Things I'll Miss

There are going to be many things I'll miss about Illinois. Here's a semi-random list of a few of them.

Chicago. There's always something interesting to see in the Windy City.

Green. Especially in spring. And the garden that goes along with it.

The colors in the fall.

Midwestern thunderstorms. There's nothing quite like them.

Our Friends. We've made many over the years we've been here and have appreciated all they've been and done. It was special to see some of them at a surprise going-away party they threw for us the other evening. Thanks again to Karena and Jenimae for organizing it all.

Big Burger

I haven't posted a lot of pictures of food in the past, but thought this burger from a few nights ago might be worthy of some attention. Mmmmm.

Catching Up

I was looking back at some pictures this evening and realized there were a few from earlier this spring that I intended to post and never got around to.

Here's the sign that we didn't think we'd see in our yard for a few more years.

But there it is and it's been a sign of an interesting spring. Andrea worked hard in February and March to de-clutter and organize and set up the house to show. She did a fantastic job. The Sign got planted sometime in the middle of March and we had an accepted offer 12 days later. Inspections went well and we worked through the few minor repairs needed, have continued to try to clean things up a bit and are pretty much ready to go. I mean the house is - we won't be ready for a few more weeks... Packing is next.

Inverted Bookworm

Sometimes books are better upside down

Black Eyed Sweet Pea

Last week Anya learned that there was a reason why she had been told repeatedly to STOP PLAYING UNDER THE BLEACHERS at the track meet. Metal crossbar vs. forehead is always a one-sided contest. The crossbar won. Anya got a fine gash across her eyelid and six stitches to close it up. Her black eye will go away. Hopefully the lesson won't.

Double Header Day

We spent our day yesterday at the high school for two track meets back to back and almost everyone was involved. Kenrick had a Freshman-Sophomore meet in the morning,  Anthony had a junior high invitational in the afternoon, Andrea helped run the concession stand and I helped with timing for both. Paxton and Anya mostly sat in the van trying to stay warm.

Kenrick got sixth in the 100 meter dash, which he's never run before, and second in the 300 meter hurdles.

Then he helped his team win the 4x400 meter relay.

Anthony got a PR in both the 110 meter hurdles and the long jump.

And Andrea's volunteer crew sold a couple thousand dollars worth of food and drink to help the Monticello Music Boosters support the school band program.

A pretty good day overall. Everyone was pretty exhausted at the end of it.

Tooth Fairy Fails

When Kenrick started losing his baby teeth, Andrea and I decided that we wanted some way other than the "Tooth Fairy" to give a little reward for all his hard work and for being brave in spite of his dad's fumbling attempts to extract said offending teeth. So instead, little lost chompers went into a special "magic glass" and by morning (ta-dah!) they had turned into shiny quarters. I know, a magic glass probably isn't any better than a fairy, but it saved us a lot of nights of rooting around under pillows for three and a half mouths worth of teeth.

So about a month ago Paxton lost another tooth. We looked for the magic glass, but discovered that Andrea had packed it away in the first round of de-cluttering to get ready to show the house. Well, a normal glass should work, right? So, tooth in a drinking glass (with water, of course) and off to bed.

Morning comes and the tooth is still sitting in the bottom of the glass! Oops. "Well Paxton, maybe this glass just takes a little longer. Let it sit there for a while."

Sure enough, before the day was over the tooth had somehow turned into a dollar coin and all was well again.

A couple weeks after than, Paxton lost another tooth. (The kid has all manner of crazy going on in his poor mouth right now!) This time, I suggested that maybe we should put his tooth under his pillow and see what happens. So we did, and sure enough, the little baggy with his tooth in it turned into a little baggy with some coins in it. Right under his sleeping head! Amazing.

Well, Anya is losing teeth right now too and is also quite interested in this whole teeth for cash exchange. A couple of mornings ago she had one that was about ready to fall out of her head and getting hard to eat breakfast around so I grabbed hold and popped it out for her. She's always hesitant to have me try, but delighted with the end result. Anyway, I set the tooth down on the table next to her place and went back to eating breakfast. And forgot about it.

Anya didn't forget.

And the next morning she informed Andrea that she put her tooth under her pillow but nothing happened!

Ah stink. I felt terrible.

She was pretty mature about it. "Maybe they couldn't find it because the tooth was white and my sheets are white," she said. No, it's because your dad dropped the ball sweetie, sorry. I didn't tell her that, but mom managed to slip a dollar bill under her pillow later and that made everything better. Still magic.

New Digs

Guess where Andrea is standing?

We went back out to Tucson in February to look for a house. This is what we found.

So we're going to build a house after all. Or rather, we're going to have a house built. We found a developer that had a plan we liked and a lot we can live with, picked a couple of options that we hope we'll love, and now we sit back and wait. Hopefully the next picture we take from this spot will look a little different.

2017 Editions

The 2017 editions of the Pandemonium Family line looks much the same as last year's: A little taller. A little more mature. A few more teeth for some. A few less for others. Still pretty good looking.

We Luv You Two

Sidewalk chalk art in February.

Our last winter in the midwest hasn't really been much of a winter, unlike our north-western cousins, but it is kind of nice to be outside enjoying the sun.

Christmas in Arizona

Our last Christmas as Illinoisans was also our first Christmas in Arizona. We packed up the van and drove to Tucson, rented a house with Andrea's brother and his family for the week, met our realtor and looked a few houses, took in a few of the local attractions, and generally enjoyed the warm, sunny weather.

We first had to get out of our driveway, which was being covered in ice by a steady drizzle from a slow moving storm that bumped along our route all the way into Oklahoma. A brief hockey game broke out - I don't know who won.

