So Christmas was fantastic this year. Our plans were to meet up with the NiCodys in Louisville, with Mom and Dad B. Mike and Gay had plans to be in LOU as well, so we were hoping to see them.
Mike and Gay sent Nico's presents ahead of time (a set of Call of Duty Mega Blocks), Chicago Bears Swag, and a new judo gi (Nico *really* needed a new one, since his old one was WAY too short.
Santa brought Nico the Nerf Cam ECS-12 gun that he has had his eye on for months. Granny and Grampy gifted Nico more nerf ammo and weapons- so needless to say, he is fully stocked. Since Christmas, we have already had several gun fights- which is a lot better when you have a legit ammo supply.
The cousins had a wonderful time playing together. They really got along quite well. Nico and Maddox convinced JJ, Cody, and Dave to play sport with them on more than one occasion, including a football game in the rain.
Dave and I got Nico some hockey gear- which he really LOVES.
He really wants to play- but is kinda crap at skating- so we're signing him up for hockey skating lessons. It is really very easy when your kid loves sports to want to sign them up for ALL OF THE THINGS. But, I think Nico tends to lose his mind a bit when he has too much going on (read: he can be kind of a jerk). And frankly, I don't want to be like some of these other mothers we know, where the kids do chess club, language lessons, sports, etc. We've been trying to just keep it at one official sport per season: soccer in the fall and the spring, basketball in the winter, judo in the summer. I am not sure how exactly hockey will fit into the equation.
But the good news is that there is hockey and skating year round here- so we could really get into the hockey as basketball is winding down.
This is what Nico wore for his holiday show. The holiday show was a slight debacle. Long story short, his class didn't do a performance and he didn't go on stage. And he didn't wear this in the auditorium. But he was stinkin adorable regardless.
We're skidding into the end of 2015! Let me tell you- this year had been hard. Just flat out hard. I am really looking forward to 2016 lightening things up a little. Sometimes it is just one thing after another. Little known fact about me: I love the shit out of Christmas and Christmas music. So, I have been listening to the commercial radio station in town that is playing Christmas music since before Thanksgiving (don't judge). Of late, they have taken to doing a "Christmas Wish" segments, where they call people up and grant them a Christmas wish. Usually it is in the form of $300-$500 to be used for something. Like, there was one day where the mom who had put the wish in for her son, it was to get her 12 year old kid a new coat. And here I am ugly-sobbing in the car while I drive Nico to school 1) because how freaking sad is it that a 12 year old had never had a new coat *and* that was his mom's Christmas wish. Also, 2) shit is tough, but it aint't that tough.
*sighs, with hand to forehead: I just want to buy all the things and travel to all the places. Why can't I just do that?
In other news, Nico is really starting to get the hang of reading. We're not quite at the place where we cuddle up on the couch, all of us reading our separate books. But, we're close, I think. Its surprising to me, how many words he can read, even the tough ones.
Nico continues to grow like a weed in front of my eyes. The other day, he explained that he was an idea man. When I asked him what he meant he said, "I am just an ordinary man who comes up with ideas." HA!! Hilarious!! We got a tree just after Thanksgiving, from a ucut farm out in Aurora. You know. The one like the kind I want to own. *soon, little farmstead, soon. I don't care what Dave says about you. The tree has been up for weeks, but suffers the indignity of being on the receiving end of errant balls and such from sports in the house. I guess it really is a case of you reap what you sow, because when you play sport in the house, you can't be THAT upset that when two Christmas ornaments are broken because they hit the deck. But, speaking of Christmas, it isn't even Christmas yet and I already did the Christmas card thing. I know, right? I did fall down on the job a little in that I ordered metalic gold envelopes. Metalic gold. Guess what looks like garbage when I write on them with a marker? Yeah, those *adorbs* envelopes.
So that is that. So looking forward to Christmas. JJ will be in town, as will Mom and Dad, the Royses, and the NiCodies.
Nico got his first report card of the year last week. Overall, pretty good. He needs to work on producing neater work and listening a little better, but I could have told you that. His reading is really starting to take off. His reading at the beginning of the year was where they want it by the middle of the year.
What is funny (at least to me), is that whenever we work on practicing spelling words, I *jokingly* tell him I am getting real tired of him getting them all right all the time. So I went with that routine when I talked to him about his report card. For a second, he was a little scared, since I was being so serious. It was always funny when my mom did that with us kids...she'd "get after" us for bringing home all As... telling us that we better shape up and start bringing home Bs and Cs.
