass" and "missing offense."  Hopefully in years to come he'll be learning different phrases, like "great recruiting" and "experienced team."