Another grade, another building

... but, finally, the same school!


Levynn began second grade today in Ogden School's brand new digs, marking the first time in a seemingly long academic career that she has attended one school for more than a year.

So she was able to do this for the first time: Hang with old friends! That's Abigail in the middle and Allyson on the right. She learned then that Abigail is in her class, but Allyson and her twin brother Koen, alas, are not. Levynn played with them several times over the summer.

We all walked over to the school - which, as most of you know, is on the opposite side of the park and is visible from our windows.

As new Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard (second from the left) looked on, Levynn walked into school holding hands with Abigail.


And they were still holding hands as they walked into class.

Mom followed them into the room and got to see Levynn at her desk.

The next thing we knew, Levynn was telling us what a "perfecto" first day she had! It can't get any better than that.

And she came home to this message from Lincoln:

Bidding summer adieu

We wanted to get back to Shedd Aquarium before school starts (tomorrow for Levynn!), given that we're now members and our last experience with extended family was somewhat of a bust.

So we got there this week and made a point to go very early. And voila...

Not another child in sight. Sorry if that sounds mean, but you can ask Gram, Papa and Aunt Rachel what it can be like there. Anyway, we had a good time.

Then Uncle Dan arrived Friday for a visit, one day after he finished his last undergraduate class. He'll get his diploma after his internship this fall. Congrats, Dan!

Levynn's holding a LEGO builder certificate. Lincoln also received one, after we contributed to the construction of a life-size model of Brickley the sea serpent outside the new LEGO store on Saturday.

We went to the beach one last time yesterday.



The waves were enormous, in our experience. Dan even said he surfed on less in California earlier this year. But he braved them, jumping into them and swimming through them. Dad thought the water was too cold.

And that was that. Dan left today - it was a short visit - and Levynn, gracious sakes, begins second grade tomorrow. Another summer in the books!

Notice anything?

Levynn pulled out another tooth!

This is the one that been teasing us so long, right next to the one that came out Tuesday!

All you really need to see

...is this. That says it all, doesn't it?

Levynn lost - actually, pulled out - a tooth this morning, a first for her as you all know.

It's not the tooth that she's been showing people for months, though. It's the tooth next to that one. We noticed last night that it seemed really loose all of a sudden, and this morning when she showed mom...



And before Dad knew it...



And here it is.

Mom practically cried, and Levynn, well, she's been one ball of proud and gleeful energy today, let us tell you!

Sights seen

Dad and the kids saw some things today, not all for the first time but perhaps all new to you.

First, we visited Mom outside the Tribune building. OK, you all have seen her.

Then we posed with the new sculpture of Marilyn Monroe, also outside the Tribune building. You may not have seen that.

But you definitely haven't seen this:

It's a human-sized hummingbird nest, complete with humans as hummingbirds, in Lincoln Park Zoo for the day. It's a project of Nat Geo Wild’s “Live Like An Animal” series. The Sun-Times has some details.

Watch the third host join his fellow birds in the nest:

A Wrigley return

After selling out most of our goods at the "garage" sale in our building's community room today, we went to a high school All-American game at Wrigley Field.

The Cubs apparently didn't see fit to hold a proper family night with minor league teams - as they had done, and we had attended, each of our previous summers in Chicago - so we went with this. We had fun anyway!

And we were reminded of the first of these games three years ago. Look at the photo from the 2008 game!

Brookfield Zoo

Our library held weekly raffles for free books during the summer reading program, and Levynn (who also won another week) and Lincoln each won the same week that the library was tossing in free passes to the Brookfield Zoo as part of the prize. They gave us four passes, and we didn't wait long to use them since that's one of the few places we haven't been.

The zoo, just two blocks from a Metra stop in the western suburb of Brookfield, is beloved. And once there, we could see some reasons for that.

It's like part zoo (with many of the same animals as Lincoln Park Zoo), part aquarium (with a large indoor aquatic exhibit), part nature museum (with a butterfly sanctuary, like at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum) - which is great for suburbanites, but not so special for us city-zens.

It also has more lush environments, like this polar bear exhibit, than Lincoln Park Zoo.

And there are really big animals:

Like this bear,

this gator,

this hippo,

and this kangaroo. Uh, wait a minute...

(We also stumbled on this itty bitty baby bird in a patch of grass where we were resting. We watched it meander onto the walkway, where a passing zoo worker saw it. And she knew the bird!)

The thing is, this zoo doesn't seem to have any more animals than Lincoln Park Zoo, yet it feels twice as big as you're walking around it. There are long stretches where there are as many places to spend money as there are animals. And, speaking of money, this zoo has multiple levels of admission charges; Lincoln Park Zoo is entirely free, parking notwithstanding.

So we took a vote afterward, and Lincoln Park Zoo won 3-1.

But Brookfield Zoo gave us a full day's adventure, and we're grateful for that.

Summer reading program finale(s)

Levynn and Lincoln both reached their program quotas - and earned their shirts - a long time ago, but of course they kept on reading and also kept on reporting through the end, which came last weekend.

Our library then held a celebration on Monday, when the kids received their certificates.




But it still wasn't done! Along with their certificates, kids were given a voucher guaranteeing seats for their families at the Millenium Park jazz concert (in honor of the program's Book Beats theme) tonight. Who are we to let a concert opportunity go to waste?

Yay for book-loving kids!

Growing up, up and away

UPDATED

The kids' annual checkups were today, and it was all about growth.

Levynn was 2.25 inches taller at 45.75 and four pounds heavier at 44.

Lincoln grew 3 inches to 41 and six pounds to 40.

Look back at this to see how Levynn compared at four years. And, while you're at it, look around at some other July 2008 posts - particularly the videos of Lincoln learning to walk.

It's very exciting!