It was hilarious when I started driving the struggle bus at Ft. Myers in the IB program and I had to redo Trigonmetry. Joke's on everyone else, since I haven't had to use a Trig a day in my life. Boom.
*drops mic*
We had our first winter storm this weekend. We had maybe an inch of snow on Friday night and woke up Saturday thinking, is that all? Then proceeded to get another 3 inches on Saturday. We made a game day call for Dave to try to make it to Louisville for a birthday party of one of his best good friends from high school. It took him 2.5 hours to get out of Chicago, and the roads were just a hot mess south. So he turned around and came home.
The good news is that we are headed down there for Christmas, so he might get a chance to see his friends afterall. Sunday we took one of Nico's friends for sledding at the sledding hill. I even got in on some of that action. Let me tell you, even as an adult, sledding is really fun.
A couple of Sundays ago, Nico's good school buddies had a play date. One thing led to another and we all decided to take the boys ice skating. Wyat (in the red) and Alex (in the blue) are both taking hockey and skating lessons, so their skating was pretty good. They also had all the equipment- so they bombed around the rink having a blast.
Given that this was only Nico's 3rd time skating, he wasn't as good. He wasn't wearing pads- except for the helmet. So, when he crashed, he was crashing on flesh. He must have fallen down 100 times. But he got up every time. And didn't cry.
The cool thing up here, is that there are a ton of setups where you can take skating lessons. There will be a 4 or 5 session skating class where you learn the fundamentals and when you can prove that you're not an absolute menace to society, you get to move onto playing hockey. Which is cool and that Nico wants to do, in addition to lacrosse and baseball.
Turns out that all this school and work nonsense just gets in the way of Nico playing sport and Dave/Me ferrying Nico to sport.
So, I mentioned before, that I am trying to start us in a garden club in the neighborhood. Well, they let us in!! Wooo hoo!! We are plot #94 of the North Park Village Garden Club.
The plot is about 10 feet wide by about 20 feet long. It is completely covered in weeds and lemon balm. My neighbor has been a member of the NPVGC for 30 some odd years and the plot I am on used to be her son's.
The last couple of Saturdays I have spent a couple of hours trying to get the plot in order. Since we are at the end of the growing season, we're basically just doing getting the paths on either side of the plot in good order and clearing the weeds. I am probably going to put some weed paper down, which will help keep the weeds from taking it back. But, it's not terrible to spend all day pulling weeds when they smell like lemon balm.
I have been doing some reading on the matter, and think I might go with the square foot garden method. I am real tempted to put in some strawberry beds though. I don't have to give the plot up every year. If I want this plot next year, I can have it. I would love to just have some strawberries. But It would be 2 years before they start producing. No one else seems to have strawberries, so maybe that is because they don't grow well in our area. I don't know. Maybe I should just stick to carrots and garlic?
And, I am not saying this is going to happen. I am just saying. That, if they don't watch themselves, I going to get all up in there and figure out how to have chickens or bees. Just sayin.
Nico lost his first tooth on Sunday night. It was a little loose and he was laying in bed reading and fussing with it, and it just came out. He was quite pleased with himself.
This Halloween, we stayed in the neighborhood and did trick or treating with The G's. To recap, The G boys J and O play soccer in AYSO with Nico. Their Dad coaches them and we have gotten to be pretty good friends with them. They have a younger sister L, who just turned two (and is so adorable).
Nico went as an army guy again this year. He wasn't so much into the trick or treating, but was a lot more interested in running around the neighborhood with the boys.
We trick or treated with them in the neighborhood, then headed back to their house for beers and dinner. Their house is very cool- with a huge fenced in back yard and swing set. Plus the basement is basically a big kids play room. So, essentially, the boys run around like banchees and have a grand time.
Their candy haul was impressive. Turns out, the G's part of the neighborhood has their candy game on point.
Dave found "Pumpkin Daze" on the interwebz. It is basically want I want to do with my post academic life: a working christmas tree farm that also has attractions. They have a pedal race car track, slides, tire towers, zip lines, petting zoo, and those giant jumping pillows.
During the fall (maybe just October), they have pumpkins and a craft beer tent. This is basically my jam.
Nico had a blast, per usual.
The farm is maybe an hour and change from our house (out near Aurora).
Dave and I decided that it is just about as far as one would want to be from Chicago (if one were set on staying in the Chicago area).
