I Hope He Understands It

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.

Guppy the fish has a new house.

End of Summer

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 :)

The Fair

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.  

Birthday Weekend

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.

Dog Days of Summer

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!

Brachiating

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.  

The One with Cousins

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.  

July 4th

We had a pretty fun July 4th.  Dave was covering a Cubs game and Nico and I had been invited to a party at my friend Kevin's house, on the south side.  Kevin is from Chicago and grew up on the south side of Chicago (a few minutes from the Indiana state line).  His family's thing is July 4th.

So I put together my mom's key lime pie (that I was totally afraid would be too sour- based on my tasting of the filling).  But it mellowed out with some time in the fridge. Also, beer helps.

We got down there and they had a lamb on a spit roasting over a fire.  Have you ever had roasted lamb on a spit?  It is amazing.  In fact, I gotta figure out a way to make that part of my life more regularly.  I met a lot of Kevin's friends that he grew up with, and got to hang out with his girlfriend Jen, who I adore.  There people are a lot like mine: fun-loving and trash-talking.

Nico had a group of kids to run around with.  Soon after, he was leading this little rabble around, attacking grownups and playing Volleyball.  It was so much fun.  So much so that I didn't get a pic of my own kid.  Oh, well.  But this pie doe.

Then, on Sunday, we watched the Womens World Cup final.  Which was awesome.

An interesting development has been in the way Nico announces his sports games.  He often uses women's players names... so he might be playing by himself narrating, "Nico squares it off to Henderson.  Henderson sends it on to Rapinoe, who has a shot, but it is deflected by Neymar.  Morgan with the cross and Wambach with the goal!!!!"  Which is pretty cool.  

Also, this weekend, he watched the entire USA v. France Group G game from the London 2012 Olympics.  During it, he said to me, "This game doesn't have the current coach coaching."  And when I asked who was coaching he said, "Pia."  As in Pia Sundhage.  And he is, apparently, on a first name basis with her. It was pretty funny.  

Summer is Here. Officially.

Not much going on around here.  I love not having to take Nico to be at school at 7:15.  It is quickly turning into my favorite part of summer.  My favorite part of summer.  Instead of doing that, guess what I do?  Sleep in.  Till 7am.  Till 7am.  That is practically the afternoon.  I am mostly focused on getting edits for Kelly's wedding photos done- there are so many.  So far, I have about 500 done- and I still have another 200 or 300 still to edit.

We're settling into a fun summer routine.  I ended up with a pretty extensive summer to do list... but it's hard because it is really easy to slip into letting Nico watch too much TV and too many videos on youtube.  I mean, I know he has intelligence to spare- but still.  I dont want his brain to completely rot out.

Last week we facetimed with both Granny/JJ and Nico's friend Wyatt (and his family).  Nico is convinced that we should visit Washington DC (where Wyatt's family is)- to see cool things like the Smithsonian and the Air and Space Museum.

It was pretty funny- because they pretty much took turns showing each other toys. 

I found a free online language learning site called Duolingo.  It is pretty amazing- as is Nico's ear for language.  We've started him on a german language course.  And he is kicking ass in it.  

   

We did have a summer fail last week.  One of our Summer to do list items was to figure out which is the best ice cream shop in the city.  So, last week, I came home from work a bit early and was ready after dinner to check out an icecream shop and Nico was like, "I don't want to."  I DONT WANT TO.  It's like he isn't even my kid.  

End of Soccer and Summer

Today is the penultimate day of school left in the year (Thank you Ms. Gulley for teaching me proper use of that word!).  I can't decide who is more excited: Nico because we have him signed up for a pretty sweet summer camp program with the park district or me because I can start riding my bike to work again- and I dont have to wake up at 545, snooze till 555 and then pull myself together to get Nico to school while Dave handles showering+dressing+and feeding The Nico.  Side note: My game is weak in the morning.

There is a kindergarten festival planned tomorrow- which should be lots of fun.  But I am not sure I am ready for my kid to be done with kindergarten.  Maybe I will write more about that tomorrow or this weekend... because I am kind of a mess thinking about it.  

