We Now Own Lake-front Property!
Christmas Preview…
Here are a couple shots of the two newest members of the family. They are so excited to get to meet everyone this Christmas. They’ve heard so much about Uncle Larry and hope he’ll make it too!
The Last Month Part 1: Charlotte’s Room
August has been a maelstrom of sorts, Lex at Yankee Stadium, 2 vacations for the kids (more on that in the next post), and most satisfying for me, Charlotte’s new bedroom. I (er, we…) painted (and varnished & stripped varnish & plastered & spackled & scrubbed & sanded & so on….) the 3rd floor attic guest bedroom, and Charlotte moved in (little by little) a couple weeks ago. She’s thrilled… and so is Lex.
Lex at Red Sox v Yankees
Lex and I went to the first of a 4-game series Thurs night. Lex’s first night game and first Red Sox game (he learned some new swear words.) We were both really pumped for the evening. Got there very early, in time to watch all of batting practice. Went to the outfield wall to try to catch a ball. Didn’t, altho a ball nearly caught us. Drank soda, ate Cracker Jack, Foot-Long Hot Dogs, Cotton Candy and Lemonade Sherbet. Priceless.
One problem, the Yankees never showed up: 7-0.
Blake & Reid’s First Trip to Disney…
…far too much partying!
25 Years and we’re still having fun…
…in the sun! Yes, it will be 25 years of wedded bliss on Wednesday. To celebrate, we went to Key West, with good friends of ours, Ed & Mary Kipp. They are celebrating 30 years the day before us (and they’re younger than us!).
Here are a few pictures:Â 1) Sunset on the pier 2) Lobster dinner at an outdoor cafe 3) Poolside at our B&B
Next week we’re off to Orlando with Dawn, Chris & the “K-boys”. That should be interesting! Â We’ll post more pictures upon our return!
Bonjour…Buon giorno!
Finally uploaded pictures from vacation. Loved Paris…most impressed with Notre Dame (although indoor pictures of most buildings we took on vacation did not turn out). Also got to see Mona and Venus at the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triumph. We definitely wished we had more time, three days is not enough (especially when we had very bad rain one evening).
Geneva was more relaxed. Steve’s class (on cultural relationships) was a week long. It gave me time to go out and about on my own. We know a couple from HSBC who live there, so the wife showed me around one day. I know Geneva’s public transportation system better than Chicago’s. One evening I was the tour guide for a group of Steve’s co-workers.
Than, three days in Italy. Much too short! We took the train from Geneva to Milan, then Milan to Genoa. We stayed in Genoa, at the Hotel Bristol Palace. The spiral staircase is rumored to be the inspiration to Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo”. We crammed in Pisa and then two days visiting Cinque Terre (fives lands). The Leaning Tower of Pisa and the surrounding “Field of Miracles” was fascinating (again though, several of my pictures did not turn out). There is a domed Baptistery with amazing acoustics. You can hear an echo for ten seconds…enabling a person to harmonize with himself. A security guard sings every half hour to demonstrate. It’s pretty neat!
Cinque Terre was the best. We decided to go there on the recommendation of a friend of Shannon. There are five adorable villages built on the cliffs of the Italian Riviera. They’re connected by hiking paths through the cliffs (trust me, we took the simple trails). We hiked from the first to the fourth village. Unfortunately our train was 1 1/2 hours late, so our schedule got a little fouled up. We got to the fourth village at 8PM and decided not to attempt the fifth in the dark. We then sat outside along a bay and had a wonderful Italian dinner.
Florida Vacation
We’ve been back for a week-plus (hit the ground running on our return) from spring-break vacation to St. Augustine, Disney World & Jacksonville. Two pix here are obvious, the 3rd is from the pool at our friends’ house in Jacksonville.
The Seat of Government
Took a trip to our nation’s capital. We stayed with friends that recently moved there (from Paris). Real good timing for the kids, having just studied MLK and Amelia Earhardt (went to Smithsonian), and given the fact that they are aware of the current elections
On Saturday we took a short hike along the Potomac. Sunday we went to DC
(It seems if you click on an image you get a medium sized shot, click again for full-size. Must be a new feature of the blog. I uploaded a “gallery” and it’s behaving a bit differently.)
Grandpa’s Got His Hands Full!
Reid looks more and more like Blake every day. Â Blake is very tall for his age…for 17 months he towers over two year olds! But Reid is on track to surpass that! I think Dawn will have two very big boys, and very big grocery bills!Â
I took Blake to a family music class at the local Gymboree yesterday. He wanted nothing to do with the class. Of the ten children (six of them were reserved oriental children), Blake was the only one who would not sit still, play the instruments nor sing the songs. He did participate in chasing bubbles around the room. I think it was even in beat to the music being played. Â
So, afterwards we went to the gym class. I lost control during the “Hello” song. I guess he felt he suffered through enough music for one day. Once we had free play he went crazy…jumping on the trampoline, dunking all the balls (about 25) in the 3 ft. basketball hoop, running through tunnels and climbing up and down the slides (yes, he didn’t use the steps, he climbed back up the slide).
At the end of class the instructor came and spoke to me and suggested Blake be enrolled in a Park District sport, that he really wasn’t suited for Gymboree. Can a 17 month old really be expelled from Gymboree??? Â
Guess Grandpa and Grandmar both have their hands full (not to mention Mommy & Daddy)!