Other than that, not much else is going on. I am teaching this quarter- so Thursdays are kind of a mess (those are the days that I teach). Dave is starting work for State Net. That plus the fact that he is still writing for Hero Sports and occasionally Modern Health Care, means that we don't have much free time these days. And I think it is kind of bullshit to spend the little time you have that is not committed to work or transit to cleaning the house. Last week, Nico and I spent a couple of hours straightening the living room, dining room, and kitchen and it is basically a mess again. Which just proves the point: housework is bullshit. I am really regretting subscribing to all those magazines I got with my frequent flyer points. Every week- it seems like I get 3-4, which wouldnt be so bad, except I usually didnt have time to read last week's magazines. Luckily, I am starting to get those "Your subscription is about to expire" notices in the mail. Thankfully!!
Last week we scooped up one of Nico's good little friends (that lives in our neighborhood) and played at the park for a while. We discovered a new part of the park, which is basically just a bunch of junk that people have thrown into the words. But it is cool because there are lots of structures the kids can play on. So- it was a lot of fun. Afterwards, the kid's Dad took us over to the North Park Village Garden Club- which I wasn't aware was a thing. Apparently it is. You can join the club and get a garden plot. It's not huge, but its a good size. It is a lot bigger than the sliver of backyard I have that gets decent sub exposure during the spring and summer. Seriously, I am not joking, the sliver is about 20 feet long and about 2 feet wide.
Hopefully they will let us into the club. I hope they do... because I have already requested seed catalogues and it would just be awkward if the garden club was like, "Plot's taken" and "You can't garden here."
It is frustrating because "having fun" is the most important thing- at the expense of everything else. Nico's team is a bit of a mess. But it's AYSO- so we're all just having fun. The problem is that the emphasis on "having fun" discounts the fun that can be had by learning how to play a sport well. By everyone being hyper vigilant about how it is all about having fun, the kids that are trying to learn how to play soccer (read: pass, trap, dribble, defend, and shoot) get penalized by the emphasis on "having fun".
For example, there is a kid on Nico's team that keeps picking the ball up in the run of play. Like, on purpose, in the middle of the field, picks the ball up when it comes to him. Now, it is not fair for the other team when this happens, so much of the time, a free kick is awarded whenever this kid picks the ball up. But because its AYSO and this is just for fun, no one feels all that great about yelling at this kid. Seriously- this isn't something that happens once or twice a game. It usually happens 5 or 6 times in a game. Sometimes the kid runs away with the ball. But, its all funsies- so no one really gets after the kid. Because that is not the culture of AYSO.
So what does Nico do? Nico avoids playing the ball to his own team mate. I don't blame him. And I would definitely do the same, if that kid were on my team. Nico has figured out that his team's chances are better at accomplishing "playing soccer" if he doesn't pass the ball to this kid, because there is a decent chance this kid will pick the ball up with his hands if it is played to him. So Nico sometimes takes the ball himself.
But what is learned here?
1) The kid still hasnt learned the rules of the game and that the rules apply to him.
2) All the kids think it is a great big joke. Ha ha ha, _____________ picked up the ball again.
3) Trust no one.
The thing is, that if we could take the kids in AYSO that "get it" it could be really fun. It is fun to learn to pass and trap the ball. It is fun to play soccer in a way that starts to approximate how the sport is played. Its fun to learn how to be an athlete- showing up to practice and games on time, having respect for coaches and the game and the rules. Its fun working on an identity of "soccer player".
But this nonsense? I don't know everything, but my guess is that this is why people leave AYSO.
Eh.
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
This guy is reading like a champ lately.
His first grade teacher assigns too much homework, I think. I mean, I don't think she has much of a choice, it was the same for kindergarten. I think that there are probably a lot of parents who don't do much with their kids- so the homework becomes necessary, to make sure that those kids can keep up.
But Dave and I do all kinds of things with Nico that aren't homework, but that are adding to his academic skills. Like, most mornings we have spelling tests in the car. Its been hard lately, because it is still so dark early, but some days, I can get Nico to read to me in the car. We do math to divide up the bullets whenever we have a nerf gun fight in the house.
But the homework is just such a beatdown. She sends home a packet on Mondays with 20 activities for each week. Sometimes, we only get through half of them. :(
But I guess maybe I dont have to be worried yet, Nico got his progress report last week and it was all A's. So, I guess we're not failing him yet.
I had originally planned to take Nico camping in August as part of his birthday celebration. But then Gran's Michigan travel plans changed so we spun the camping trip to October, which was actually better, since I *really* wanted to go in October.
