Anthony Overdue

The last entry of the Birthday Series is long overdue, sorry. Anthony celebrated his 12th birthday in April. The celebration seems to have gotten smeared across about a month and a half because of an early birthday present in March, a cake and a quiet party sometime in April and then Birthday Pictures a couple weeks after that. Anthony seemed to take it all in stride.

The cake request this year was "something Minecraft". Andrea delivered. Anthony devoured.

You might be about maxed out when you realize on the day of your kid's birthday that you haven't really thought about a present for him, then you remember that he got his big present a  couple of weeks ago but it would be nice for him to have presents with the cake so you rummage through the back of the closet and find something that you picked up about six months ago that you thought he'd like and so you slap a pink bow on top and call it good. What is it? That's not a sewing box is it? No! Well, yes, but it would also make a cool collection organizer. You know, for rocks and shells and random doodads that seem to pile up around Anthony. He liked it.

The big present this year was a new bike. Big in more ways than one. He'll grow into it. Probably by next month.

Happy Birthday Anthony!

Ready, Set, Spring!

The appearance of spring always brings with it an abundance of frantic activity. This year is no exception.

Our crab apple tree seemed to explode overnight into a brilliant hue of pink, adding nicely to the spring palette.

It's time to resurrect long dormant landscaping projects as well, and my goal this spring is to finish up the garden terrace retaining walls that I started two years ago. A trailer full of block is a good start.

I'm actually nearly finished with the third wall now, but need some more gravel to fill the cavities. Then the caps can go on and we can flatten the space above for one more row of planter boxes. And then we pull weeds.

Last week we joined some of our friends for the Allerton Park Trail Run. A couple of the guys ran the half-marathon (not me!), a couple of the girls walked the 10k, and a few of us stumbled through the dark on Friday night for the pre-race Trail-Glo 5k run. Headlamps required, step carefully. I didn't get any pictures of me in the dark because, well, it was dark, but I did get a few shots the next day. Including this of the Weary Finishers after their leisurely stroll through the woods.

Anya made a sign and cheered hard.

And Paxton won the little kids race afterwards. Go Paxton!

Anya twirls. She probably would have won a medal for that if there was such a thing.

We're all winners! It was a beautiful day.

Spring also means track and field. Both Kenrick and Anthony are running this year on the Middle School team. Anthony is trying the pole vault. He's doing well - he cleared six feet the other day and looks better every meet.

Kenrick is running hurdles again. He hasn't had a lot of competition yet, but he's working on getting faster and is slowly creeping up on a State qualifying time.

Whew! All this running around and digging in the dirt and frantic blooming is exhausting! I love it.

Say what you mean, Mom!

Yesterday Anya asked Andrea if she could wear her new dress for meeting in the morning.

"Maybe Anya. We'll see."

"That means yes, right?"

No More Baby Anya

Today Andrea took Anya in to the school to get registered for Kindergarten.

That makes me a bit sad.

Predictably Pink

Birthday number three for the year belongs to Anya. She celebrated birthday number five with a scrumptious supper (menu of her choice) with her favorite family followed by cake and presents.

Her favorite family, minus me with the camera, getting ready to dig in to shrimp and toast, salad, carrots, and Cheetos. Yum!

Mommy outdid herself this year with a Frozen Princess cake (not frozen cold, Frozen the movie). Anya was delighted.

The crew, posing for the pre-puff picture. Paxton! Stop looking goofy. Smile Kenrick. Anya, look at the camera. Oh wait, the candles burned out. Okay here we go, "Happy Birthday to you, happy Birthday to you..."

Predictably, the presents were primarily pink. Hello Kitty.

A passel of princesses to add to the collection. Perfect.

Birthday 2

For the third year in a row it snowed on Kenrick's birthday. He was delighted.

We can hardly call Kenrick a Birthday Boy anymore. He did have a birthday, but he's officially As Tall As Mom and is starting to look like a young man instead of a boy. 14 isn't too old to have some buddies over for a party, however, so that's what he did. Mom made sure to have plenty of food on hand for lunch.

