Sailing

We had another beautiful weekend. . . and as anyone who has survived a Chicago winter can tell you, one must assume that each beautiful day in September, October, or November will be the last one for the year!  We were lucky enough to receive an invitation to join a partner in my office for an afternoon sail.  It was the first time any of the Shields had been on a sail boat.  While it was a relatively wind-free day, we still had a wonderful sail! 

This little guy was the entertainment for the four adults on board.  He was on good behavior and had lots of funny commentary to add to the conversation.  He was pretty excited that the hosts had brought juice boxes and chocolate candy to share! 

Update 10/3/2014:  This masterpiece came home from school yesterday! 

The page apparently just started as the two black dots, which William made into the portholes of the sailboat!  John and I are downstairs in the kitchen getting juice boxes (blue box) from the black cabinet, while William and our hosts are up on deck sitting around the fold out table.  Everyone is smiling and having a great time!

Master Baker

William and I baked cookies last weekend to celebrate the completion of the big part of the kitchen remodel:  we have cabinets and counters and a sink again!   As I looked at this photo, it made me think about all the other pictures I have of him standing at the island helping me bake.  I found the very first picture in February 2011 when he was 21 months old.  We did a lot of Bisquik recipes that first year. 

   Age 5

Age 4

Age 22 months

Age 21 months

Who's Who

Since both of my "boys" self-identify by different names than what I usually type, I have made a conscious effort to type their real names on the blog now.  Jason (John's middle name) and Will (William's nickname) are easier off the finger tips for me, but I have been listening to them for the past 10+ and 5 years, respectively, and will let them use their actual names.  You're still welcome to call them whatever you like or know!   They both answer to a multitude of names.  And they both answer when I say, "Honey." :-)

Six Flags

We enjoyed Deloitte Friends & Family Day at Six Flags yesterday.  Our four adult to one child ratio was perfect!  John, William and I got there about an hour earlier than Ryan and Tarek, so we went on few rides before the three big guys got in the LONG line for Superman and Will and I went off to ride dozens of kids appropriate rides - and bought Will's first cherry Slurpee! 

Post-Slurpee "selfie" when someone didn't want his picture taken, so of course Mommy did!  He was making that face on purpose since he didn't want a photo. He would have riden this "spider" ride indefinitely, but I had a one-reride (i.e. two times total) limit.   As it was, we spent 7 hours at the park and didn't get to ride everything.

After the guys finished their hour with Superman, Ryan and Tarek took Will while John and I rode the newest coaster:  Goliath!  It was great fun.  It has a huge drop, but the worst part wasn't the big drop. . . it was the many turns and twists after that with no recovery time!   Not sure if it was the sequence of the rides, but Goliath was easier on my stomach than Raging Bull.  Of course, I rode Goliath before my carb-laden Panda Express lunch and before our family's torturous ride on the River Rocker. 

While were were riding Goliath, Ryan let Will play a game on the midway.  He bought him 10 darts to throw at balloons.  He popped 7, including one dart that popped two balloons!  This was apparently quite a coup, because Ryan said the highest "point" prize was four.  For his 7, William picked three two-point lizards and a one-point ball.  This adorable boy clutching three bright lizards got lots of sweet smiles. 

After a late lunch and waiting out a rain storm, we did one last series of rides and coasters.   Will took three turns on Ricochet (trading off co-pilot duties were Tarek, Ryan and John) where he waved excitedly each lap to his adoring fans.

A full, fun day that according to my Fitbit covered more than 6 miles of walking!  We all slept great last night and the three prize lizards woke me up today at the very respectable hour of 8:30.

Catching Up

As is usually the case around here as we near "the 15th" of  a tax filing deadline month, non-essentials like blogging (and cleaning and reading the mail and grocery shopping) are abandoned.   And as is usually the case after April 15th and September 15th, I'm taking some time off this week to catch up on all those items.  Below is a sampling of what we've been up to (or what I have pictures of) in the past few weeks:

Playing with the neighbors.  We were lucky to have a pair of boys (and their Theta mom and dad) move in across the street last summer.  Now that the boys are older (almost 4 and 1 1/2) and love all things cars, the three boys enjoy playing together.  One Sunday we even took Rachel over to play in their fenced yard with their Labradoodle, Maybee.   Here are the dogs after they wore each other out.

Remodeling the kitchen.  I'm saving the before, during and after pictures for another post, but this is a perfect example of William's role in the kitchen.   While I worked in the office and John worked in the kitchen, William made himself a fort in our closet to enjoy his favorite video (EvanTubeHD) in relative quiet. 

Driving to the office.   There is major construction around our neighborhood, so getting to/from the train station is a major ordeal.   And, frankly, I just prefer to drive during busy season so I can get home quickly at night when the trains run infrequently.   Unfortunately traffic that is usually bad was horrendous the past two weeks as summer officially ended.  It was taking 90 minutes or more to get to the office in the morning versus the normal hour.  On one of these slow traffic mornings, I got hit rear-ended in near stand-still traffic and pushed into another car.  My car went in for repairs today.

Playing with Legos.   Here William is showing off the new Iron Man playset he got at Legoland on a Saturday afternoon trip with Daddy.  He was so excited to get up on Sunday morning and put it together!  They went for Star Wars Days, so he's wearing his Storm Trooper shirt.  Yes, he's still wearing the same clothes on Sunday morning.  His choice.  Not a battle I am remotely interested in engaging in. 

Playing tennis.  We've had three weeks of lessons and his hits are pretty good.  I love watching his left handed hits!   His concentration level still leaves a lot to be desired, but it's a small class and the coach is getting a feel for the kids now and realizing she needs to be firm with them. 

Playing with Rachel.  The dog is so tolerant of him!  And he loves her so much.  I don't think she will last the winter if it's very snowy or icy.  Her back legs don't have"brakes" anymore, so she slips and slides a lot.  I'm surprised she comes upstairs to our room, but I know she likes to lay in the sun we get through our skylight.  We take her for very short walks - up the block and back - because she grinds down her back toenails beyond the quick when her legs get tired and start to cross over as she walks.  I was so freaked out this summer when I took her on a long walk and didn't realize this was happening.  We got a few blocks from home and her toenails started squirting blood with each step.  She never makes any cries when she slips around inside or drags her toes outside, so we're not sure if she's just lost all feeling in her back end.

Walking to school.  Yesterday was the first time I had been to kindergarten since the first day, so I got to watch William walk right into school without looking back.  Took my breath away, and the tears welled up in my eyes.  He looked like such a big boy walking the halls of the school while I stood out on the sidewalk.  I also got to pick him and and per his request rode John's bike with William's tag-a-long connected.  He was a mini celebrity leaving school and riding the couple of blocks to the park we went to play at.  The tandem bike is so much better than the trailer.  For one, he can help pedal it, but the best part is that you can have a conversation since you're close enough.  Yesterday my heart was warmed when he just started singing the Chicago Bears fight song without any notice!  He told me the music teacher had taught them that!  Love it!