One of the gym owners and his girlfriend (Dan and Kay) have started an adventure business, where they take people on various kinds of adventures and help them get introduced in a relatively safe environment to things like camping, rock climbing, hiking, etc.
I didn't have appropriate gear for myself. I managed to get Nico a sleeping bag before we went, but ended up borrowing one whose owner said that she thought would not be warm enough. I was taking my woobie (poncho liner that I stole from JJ) and thought I could layer on enough layers to not be cold. That was false. I froze my butt off on the first night- and didnt get much sleep. Plus Nico peed in his bag- despite me waking him up in the middle of the night to go. Which, in case you haven't had the pleasure, is horrible. You have to put all of your stuff on and go out in the cold and do that and come back and get bundled up again. Not fun.
Kay let me borrow an extra sleeping bag for the second night and it worked like a charm (in that I fell into the sleep of the dead). It also wasn't as cold, so that helped.
We got to do some hiking and climbing on Saturday. Turns out, that Nico is a wiz at rock climbing.
So much so, I think I am going to try to find some places to do rock climbing around here.
I didn't do any climbing, but mostly because I didn't like the angle my feet would have had to work with my ankles on the rock. Also, I don't like 10 people watching me do things. Anything. So... I just spectated and cheered for Nico, who was a champ. The climb involved a decent hike- with not trivial elevation. It was a good reminder that weightlifting shape is not the same as running from zombies in the woods up a hill shape.
It was a touch early for fall colors- it had been relatively warm when we got there. But it was gorgeous. Cool- so the bugs were not an issue. It was really cool.
We tried our hand at fishing on Sunday- which was a beat down. Someone (whose name rhymes with Rico) cranked the reel on his fishing rod to tightly, so it caused the rod to get jacked up. And when I tried to fix it, I busted the whole damn thing. Since we were casting from the shore, we didn't get any bites. The day we fished was over cast and grey. Not like below.
Despite using big juicy night crawlers, there were no bites. It makes me nervous that I caught my Dad's fishing gene. Which is unfortunately, since I used to fish like I belonged in the Hansen clan (that runs the Northwestern on The Deadliest Catch). The good news is that there is a group that does fishing lessons here in the Chicago area. Am hoping when our finances loosen up a bit, I might get a chance to go out there and do that. I tried learning from a book. I literally bought a book to learn how to fish. I might as well be reading chinese: "When the rainbows go after the spinning charlies, make sure you hit them with the reds and the crawlers before the jimmies get in there." WHAT? What is happening?
The trip was really fun- I learned how to start a fire and cook over an open fire (although, there were a couple of these there- turns out Mama really wants one!) Also, as if I needed any more things to be snobbish about, camping gear. So far, the list stands at (in no order)
Something that we have been looking forward to since last year was the start of First Lego League. Basically, if your last experience with Legos was building a square shaped house with a flat roof from mismatched blocks, you need to know: THE LEGO GAME HAS GOTTEN FIERCE.
Nico read a book on robots last year and learned about something called First Lego League. Basically, teams work together on a project around a theme. They do research on the project, make a presentation about it, and compete with their inventions. The competition entails working an obstacle course.
Well, the season runs August-April, so we have been waiting for the fall to get around.
The only problem is that Nico's school doesn't have a First Lego League team.
...
...
...
So I started one.
For it being a STEM school, everyone is falling down over it. People love the idea. We've had a lot of positive reaction to it. People getting their companies to give $$ to sponsor us. We don't even have Lego sets yet, and people are trying to give us money.
So here is the thing: In 30 or 40 years, if he makes some type of major contribution to engineering or physics or something, Nico better be getting paid. Because he needs to go back to his school and donate a bunch of money to it so they can name the world class science labs after me.... I am thinking the Bishop-Royse Nanotechnology Laboratory. That way it seems like he is naming it honor of his parents... but I think we know really what is happening here. You guys know what is up.
I just hope that he appreciates it one day. That I loved him so much that I took on organizing and coordinating (read: herding cats) to get him an opportunity I knew he would love.
In other news: Nothing to see here. Just a storm trooper, watching some videos on YouTube.
We are both pretty jazzed about camping this week. We are going to have another go with trying to catch some fish.
He seems to like his new sleeping bag.
This past weekend, we finally got Guppy set up in his new house.
Well- we're winding the summer down in a fun fashion! During the last week if the summer- I picked up one of Chicago Public Library's Childrens Museum pass. Nico and I went to check that out while Dave covered a cubs game.
