Dad's trip down memory lane

Dad and the kids went to the park across the street this afternoon and saw a bride and groom being photographed in front of the fountain. And then little by little, a wedding ceremony came together before our eyes.

So much for the Dog Days

Summer is waning, and that has nothing to do with the fact that the temperature has dropped back to Chicago spring-like levels after the (very) brief heat spell recently. Would you believe it was less than 60 degrees this morning?

The fun at Millenium Park is winding down as families, like this one, are winding up for the start of the new school year Sept. 8 - which is less than two weeks away.

This week has been a perfect picture of that. On Sunday, we went to Millenium Park for the next-to-last performance of the Chicago Children's Theatre's "The Selfish Giant" (which was staged each Sunday this month).


On Tuesday, we finally went to Grant Park for the last movie of this summer's Chicago Outdoor Film Festival. It was "Tootsie." The kids didn't pay attention to it, of course, but they did stay awake for the duration. Last year, they both fell asleep during "All About Eve."



On Wednesday, Dad and Levynn went to an optometrist's office for her mandatory kindergarten eye exam, and she passed with flying colors.

And on Thursday, Mom and Levynn went to school for "packet pickup" and the like. Levynn was given the name of her teacher but didn't meet her.

So there you have it.

Next week, Uncle Dan will be visiting us as we enjoy one last summer hurrah.

Science in the park

Science Chicago - "a year-long celebration of scientific discovery and adventure" - came to Millenium Park today with its popular Labfest! series, and Dad and Levynn were there for it.

There were more than 20 stations on the Pritzker Pavilion lawn, including a "Sid the Science Kid" activity booth. That's a cool PBS Kids show that Levynn really likes.

More than a few of the activities were beyond the reach of a 5-year-old - physically so in the case of the bicycle-powered electrical devices, for example. Her legs couldn't reach the pedals on any of the bikes!

Here she's blowing bubbles, using a solution she made from water, soap and glycerin and a tool made with a straw and a pipecleaner.

Here she's experimenting with mass and velocity. Seriously!

Science Chicago was supposed to run from last September to the end of this month, but there now are more events scheduled for the months ahead. Chicago would be best served if this became permanent, don't you think?

Author signing

More than a few picture book authors and illustrators have left enough of an impression on us that we own or at least have read several of their books.

But Todd Parr may top them all. While his writing and drawings are as simple as they get, his pages pop with color, the images on them are silly, and the books include unique notes signed "Love, Todd." He's been a favorite here for most of Levynn's five years.

So when we discovered, just yesterday, that he would be making an appearance at the downtown Nordstrom today, we made a point to be there.

Much to our surprise, it was so low-key that we walked right past the children's department where he was sitting as we went to ask where he was. Only a few people were around him and none presently in his company when we approached his table and met him. He signed the two books of his that we own, one each for Levynn and Lincoln, and chatted with us a little. Then Mom secretly bought two shirts from his new kids clothing line - yes, that's the real reason he was there - for some early Christmas shopping.

Summer reading finale, Part 2

There were no prizes at the Chicago History Museum tonight, but the shindig there was bigger in every other way than the one at the library yesterday.

The museum was mobbed with kids - they even came in buses, presumably from libraries - and there was plenty for them all to see and do, beyond the regular exhibits. There was a puppet show, Radio Disney, one of those balloon guys, a caricature artist, and multiple art activities - all just for kids in the reading program.

Oh, and Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln.

So Dad and Levynn had a good time.

Since we hadn't been to this museum before, we checked out some of the exhibits as well (although not all of them; there's a temporary Lincoln exhibit we'll have to see very soon). Levynn disguised herself as a Chicago-style hot dog.
She took a seat in old Comiskey Park.

And she sat on a high-wheel bicycle.

But what do you think of this?

Summer reading finale

Mom brought Levynn to the library this afternoon for the Land of Lincoln Readers Celebration, which was quite the party. None other than Mrs. Lincoln shook Lev's hand when she was presented with her certificate, and she also won a cool chapter book and two tickets to a Chicago Sky (WNBA) game.





And there's still more, we've learned. Tomorrow night, the Chicago History Museum - which sponsored the reading program - will be closed to the public while hosting the kids and their families with free admission and special events.

