Levynn...

She finished her baseball "season" tonight with a career-high three at-bats (all ground balls up the middle as usual) and a successfully-executed play in the field (her throw hitting the leg of a wayward teammate excepted, of course!).

But all that matters is she enjoys it, unlike the soccer experience last fall. So we'll take it!

Oh, and we'll soon have a swimmer on our hands, too!

Levynn has started her last two pool outings "swimming" like this:



Then she finished both actually swimming like this:



Uncle Colin and Aunt Katey can vouch for it!

Now, what's with the quote marks here, used in so-called scare quotes?

The other night Dad and Levynn were reading "Knuffle Bunny Too" - one of our old picture books - and Levynn asked about the quote marks in this sentence, accompanying a photo of the character looking disgustedly at her food: Trixie "ate" her dinner. Dad replied that in an instance like that they can mean something isn't really true.

That may be a poor off-the-cuff explanation, but Levynn seemed to get the idea. Moments later, she brought a doll to the couch and said it was going to "listen" to the story. How does Dad know she meant "listen" and not just listen?

This is how.

Planet Earth, live and interrupted

Dad thought this sounded like the coolest thing: Hearing the Grant Park Orchestra perform the score from "Planet Earth Live" while watching the film on a big screen behind it on Millenium Park's Pritzker Pavilion stage.



Unfortunately, Dad didn't understand exactly how this would be done. He knew the movie is an edited version of the BBC TV series, but he didn't know it's broken into 5- to 10-minute segments and that between each and every one of those segments guest conductor George Fenton - a famous film composer who wrote the score - talks about the filmmaking process and the animals we're seeing on the screen. That kinda ruins the effect, doesn't it?! The kids certainly thought so.

The other problem: according to Millenium Park's web site, it's one hour long. But after an hour it was time for the intermission, not the end. So we left at that point.

Without even realizing it, though, we left at just the right time to see Navy Pier's fireworks as we walked up Michigan Ave.:



Kids dig the fireworks.

Weekend with Uncle Colin and Aunt Katey

At The Art Institute...



At Millenium Park, before a performance of "Insects" around the Bean...




At the Chicago Children's Museum...











Come again, guys!

Dad also made time for "Transformers 3" sightseeing. It was happening on Michigan Ave., after all - right outside the Tribune building!

He first went Friday afternoon, while most others were napping.

He navigated the pedestrian detours for a while without finding any better views than the crowds lining the barricades. So we all saw this vehicle, purportedly Ratchet.

But Dad stumbled on a somewhat hidden lower Michigan Ave. entrance (open to the public, mind you!) to a building with an upper Michigan Ave. entrance onto the film set. Dad walked out that door like he didn't know any better and just so happened to walk right past director Michael Bay!

Then he passed the Tribune, which, as you can see from the fake building debris, will appear in the film.

Dad still wanted to get into the Tribune during all this and view it from Mom's fourth-floor windows. So he and the kids went on another adventure Saturday after Mom already was at work.

To make a long story short: areas that were open when Dad was there Friday were now closed, and we needed to be escorted through the Tribune parking lot - which was "Transformers 3" headquarters for the weekend, as you can see by the trailers - to meet Mom at the back door.

But it was worth the effort.

A beautiful summer day

Riding the bus to baseball yesterday, we noted that many people were in Lincoln Park - including in and around Lincoln Park Zoo. It looked like a nice way to enjoy the city's brief respite from intense heat.

So we decided to do the same today, as we looked ahead to the heat's return tomorrow. While Dad and Lincoln were at their Lincoln Park Cultural Center playgroup this morning, Levynn rode her bike on the sidewalk most of the way there - and back - as Mom walked alongside her. She doesn't need a helping hand on the bike at all anymore!

Then, late in the afternoon, we brought a picnic dinner to the zoo. (Some of the photos below were taken along the zoo's new Nature Boardwalk.)

Leaping lizards!

