Memorial Day: Traditions New, Old, and All to Be Repeated

What a great Memorial Day weekend, topped off by a really fun, full day today. We started this morning with the Ridge Run, Chicago's oldest 10K that also has a 5K and other fun runs and things with it. I decided to do my first race (the 5K) since the marathon (Dublin, October '06). Of course I didn't really train or anything smart like that, but I set my expectations low (goal: run the whole way and finish without medical assistance) and was able to meet them. It was a very fun race and I had my cheering section of Matt, Mom and Dad with me. Note: There are a few hills in Chicago and the Finish Line was at the end of one (hence the "Ridge" Run)!

After a great lunch from the grill (steak and corn on the cob, yum), John and Carol came over and we all headed to the Original Rainbow Cone to introduce Mom and Dad to this Beverly tradition. John, Carol, Matt and I had our first pilgrimage to the 82-year-old institution for my birthday last year, so we were all excited to experience this first with Mom and Dad. The rain came around that time, but that certainly didn't stop us from eating our ice cream with big smiles on our faces. GREAT DAY!!!

Beverly Home Tour: Voyeurism (Without the Guilt!)

We had the perfect day today for the Beverly Home Tour. We started at the Beverly Arts Center and took a trolley around the neighborhood, stopping at each house for a tour. We got to walk through five homes representing different architectural and decorating styles.


My favorite was the first one, the Craftsman, which had tons of period charm and restorations. It was probably a smidge too museum-y for us to be comfortable living in it, but it was definitely the closest to my style and there were some great details I would love to duplicate in our house. . .someday! All of the homes were impressive, with additions and renovations that make my head spin to imagine undertaking (from both a financial and a stress perspective).


The sponsorship of the event was pretty well-done, and we're pretty sure the medical center that was the presenting sponsor supplied the surgical booties for everyone to put on over our shoes when we walked through the houses. Only problem is they weren't sized quite right for Matt's feet. Next year he's wearing slip-on shoes and just going to take them off in each house!

HFHS Prom 2009

It's not every day a 30-year old gets to go to the prom (or should, really, let's face it). But since my husband took me I figure it's o.k.! I had a great time at both my proms in high school, but this one was definitely a good time too. Matt did a fantastic job as Junior Class Sponsor organizing the event with his colleagues. Though my event planner mind surfaced for a fleeting moment during a discussion of a parking kerfuffle, I was able to fully enjoy myself and stay out of all operational matters from then on.
As for the fashion, the dresses were much poufier and sparklier than they were in my day, not to mention many of them being quite a bit shorter than I remembered. Yes, I said "I'm old" about a hundred times - especially during the dancing. :) And so many of the boys wore white tuxes, which surprised me.

I had a lot of fun during the chaperoning part of my evening. The event was at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago and I spent about 45 minutes hanging around in the "Yesterday's Main Street" exhibit making sure the kids didn't take advantage of the dark corners to smooch! It was a hoot. The old-timey ice cream parlor, Finnegan's, was open too, and served ice cream to the kids (and Matt).

The highlight of the evening, though, was taking an official prom picture with Matt. We thought of the cheesiest prom pose we could and ended up posed with him on his knee, with me sitting on his knee, with our hands stacked on my lap. Of course with the moody "A Moment in Time" (prom theme) background behind us. Pretty sure the photographer thought we were big losers, and she would be right, but we had a blast with it. Keeping my fingers crossed that this will be this year's Christmas card. . .

Happy Mother's Day!

We had a nice day today, doing a very appropriate thing - honoring and thanking our fabulous moms! We spent the morning with Carol and John, who came over for a very relaxing (and yummy!) brunch. Then we saw the Muller side at Aunt Leila's house in Indiana for a nice afternoon celebrating Mother's Day and Grandma's 92nd birthday (tomorrow).

Visit to The Rubles in St. Louis

Last weekend, we made our much-anticipated (by us) visit to visit The Rubles (Lisa, Ed, and Thomas-the munchkin) in St. Louis for the weekend. We had a great weekend, including taking a nice long walk in the park near their house (Thomas took a nice snooze), riding and walking around Grant's Farm (Thomas took a nice snooze), and enjoying some great meals, both home-cooked and courtesy of some great St. Louis joints (oh, yeah, and Thomas took a nice snooze then too!). We spent a lot of QT with all the Rubles at the house and Thomas made us laugh and coo as he showed off his great smile for us. We had a wonderful time and can't wait to see them all again this summer.













While at Grant's Farm, we had a couple deja vu animal experiences - one immediate, one delayed. The first was seeing a donkey come right up to the tram (first picture, below), which reminded Matt and me a great deal of a donkey that came up to our pick-up in Bonaire (second picture, below). Then, when Matt told his parents that we'd been to Grant's Farm, they told him that he'd already been there when he was very small. Turns out he had a run-in with a goat that wanted to take a hat away from a toddler-sized Matt. The full-size Matt only had a goat try to take his finger, or at least something out of it!