The Fun Kids Club: Chicago Adventure

J. Seward Johnson bronze outside of the Four Seasons Chicago.

 

Two bakeries-lunch-a church-American Girl Store. A full day. The rain didn't deter us, and was never a problem. We walked, we drove, we shopped, we ate. Fun. MK loved seeing the fashionable residential near north neighborhoods. Fourth Presbyterian Church on North Michigan is a splendid and sensational example of Gothic Revival. Very European, which pleases the very European MK.

 

Bridal shower petit four samples led us first to the Swedish Bakery on North Clark, then on to Bittersweet on West Belmont for lunch--quiches, salads, sandwiches, soups. Divine sample bites of some brownie-ganache-mousse treat. YUM! Then, free cupcakes for the girls--just mention Bittersweet on Facebook. We bought a Cubbie baseball cookie for DM and an orange Goldfish cookie for NJ, at home.

 

 

After parking behind 900 North Michigan, we strolled past the Four Seasons, through the hallowed halls of Fourth Presbyterian, and across the street to the American Girl store. Both LG and KF decided that they each wanted to select a doll most closely resembling their own features, and chose one for NJ, too. We were just looking. The dolls are to be Christmas gifts. LE hadn't yet arrived from Cincinnati, so JE, LE, and grandma have a special date planned for the Fall at the American Girl Store in Columbus.

 

By the time we got home, all 12 of us had assembled, and joined together to prepare a dinner of pulled-pork and corn-on-the-cob.

 

The Fun Kids Club 2013 Summer Sleepover has begun...

 

 

 

Fun Kids Club: There's Too Many Kids in This Tub

 

 

There's too many kids in this tub.

Too many tummies to rub.

I just washed a behind

That I'm sure isn't mine.

There's too many kids in this tub.

 

Heat Wave

Image via: A2gov.org

While our local heatwave has given us a slight break, the whole country plus Europe can identify with our summer weather thus far.

 

 

Canicule:

French word for a heatwave. It is based on the alternate name of Sirius, the main star in the Grand Chien constellation (Great Dog or Canis Major in English), which rises and sets with the sun during the hottest days of summer. This also explains the English expression "the dog days" of summer.

Definition via: chocolateandzucchini.com

 

HEAT WAVE

-linda ronstadt-

 

Whenever I'm with him
Something inside
Starts to burning
And I'm filled with desire
Could it be the devil in me
Or is this the way love's supposed to be

It's like a heat wave
Burning in my heart
Can't keep from crying
It's tearing me apart

Whenever he calls my name
Soft, low, sweet and plain
I feel, yeah yeah
Well I feel that burning flame
Has high blood pressure got a hold on me
Or is this the way love's supposed to be

It's like a heat wave
Burning in my heart
Can't keep from crying
It's tearing me apart

Sometimes I stare into space
Tears all over my face
I can't explain it
Don't understand it
I hadn't ever felt like this before
Now that funny feeling has me amazed
I Don't know what to do
My head's in a haze

It's like a heat wave
Burning in my heart
Can't keep from crying
It's tearing me apart

Yeah yeah yeah yeah
Yeah yeah oh oh (heat wave)
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
oh (heat wave)

Don't pass up this chance
This time it's true romance
Heat wave
Heat wave
Heat wave
Oooh heat wave

 

 

Life in the Middle Ages

[excerpted from Parade, July 21, 2013]
When I was 30, I read Gail Godwin’s novel The Finishing School. One particular passage, in which 44-year-old Ursula advises 14-year-old Justin about aging, scared me so much that I wrote it down and carried it in my wallet for years:

There are two kinds of people … One kind, you can tell just by looking at them at what point they congealed into their final selves. It might be a very nice self, but you know you can expect no more surprises from it. Whereas, the other kind keeps moving, changing. With these people, you can never say, “X stops here,” or “Now I know all there is to know about Y.” That doesn’t mean they’re unstable. Ah, no, far from it. They are fluid. They keep moving forward and making new trysts with life, and the motion of it keeps them young. In my opinion, they are the only people who are still alive.

[Excerpted from Parade, July 21,2013]

Yikes. I vowed to grow like the weed you can’t kill. This year, I’m an American water willow. Last year, I was a hairy bittercress.

Memories tumble out and sustain me. The other day I was dusting a crisscross of Popsicle sticks my daughter had made in first grade. “The best mother,” the faded ink reads.

Immediately, I am a newly single mom, walking into her elementary school for open house. A flock of parents giggle as they lean in to read something on the bulletin board. One of them spots me, and off they go.
Slowly, I approach the board and recognize my daughter’s drawing of me. “My mother is a bit eccentric,” her essay begins. “She has longer hair than other mothers. She is getting a divorce, but we don’t call it that. Mom says she’s having a growth spurt.”

-Connie Schultz

 

Fun Kids Club : Headquarters

 

Our family consists of two parents, a son and a daughter, a daughter-in-law and a son-in-law, and 6 grandchildren--three per. How symmetrical. Count them--12 humans. Sleeping for 12. Our villa (townhome) has three generously-sized bedrooms--besides the master (which has a king, but is not open territory) each bedroom has a queen-sized guest bed. One guest room has a crib, and the other has a roll-away in it's walk-in closet. (What can I say? Our oldest grandson has some mild sensory issues and loves that small, quiet space.) That's sleeping for 8, not 12.

 

JE suggested the older four grandkids (8-6-5-4 years) could sleep in our very unfinished, but large basement.

 

 

That set my creative juices flowing and CA wasn't far behind. This is what's evolved. A few hundred dollars, some re-arranging of storage shelves, a bit of drywall under the stairs, inter-locking padded floor squares, a bit of paint, and our creative minds with limited skills. (Drywall to be painted in the Fall when upstairs rooms are scheduled to be refreshed.) We also purchased 4 Coleman camp cots, camp mattresses, fun fleeces blankets, and colorful pillows. We sectioned off a 15'x15' space, which includes two window wells, with limited light, and one overhead light. We were able to easily add outlets as the wiring and blanks were already roughed-in.

 

 

 

Amazingly, the rest of the stuff was already ours--stored unused in some instances--in this very basement. Toys were in one of the guest room walk-ins, but now reside in two large storage trunks which until recently housed an unused artificial Christmas tree.

 

We added a doorknob to this chalkboard as its positioning implied a doorway.

 

Night- night, Fun Kids.