Nico's last AYSO game of the season was this past weekend.  This season was really fun.  It was awesome watching Nico start to come into his own playing.  He loves goalkeeper so much, but he's already kind of advanced playing in the field.  He does tricks, and doesn't get caught watching the play.

He routinely scores three and four goals a game- but also plays defense (since goalkeepers aren't allowed at this age).  It has been a lot of fun watching him play.  

One of the things we are going to start working on this summer is punts and juggling.  He already tries to punt the ball- but is terrible at it.  Terrible.  My thought is, if the kid is going to do it, he should do it.  

In other news, we are filling out our summer to-do list.  There are some fun things on it (strawberry picking with Em and Nicole) and fishing in Michigan as well as some less fun things (I gotta clean up the girl cave and we need to get Nico's toys under control).  Definitely looking forward to it. 

Cool

I went to the gym on Saturday and took Nico with me. For two hours, he read, played games, and watched videos. Then he got a little workout in- some rings and some saves. It's great that he

Is starting to be able to do this kind of thing. 

We're really looking forward to this coming weekend. School picnic and Chicago Fire game on Sat.  We're so excited!!

Chicago Fire

As part of AYSO-we got a special deal on Chicago Fire tickets. I got them for

Dave for an early Happy Father's Day gift. The stadium is pretty sweet- although far. In the future- we'd probably want to take the "pub to the pitch" bus.

Nico was a gem for most of the night. I thought he was going to lose it over some candy he wanted, but the massive meltdown was *narrowly* avoided. 

Fun on the schedule

Spring is here- which means our weekends get a bit more exciting. This past weekend- we started with a house party at a fellow AYSO family's house. 

Nico ran around with his little rabble for the night- and had a great time. 

Sunday we headed out to Oak Prairie Park in NW Indiana. I wanted to try our hand at fishing- which was an abysmal fail at. Maybe because we were using those crappy rubber worms that came with the pole I got Nico. But it was fun. 

I got a chance to hike/walk along the trail at the park. The trail is in the book "60 Hiked within 60 Miles of Chicago", which Santa brought me a couple of Christmases ago. 

Monday I did "Murph" with my gym. It's a hero WOD so named for a Navy SEAL who died in 2005 in Afghanistan. I definitely had a bad attitude going into it- but am glad I did it. 

That is me on the far right. 

Tuesday we went to a birthday party after school. I'm not sure how I feel about birthday parties on school days. It's nice to not have to tie up a weekend day with it. But we didn't get to any homework on Tuesday. But we didn't do any on Wednesday or Thursday either. 

The place we went was awesome. They had inflatables and a rockwall. A rockwall. 

In other news, we bought a used patio set from someone in the neighborhood. We're also going to work on getting some paver stoned for the backyard. It's about to be an oasis up in here! 

This weekend we have more fun on the schedule. Pizza with my dear work friend's family tonight. Outdoor movie night+hawks game tomorrow night. Going to see a Fire game next weekend. Our summer is starting to get booked!!

I posted- I swear

So, I was publicly shamed.  Shame to my house!  Shame to my family!! Nicole called me out for not blogging recently.  Since it has been increasingly difficult for me to sit down and actually blog at my computer, I thought I would do more of it from my phone.  So I redownloaded the app.  I wrote some posts- posted them.  And walked away.  That is how busy I have been- I haven't even been able to read my own blog.  Yes, I do that.  And my own facebook.  And my own instagram.  And my own twitter.  I know.  I know.  But I am just so damn clever sometimes, I can't help it.

Regardless, Nicole called me out on facebook and told me to post- which I started to do tonight.  Then I saw what I did- so look at that- over a month with no posts and now three posts in one day.  In one day!!

Nico is hilarious lately.  He says some pretty funny things.  And he is starting understand the fine line between funny-cheeky sass and disrespectful back talk.  Which is awesome.  A favorite of late: "It's getting really boring listening to your annoying face."

The recently completed the standardized testing at his school.  He was ranked highest in his class- and in the 98th percentile- for math and reading.  It wasn't really surprising, since we see how easy the homework is for him.  But it was cool nonetheless.

