Thank You Notes

It's time for another round of thank you notes

Dear Pool Mom that brings her own ceramic coffee cup from home,
          Did you drive to the pool with that open mug of piping hot coffee?  Is the cupholder in your minivan big enough to accommodate that cup?  I'd hate for you to spill on yourself.

Dear Summer,
          We are still waiting for your arrival.  I bought a pool pass on Tuesday and was looking forward to enjoying the pool as a family.

Dear Netflix
          We love you.  Since summer has decided to be a late bloomer we've caught up on our to watch list.  I've made sure to put together a movie queue of movies I loved as a kid.  M just finished the Back to the Future trilogy.  She can't stop telling us that we need 1.21 gigawatts.  I'm going to introduce her to Hayley Mills with the pending arrival of The Parent Trap and Pollyanna.  Your iPhone app is the best when G gets a little cranky in the car.

Dear Automatic Car Wash
          Thank you for allowing us to stay in our car during the wash.  G wasn't sure what to make of it, but it was the best $3 we've spent on entertainment in a long time.  Now each time we pass by he asks if we can go to the "Machine!, Machine!"


XOXO,
Holly

Friday Night Fun

Our first full week of summer was quite uneventful.  I am completely OK with that.  The kids slept past 7:30.  The best is that M knows how to turn the TV on all by herself, so it's just G we have to get up for.  We played outside a lot

I'm still waiting for the summer weather to show up.  I am yet to buy a pool pass because of it. 

Since Matt works from home he needed to get out of the house on Friday night.  We took his car out for a car wash.  G was undecided if he liked it or not.
 

Then we drove for ice cream and a spin near the airport.

When we put him to bed that night we could hear him saying, "Port!  Port!" each time an airplane passed over the house.  Fun times.

Welcome Summer!

Summer vacation is finally here!  At least that's what the calendar says.  The weather, however, thinks it is spring.  Now that we have a new fancy schmancy air conditioner the weather has turned quite cold.

Last week's 95+ degree days have turned into 55-65 degree days.

On Saturday, Matt and I went to see one of our favorite bands, the subdudes, for a charity concert.  We've seen these guys several times, but this was the first time that the venue had a dance floor.  The subdudes' audience tends to be on the more conservative side and definitely an over 30 crowd.  There was some interesting dancing going on.  Thankfully Matt and I don't even attempt to dance since it would be quite a show in itself.

We took advantage of the cool weather yesterday and went to the Lincoln Park Zoo.  We love this zoo for several reasons, but primarily because entrance is free.  We go with no preconceived expectations for length of time at the zoo.  If one of the kids freak out and we have to leave, not a problem.  We have to pay for parking but it was less than $20 for about three hours.  The second reason we love the LPZ is it's proximity to downtown.

Once we left the zoo, we made a quick detour to Michigan Avenue to grab some popcorn at Garrett's.  A bag of Carmel & Cheese mix and a separate bag of Caramel was in order. 

I played cards with my school friends last night.  Cards were on the back burner as talking was first priority.

Which brings us to today.  Trying to capitalize on my school routine of getting up before 7AM, I worked out and was back home before the kids or Matt woke up.  Running on the treadmill reminded me that I need to update my iPod playlist.  Running to blues and country music make for a pretty boring run.  Some Rolling Stones, Smashing Pumpkins, Lady Gaga, and Pink are in order. 

Summer, Summer, Summer

In the words of our friends from High School Musical...

Summertime!

It felt like June 9 would never get here, but all is now well with the world.  When I took M's last day of school photo, I had to turn on the outside light and dodge raindrops as a huge storm moved in right around school drop off time.

M and her teacher

My classroom all cleaned up and rearranged for next year.  One of my assistants is a former architect and she heard me talking about wanting to rearrange the room configuration but could not picture my room any other way.  The next day she brought in her tape measure and drew a schematic of my room.  Her ideas were brilliant!

Not that there's a major difference to the naked eye, but here's what last year looked like...

Regardless, I don't have to think about it for quite some time.

Ahhhhhhh