Yikes!

Maybe living in a highrise has a drawback or two - you know, if you think jets performing aerials around you is unsafe or something.

As you watch this video, keep in mind that the building you see is two blocks away from us, and the jets - there were four of them - also flew between us and that building. Dad just didn't have the camera ready for those "stunts." He had to recover from the shock first, then show the kids what the heck was making all that noise. And somehow Mom slept through most of it.

We assume this was practice for the Chicago Air and Water Show that's happening Saturday and Sunday.

Did it happen again?

Recall, if you will, that Mom and Levynn attended a special minor league game at Wrigley Field one night last summer, and a late-inning storm washed out Lev's chance to run the bases.

Well, early last week, Mom stumbled upon someone's blog post about another minor league game at Wrigley. Amazingly, we had not heard of any such thing. Not Mom, working at the Tribune, owner of Wrigely. Not Dad, reading the Tribune's sports section everyday. With tickets starting at $5, hot dogs to be sold for $1, and another promise to run the bases, we jumped at the opportunity.

It just so happened that today was expected to be the hottest day of the summer - 98 degrees, according to the Tribune - after weeks of sub-80 temps. So we were very relieved that we had bought seats under the roof, where it proved quite tolerable.

Of course, with heat like that, there always is the possibility of...





Here comes the storm, Wrigley personnel announce!

Colored wristbands had been given to the kids upon entering the stadium, with each color corresponding to a group. We were in the last group and weren't even in line yet when the grounds crew started rolling out the tarp in anticipation.

But, almost an hour after the game ended, we got on the field!

Dad and Levynn ran ahead of Mom and Lincoln to make sure Lev got out there. So that kind of disrupted our camera strategy, as did the Wrigley sheepherders. ("Keep moving, keep moving!")

But here they are.






Yay!

Such sweet kids

Today is the day

Dad decided recently that Lincoln should get his first haircut as soon as possible, while Mom continued to resist. She loved the curls. But she finally relented within the last couple days, and now the deed has been done.

It looks good, doesn't it?


We weren't sure how he'd handle the barber's chair. But Mom took him to KidSnips - a child-friendly establishment, obviously - and he acted like a pro.

Meanwhile, Dad and Levynn went to Millenium Park and The Art Institute for more projects. She made an instrument - part guitar, part noisemaker - out of junk at the Family Fun Festival and painted a couple pictures at the art museum.



Dad and Levynn also looked at the new pavilion at Millenium Park, the second temporary installment honoring the 100th anniversary of Daniel Burnham's Plan of Chicago.



This is the other pavilion. It opened in June, and these photos of it are from Levynn's birthday.

Fun in the sun

We went to the beach today, our first time since the city installed palm trees along the water. Yes, palm trees. We even sat in the shade of one and built sand castles. If not for the skyscrapers behind us, we wouldn't have been able to tell we were in Chicago!

Picnic in the park

This is the next-to-last week for the Grant Park Music Festival, which means just two more Wednesday nights to listen to the orchestra in Millenium Park with Mom this summer. So we were planning to do that - and more - late this afternoon and this evening.

But we spent more time on our excursion to the farmer's market than expected this morning, which pushed Mom and Levynn's school shopping further into the afternoon, and we decided to skip the concert. Instead, we enjoyed a calm picnic dinner in the park across the street.

Camp update

Levynn's museum camp ended yesterday, and she loved it.

She spent Wednesday and part of Thursday at Shedd Aquarium, where her group competed in something called Polar Olympics. Then, during her time at Adler Planetarium part of Thursday and all of Friday, she made a water-propelled rocket that actually flew.

What else she did all week, it's been hard to gather, but we know she had a good time.

And she's such a big girl! Even the first morning, she left Mom's side without a nudge and didn't look back as she joined a group of kids and counselors she never had seen. If she's not ready for kindergarten, no kid is.

The same afternoon camp ended, Levynn also reported on eight more books at the library to complete her 25-book quota in the Land of Lincoln Readers summer program. She was rewarded with a cool t-shirt, which she'll wear for the first time at the program-ending party Aug. 10. Bravo!