We stayed for almost four hours. I managed to finish reading a book while I was there. It worked out well- because he wasn't bugging me to leave and I wasn't bugging him either.
We also did some back to school shopping- he got some new nike kicks and a couple of new shirts and shorts. I learned my lesson last year and didn't delude myself into thinking that I could get him to wear non-athletic clothes. I hit up my favorite consignment shop and scored some sweet deals on clothes for him. He has outgrown all of his warmup pants though. Seriously- it's a joke how much ankle he shows now. So- I guess in a few weeks when it's not so warm- we'll have to start buying those again!!
The first day of school went off without a hitch, mostly. Nico ended up being separated from his best friend. There are only two kindergartens and two first grade classes, so he knew everyone in his class.
There was a bit of a kerfuffle after school. The busing paperwork got a little messed up- and they had Nico on the bus list, along with some other kids. Luckily, Dave got there in the nick of time. Nico dealt with it pretty okay, but Dave was stressed out. Nico assumed that the bus was going to take him to me at DePaul. So there is that :)
We've been trying to squeeze in as much fun as summer will allow, in the last couple of weeks of August. Granny You was in Michigan for a longer trip last week, so Nico and I headed over for a couple of days to hang out. We did some work on the family tree, which required a road trip out to the Drake aka Baker Cemetery in Amboy Township.
Friday Gran took us to a community fair in Hudsonville, which was actually quite large, for being a community fair. Nico got a little helicopter time in before we headed to the barns to check out the animals.
Uncle Scott was with us- so we hit up some rides. Here we are on something called the Glider. True story: I don't think I like rides. During this one, I kept my eyes closed.
Uncle Scott rode this one, called The Magic Carpet ride. It goes up in the air and around. Or as I like to call it: NOPE.
Nico had his first go at bumper cars. He wasn't big enough to go himself, and not quite tall enough to reach the pedals. So I did the driving. So it probably wasn't as much fun as it would have been if he got to drive himself. Maybe next time, kid.
And then these guys. So the last time we did a fair, Nico didnt even get close to winning a fish. So, stupidly, I thought it would be about the same now. That was false. Nico won two goldfish. He named them Little Fin and Guppy (don't ask me which is which). So I guess we now have to get a fish tank set up.
This weekend, Dave went to the first soccer meeting of the new year. He got uniforms for his team- which is cool. They are being sponsored by Fox Sports this year, and their uniforms are green with a white stripe across the chest. Nico is super excited about it. He is going to try to get the team name to be the Dingos, but I am holding out for the Super Worms.
Nico's 6th Birthday Weekend turned out to be pretty fun. Mike and Gay got in town on Friday morning. Dave scooped them up and headed to Nico's last day of camp celebration (read: "talent" show). His little group ended up doing a little dance, which was fun. I got it on video- but frankly it was kind of lame. Nico was in the back corner, so you can't see him very well.
Saturday was the Ginsa festival. I had to shoot an event at CrossFit and headed to a birthday party for Jen (good southside friend). Dave and Nico participated in a judo demonstration-which was pretty sweet.
There was a part of the demonstration where the two boys (there was another one aside from Nico) who each did some throws with their dads. It was adorable. They took turns being thrown by their dads.
And throwing them:
Sunday was Nico's actual birthday and when we opened most of the presents. Dave and I ended up getting Nico a big lego set that he has been wanting for a long time (the mega Police Station)- which was a big hit. We also ended up buying him a bunch of weapons (a bow and arrow, a catapault, and a slingshot). I'm not sure really, how that happened.
The birthday boy wanted pigs in a blanket, macaroni and cheese, and chocolate chip cookies for dinner. No cake for this kid. Which is fitting, I guess- since last year he was obsessed with pineapple upside down cake and this year it is chocolate chip cookies. Just goes to show how much kids change.
I can't believe its been six years. Like I can, but I can't. Every day, Dave and I are blown away by something he says or something he does. He's using the word "obviously" a lot lately- which makes me laugh. He's growing up fast- he rarely has fits anymore- which is great. But he's also starting to understand the world around him a lot more- which is fun. But it makes me a little sad.
My boss's son just graduated from high school this summer- and he has definitely been feeling this. It's made me think about how parenthood is really just a long goodbye. Building to the day when you take your kid off to college. And how they really feel like they are leaving you. But it's hard- because you know that it's time. And the fact that you are at a place to be able to do that says that you've done your job as a parent. And you know how much they are going to love it. They just really need you to let them go. My boss didn't feel like he was ready.