Vanilla cake with raspberries. Happy Birthday tooo youuu!!

The guys spent most of the day sliding down the hill and trying to stay out of the creek. Paxton and Anya had to join the fun too.

Two birthdays down, two more to go...

Let the Birthday Season Begin!

Paxton leads the charge with Birthday Number Seven. He almost has more years than teeth.

He definitely has more Lego's than teeth.

Grandpa and Grandma were on hand to help celebrate. And to try out the new silly nose Fibber game.

Happy Birthday, Paxton, may your infectious smile never dim, your enthusiasm never wane, your orange hair never turn purple.

A Sunny Start to the Year

The beginning of 2015 found me traveling out to Tucson, Arizona for work. We have a large test facility out in the desert were we can run our biggest machines. Part of the reason the facility is there is because it hardly ever rains and so we can run all year round. It rained while I was there.

It was snowing back home though, so I don't dare complain too loudly.

I couldn't take a picture of what we were testing, of course, but I did get a couple of shots while we had some down time. Looking east out over the desert.

A team photo inside the dipper of the 7495 Rope Shovel that our Demonstration and Training facility next door uses to impress customers.

We were impressed.

The trip gave me a chance to work on a little facial hair. It didn't last too long after I got home however; I got tired of kissing my wife from a distance. Also, my beard doesn't seem to be the same color as my head...

Wrapping Up

November and December passed in a flash, full of accomplishments, activities, and friends. Since I didn't keep up with individual blog posts, I'll have to try to wrap a few of the high points into one last big one for the year.

November brings the end of the harvest and this year the kids had a chance to ride in the combine with one of our farmer friends.

Thanks for the ride Clarence!

Anthony earned his black belt in Tae Kwon Do in November. The test was quite thorough, requiring the candidates to perform every punch and kick sequence that they had learned from the beginning of their training.

The belts were ordered and arrived a few weeks after the test, so the instructor presented them to all the new Black Belts during one of Anthony's last classes.

The training for higher ranks requires a much larger commitment than what we're wanting to give right now, so Anthony is finished with Tae Kwon Do for the foreseeable future after having accomplished a very significant and commendable goal. Good job Anthony!

The end of the year also brings winter concerts. All three boys were involved this year; Paxton singing enthusiastically with the first grade in his first concert ever, and the other two tooting their horns in a much improved sixth grade band and a very impressive eighth grade band, respectively.

Mom starting making bread. Again. She's still in somewhat of an experimentation phase, trying to get the right blend of sour and dough in the mix, but the results so far have been quite palatable. Paxton and Anya are of questionable assistance.

Thanksgiving dinner was spent in Decatur with a collection of good friends. Enormous amounts of food were consumed by all. Mostly by me.

Anya and Gwendolyn, busily crafting something before dinner. The two have grown to be pretty good buddies, and usually end up dressed in their princess outfits before the day is done.

After Thanksgiving we went to visit some of our good friends from Peoria. The Mommies went shopping. Everyone else decorated cookies. Especially Anya and Kiera.

Our Christmas break was very relaxed. We slept, played games and built Legos. Paxton is getting quite proficient.

Lots of reading was done by all.

And Paxton lost another tooth. His two top front teeth still haven't come in, so he's got a fantastic gap now.

So, another year under our belts. The kids are growing like weeds, our 'new' house is starting to feel like home after three and a half years, and work is going well. We have many wonderful friends. We're looking forward to 2015 and an abundance of new adventures.

Random Bursts of Excitement

I drove up to Chicago one Sunday afternoon in early November to see my brother who happened to be in town for business. He was in the middle of some meetings when I got to his hotel, but he'd sent me a text earlier to say he'd heard about some guy who was going to try to walk a high wire strung between a couple of skyscrapers close by, so I wandered out to take a look. Sure enough, there was the wire, strung across the Chicago river about fifty stories up.
Turns out the guy was Nik Wallenda, the famous tightrope walker from the famous high-flying Wallenda family, and that he was planning to walk the wire that very evening. On live TV of course. With no nets or safety harness. This could be exciting.
So I found a spot to hang out and wait as the streets filled up with curious onlookers, all craning their necks towards the thin little wire so high up in the sky and so dramatically lit against the gradually darkening sky.
In my blurry cell phone picture you can barely make out the cable attached between one of the Marina City towers on the left and another building across the river and across Wacker Drive on the right.