But in case you were thinking that Nico was getting too smart and sophisticated.  Keep in mind that this week I cut the sleeves off of a camo t-shirt for Nico.  Like his mom- Nico is a touch fussy about his clothes going to school.  He obsesses (a tiny bit) when he gets toothpaste or a spot on his tshirt.  Wednesday we discovered paint on the sleeve of his camo tshirt and he was starting to get worked up about it.  So when I walked him into class, I borrowed a teacher's scissors and cut the sleeves off.  My son wore a sleeveless camo tshirt.  To school.  In Chicago.  :)

Redo

We did some spring cleaning this weekend and I came across this. It is from earlier in the year. And it makes me laugh- you can see how little Nico cared for this assignment

Redneck

Spring/Summer is here. After playing soccer at school yesterday Nico was hot so he took his shirt off. This might be the most redneck thing I've seen him do in a while. 

Fun and Reading

Not much new going on here.
I sent the boys to Miami to see Dave's parents this week.  I would have gone but it is apparently an arm and a leg to board two big dogs.  An arm and a leg.

They also had all the fun and I had none.  Okay, that is not true. I did have fun- I worked on sewing a couple of tops... but ran into a problem with pleats.  Looks like Imma have to wait till Mama B comes to visit some time.

Dave, Nico, Mike, and Gay had a little bit of an adventure; Mike stepped on the business end of a sting ray and ended up with a barb in his foot.  Apparently that hurts a lot.  Nico's comment was that he was glad that he didn't have a bad run in with nature.   He also made friends with the kids of Mike and Gay's friends.  Which is great, because its nice to have friends wherever you go.

Yesterday I picked up Nico's report card- all Ws ("well developed") except for a pesky inability to count and number to 100- which I think is strange, because the boy can do that.  So I gotta figure out a way to get into that.  Also, he is reading like a champ.  It's been fun reading books with him- taking turns reading different pages and sections.

We're really looking forward to spring soccer season starting tomorrow!!  Nico is looking forward to showing off some of his new moves.

Nico's Spring Break

CPS spring break started last week.  I took the day off so I could hang out with Nico and let Dave work.  We ended up at Lincoln Park Zoo- ostensibly to check out the new macaques.  We ended up not making it, since it was a bit chilly and I was optimistically dressed. 

We ended up seeing the black bear, some monkeys, the sea lions, tigers, and cervals.  The best part of the zoo is that it is completely free- so if our trip ends up getting cut short because Nico is too focused on checking out the gift shop or we underdressed, I don't feel bad leaving after only being there for 2 hours.

The mask makes me pretty happy.  

Basketball Season

Do I even keep this blog anymore?

I know.  I know.  I have no good excuses.  So I won't.  We have a lot of ground to cover, so Imma break these up into a couple of different posts.

Nico's basketball season ended.  He had so much fun with it.  About half-way through the season, one of his coaches (Ira- the one in the middle above) asked if Nico wanted to hang out and play in the session following ours.  Well- we're a coaching family.  We know what is up.  So, we did- and Nico loved it.



Nico is #7 in the grey above.  We're working on him not running away from the ball.  Turns out, this is the same in soccer as in basketball.

The best thing that Ira told us?  He told us not to focus on the baskets- at some point, all the kids' shooting abilities will likely even out- and average shooters are a dime a dozen.  Ball handlers?  Now, that is a different story.  A good ball handler?  In demand everywhere.  Which is great, because one doesn't have to be very big to be a good ball handler.

Nico Work

We had friends over for brunch this weekend.  Nico helped me clean the bathroom.  He has a new thing called "The Swiffer Dance."  I consider it my greatest disappointment that I didn't get it on video.  That would have been amazing.

I wouldn't say that he was really good at cleaning, unless you count overspraying cleaner on vertical surfaces good at cleaning.  But it was nice that he wanted to help.  

Last week his teacher complimented Dave in front of Nico about how good of a leader Nico is.  Apparently, they all have these little chores at school... from what I can gather, he seems to be something of a boss- prompting other kids to do their jobs and having the other kids report back.  So basically my kid is destined for civil service?  In any case, when he heard his teacher tell Dave how good he is at this job, Nico was BEAMING.  Which makes me happy.