I don't feel like I can ever be ready for that.
Anyways...
But then there was the trip to the Lego store. Now, this started a couple of months ago with an email that Nico sent to Dave's mom saying, "When are you coming up? Mike (Dave's dad) and I are going to the Lego store." Which is actually a funny thing to say in an email with no greeting.
At the lego store, Nico ended up with the Mobile Police Command Unit- a big trailer and truck rig that is awesome. With the station- Nico is well equipped for a while. I mean, since we aren't doing what I want to do (which is put Kragl on all of it- but that is apparently not how we play with legos in this establishment).
Worn out after the LegoStore. He isn't too big to snuggle on mom.
It was a great weekend. It is always fun to have family in town- and I feel like we are lucky to be at a place where we can offer a place for family to stay. And that we aren't working so much we can't see them. Its nice that Nico likes his grandparents so much.
Not much going on around here- we are just trying to soak up every bit of summer possible. This past weekend, Dave had to cover a SOX game (sucker!) so Nico and I went on a little adventure in seek of Blackberries and swimming at our friend's Grandparents house. The blackberries were a bit of a bust. In that we showed up to this supposed "Grandma's Berry Patch" only to find there were no blackberries to be had (DAMN YOU INTERNET!!).
But we pushed on- swinging by Kevin and Jen's Grandparents house. The grandparents belong to Jen and were so gracious to let us come hangout in their pool. Kevin cooked us Chicago style dogs. You know what is up.
Randomly, check out the video of Nico playing catch with Gordon.
I swear- I thought Gordon was going to end up in the tub!
We're finding a great summer rhythm around here. Lots of time being spent outside, just like everyone else in Chicago. Camp is almost over- which might be a bummer, but Dave's parents are coming up next week, which will be a nice highlight. I know Nico is looking forward to it.
The newest accomplishment is the monkey bars. He informed me that he wasnt swinging on the monkey bars, he was brachiating.
Last week he had his first real judo session (the second was this week). Like for real, with the push ups and the situps and everything. I am hoping to shoot some pics at the next one. His judo pants are too small- so if there were any grand parents that wanted to get him a pair for his birthday or christmas, they would definitely be put to good use.
This guy is getting so big. I can't believe it sometimes. Like the other day, I looked at him in the back seat and was sort of stunned at how big he has gotten. We're starting first grade soon- which is crazy to me.
This weekend was really fun- Nicole and Emerson came from Texas. We definitely had a big weekend- trying to squeeze a lot in.
Nicole and Em got into Midway on Thursday. Since the weather looked kinda crappy, we decided not to do all of the things until Friday. In hindsight, this was a bad decision, because Friday was the hottest day of the year and all the things we wanted to do involved being outside and walking. A lot.
So Thursday night, we just hung out at the house and did some coloring. Friday we got started pretty early, making our way to Maggie Daley park (a huge new park down by the Lake). It is a pretty sweet park- but it's huge. And the trees are still little- so there wasnt much shade to be had. In fact, the slides are all made out of metal- which made them quite hot. But the kids didn't seem to mind. At all. Check out this video of Nico coming in hot and losing control of his landing. To be fair- the slides were super fast and he wasnt the only one to wipe out on the landing!
After that, we walked by CloudGate (the Bean) on our way to grab lunch.
We made our way to Navy Pier so we could ride the Ferris Wheel. The Ferris Wheel is kind of famous because it is apparently, the one in Ferris Bueller's Day off. Also, it is going to be replaced soon.
Friday night was pretty chill at the house. Nico and Em had a good time hanging out with each other and watching TV. Saturday morning we went to a nearby Barnes and Noble, where Nico reminded me of all the things that he wants for his birthday. We ended up with a new book about battleships and aircraft carriers. It is pretty sweet.
Saturday afternoon, we headed out to Lisle for a Red Stars game. Julie Johnston, Christen Press, Lori Chalupney, and Shannon Box (USWNT) play for the Red Stars. Karina LeBlanc, Adriana Leon, and Melissa Tancredi all played for the Canadian National Team for this World Cup, which is cool. Nicole got in touch with the facilities guy for Benedictine University (where the Red Stars play) and he let us on the track for pre-game. We were standing there when the players walked by. When Karina LeBlanc and Michelle Dalton (GKs for Red Stars) walked by, Michelle Dalton fist bumped Nico and Em- which was basically the highlight of the day.
The game ended in a tie and the kids were gems. Nicole and Em left on Sunday. Nico and I kinda moped around the house for the rest of the day.