What you can't see in the picture are all the support cables that were strung back down to anchor points on the street to hold the main wire steady. It was quite an interesting setup.
The crowd in the street was pretty quite as we waited for something to happen. Every now and then someone would think they saw a figure look over the edge of the building or see some movement near one of the ends of the wire and a cheer would go up, but then fall silent again. Sam eventually got back from the conference center and joined me on the street.

Finally, unmistakably, Nik appeared on the wire, holding his balance pole and walking steadily towards the other side. He didn't pause, he didn't fool around, he just motored up the slight incline with measured, precise pace and an air of supreme confidence. (We learned later he was talking to the TV broadcasters as he walked)

When he got to the other side he hopped off the cable, then looked over the edge and waved to the crowd. Everyone cheered. Then we hurried back to the hotel to get warmed up.

Profoundfull

Overheard at the supper table the other evening:
"My favorite number of the alphabet is the triangle because it's so green!"
Sounds about right.

Humble Pie

Yesterday afternoon I was feeling a bit cooped up and twitchy from not getting enough exercise so I pried Kenrick off the couch and we both went outside to run up and down our hill a couple of times. We jogged a lap around our property to get warmed up and then found a spot along the fence line where we could run up the slope towards the neighbors shop. Now, our hill isn't the steepest in the world, and our property really isn't all that wide, but I figured that if we sprinted the hill say, 10 times, we'd get a decent workout.
"We'll call every other start," I told Kenrick. "I'll be first. Readysetgo!" And off I sprinted.
"Hey!" he yelled, caught off guard, and sprinted after me.
I beat him up to the top.
That was the only time.
Did I mention that I haven't gotten enough exercise lately?
As I was staggering back down the hill after our fifth trip up, I exercised the Old Guy's Prerogative to Change The Rules and declared that 8 times would probably be sufficient to get a good workout.
The rest time between sets was increasing; "Ready. Huh, huh, huh, whooooo. Set. Huh, huh. Go!"
Kenrick seemed relatively unaffected. I'm suspecting he was playing with me on the last sprint - every time I'd start to catch him he'd bump the speed up just a bit to stay a step ahead.
Dizzy and weak, I stumbled back inside and sat down to take my shoes off. I can already tell that my hamstrings are going to be sore. And I'm starting to feel my lunch a little bit. Kenrick casually kicked his shoes off and flopped back down on the couch next to his brother to see what he was doing on the iPad.
I think we've got some ice cream in the freezer that would go well with Humble Pie.

Observing Anya

This evening Anya came bounding down the hall and into our room with something very important to tell us.

"Mom!" she said, "Chew vitamins and cheese tastes really weird together!"

"Huh?"

"It's true. Paxton put some on my head and I ate it!"

Explanation: Anya usually waits until all her food is gone before she eats her chew-able vitamins. Then she holds them in her cheek like a chipmunk until they finally dissolve or until I notice and make her chew them up. Tonight there was a couple of slices of cheese left over from supper and evidently Paxton got a hold of them. Naturally, the result of vitamin in cheek plus cheese hat courtesy of your big brother equals weird flavor observation.

Chicago's Shedd

A couple of weekends ago we took a quick trip up to the Chicago suburbs for some R & R - a couple nights in a hotel, some shopping, an interesting restaurant or two. And sleep. Mission accomplished.

We didn't really spend time in downtown Chicago, but did get a chance to go through Shedd Aquarium. It's been a few years since we last looked at the fishies, so it was fun to go again.

The dolphin and Beluga whale show was the highlight of the visit.

Anya had no interest whatsoever in touching the starfish.

The crew.

The girls, the lake, the iconic skyline, and a beautiful blue day. Perfect.