We all went to Levynn's baseball game this evening, and then the boys headed home.

But the girls went to another city park, where the kite festival is held, and sat on a hill to watch one of the Chicago Park District's summer movie offerings.


So Levynn got see "Annie" for the first time. And she loved it.

A Saturday afternoon in Chicago

Our first stop was the library for a summer reading program event, and across the street now stands this eyeball that was unveiled officially this week. The Tribune compared and contrasted it with The Bean in Millenium Park. We say: No contest.


Speaking of Millenium Park, it is the site of the Great Performers of Illinois festival this weekend. It includes this corn maze. (Corn is an important crop in Illinois, they want us to know.)

Mom then had to part ways and get to work. So Dad took the kids on a little adventure through the Loop. "Transformers 3" is filming here, and Dad wanted to see some action. If that doesn't interest you, though, stop here.

Dad has known for several weeks that the filming was coming and planned to see it at some point, but spotting this helicopter from Millenium Park today was enough to convince him that the time was now.

We stumbled on this scene of street mayhem at LaSalle and Washington first. It looks like the work of Decepticons, if you ask Dad.

At another intersection shortly thereafter, Dad noticed this sign and crossed the street to it to get a good shot. Understandably, further progress along that street was blocked by a barricade. But just as we got there, they started letting people through! So, uh... Dad and the kids went, too.





We didn't get any closer to the real action, although we caught a glimpse of a fire blazing in the middle of that first scene when we circled around to the other side of it.

But word is that production will move to the Tribune building next weekend. Hmmm...

Remember the San Diego Chicken?

Levynn will now!

Dad and Levynn went to Wrigley Field for its third annual minor league game tonight - she's been to all three! - and the Chicken was the entertainment between innings. How entertaining was he? Well, if you ask Levynn about the game, the Chicken will be all she mentions.

We spotted him in the concourse after the game and got that photo op with him. Dad first took a shot of Levynn giving the Chicken a high-five. But then he took a bite out of her and Dad thought, "Whoa, I better get this one!"

It also should be noted that Dad and Levynn kept score together. It's a good learning tool, as a father seated behind us noted. So she will remember at least one thing other than the Chicken: K is for strikeout.

Another year in the books

We visited a new pediatric practice today for the kids' annual checkups, and all is well as usual.

The numbers:

Levynn grew 1.5 inches to 43.5 and 4.5 pounds to 40.

Lincoln grew 1.75 inches to 38 and 6.5 pounds to 34.

Beyond that, there's nothing to report. They're healthy!

By the way, we left our previous pediatrician only because that office, in Evanston, is too far away from us. We walk two blocks to the new one!

More from Gram's visit

Monday morning at the park...


She's doing it!

Monday evening after dinner at one of our new favorites, Bistro 110...



Early Tuesday morning at the beach...



And late Tuesday morning at the Museum of Contemporary Art...


See you again in October!

Happy birthday, Lincoln!

Having a child's birthday on America's birthday isn't getting old. From presents at 7 a.m. to fireworks at 9 p.m. - and Taste of Chicago in between - we had a festive day for sure, with Gram along for it all.

Mom even made a red, white and blue breakfast of French toast, blueberries and cherries for the new three-year-old.


Look who has a scooter now, too.

Taste of Chicago has more than food, including the family pavilion with a stage where we listened to some of Justin Roberts' concert.

Dad and the kids also rode on the carousel.


Lighting the candles on Lincoln's traditional Taste of Chicago birthday cheesecake slice was not easy in the wind, which unfortunately was not also strong enough to give much comfort in the 90-degree heat. But he didn't mind!

And it's good!

The kids spent much of the rest of the day cooling down and freshening up. Eventually, Dad, Gram, Levynn and Lincoln met Mom at Tribune Tower and went to the 22nd floor balcony, where we had a perfect view of Navy Pier's fireworks.



And that was a perfect coda to the day.