This is pretty much what New Mexico looks like.

Tucson! First stop was the top of Sentinel Mountain to survey our new domain. Our house is out there somewhere kids! Or not.

The only picture I have of our rented living room also features two other familiar characters; Steve and JoAnne decided to drive down from Idaho to join our adventure.

One of the must-see attractions (especially for a certain teenager in our family) was the Pima Air and Space Museum. It's really very impressive. Plan on spending most of the day.

One of the most impressive of many is the venerable SR-71 Blackbird.

Kenrick slobbered on every plane in the museum

Paxton and Hayden next to some serious landing gear.

We also took a day to go for a hike on the Finger Rock Trail - one of my favorites in the area.

The kids lead the way. Don't get too far off the path, you might get stuck!

Lunch time.

Byron and I took the three older boys further up the trail after lunch. We didn't make it as far as I wanted before we had to turn back, but still managed an impressive climb up out of the valley.

Christmas morning dawned with snow in the mountains! Alas, no snow on the ground in the valley, but I guess that's to be expected. Christmas dinner featured ham and taters, salad and lots of other good stuff. Say cheesy stuffed mushrooms!

After dinner we went for a drive up the mountain. The view from Windy Point was stunning.

A rare and beautiful Snow Bird.

Finally, a trip up Sabino Canyon to enjoy the rarest of sights in the desert: running water!

We had a great trip, got to know Tucson a little better, and are starting to feel a little more connected to our future city. Unfortunately, we didn't find a house, but that's a story for another post.

On our way home we met up with our good buddies Aaron and Jenimae in Albuquerque at Shane and Malita's and traveled most of the way back home together. I miss the sunshine already.

Collarbroke

This post was supposed to be about an epic snowboarding trip to Colorado with Kenrick and Anthony and Aaron and Brad. Sadly, it turned into a story about the consequences of snowboarding badly in Colorado and then having to watch everyone else have an epic trip.

The five of us piled into Aaron's bus about three weeks ago and kept driving until we got to Loveland for a few days of snow and slopes. It was bitter cold, but the lift lines were short and we were in good spirits until I snagged the nose of my board on a rope fence going full tilt down the hill, smacked down on the hard packed groomed run, and broke my collarbone into five pieces. Note to self: stay away from the ropes. Ouch.

The rest of my day looked something like this.

If you look close, you can see that my left shoulder just doesn't look quite right. The break was bad enough that I needed to have surgery, which happened that same evening. One titanium plate, eight little screws, and a healthy dose of Percocet later, I was almost as good as new and Aaron hauled my groggy rear back to the condo to finally get some sleep.

 The next morning was bright and sunny. Everyone felt sorry that I would have to sit in the lodge all day. Briefly. Anthony stole my coat.

Classic Colorado.

The guys spent another day at Loveland and then part of Saturday at A-Basin, so managed to rack up some decent vertical. There were no more major incidents, although we did manage to break a couple of binding straps and Aaron's rig wouldn't start on Saturday morning. And someone kept stinking up the van on the way home...

I had a follow-up exam Tuesday and snapped a picture of the before and after.

Supper

Things that happened during supper tonight:

1. Anya thought the macaroni and cheese was too spicy 
2. Paxton burned his chest when a hot macaroni noodle stuck to his shirt
3. Anthony couldn't stop eating orange slices
4. We contemplated colored snow: "We might have to say we got caught in a fuschia-out!" 
5. Kenrick stabbed Paxton in the ribs with a butter knife
6. We ate peanut butter ice cream birthday cake

Thankfill

Thanksgiving was at the Pandemonium ranch this year and my family all came to help us celebrate one last Turkey Day on the Prairie. It was super nice to have everyone.

Mom and dad actually came out a few weeks early to help me manage the ruckus while Andrea was in Ecuador. And it was a great help. I had a few jobs for dad to do, but I think he mostly enjoyed spending time reading with his granddaughter. And Anya enjoyed having someone to read to.

Mom did what she does best - cooking, tidying, spoiling her grand kids. And spending time reading with her granddaughter.

Am I detecting a trend here?

The rest of the family showed up during the week of Thanksgiving and then we really did have a house full. Everyone graciously tucked in to whatever flat spot we had available for sleeping and managed to find a bathroom to use. We relaxed, played a little football, explored the tree house, jumped on the trampoline, relaxed some more.

Turkey Day is always a much anticipated event for my foodie family, and this year was no exception. Nor were we disappointed. The setting, pre-bird.

The spread.

After the dishes were cleaned up and leftovers put away we gathered our sleepy selves into the living room and played a Thankful game, pulling a paper feather out of a hat and trying to guess who had written the message of thanks that was on it. Then we pinned the paper feather on the paper turkey, created courtesy of Auntie Sally and her crafty minions.

We have much to be thankful for.

Mom took advantage of having another willing ear in the house to read a story or two. Or maybe it was Dorian who had the advantage.

It really does seem like there's a common theme here, but not sure I'm putting my finger on it...

We took the opportunity to have a double 16th birthday celebration for Kenrick and Mia. It's a little early for Kenrick, a little late for Mia, but nobody complained too much.

What kind of 16th birthday party would it be without a pinata? Everyone got a whack with the blindfold, but then since it was a little cold we just let the birthday kids have at it. Kenrick connects, but doesn't get it to split.

And Mia finished the job with a fine flying swing.

Our babies are grown. You can tell these two are related, can't you?

One last group hug, I mean picture, before it's time to go home. What a nice looking bunch.

Thanks again to everyone for coming out! We really enjoyed it.

The house seemed kind of empty last week.