The tooth fairy is on alert

Levynn visited the dentist today and was told that she has one slightly loose tooth. On a scale of 1-to-5, it's a 1, the dentist said. But it's still a loose tooth!

Wedding week

We left early Wednesday morning, we returned late this afternoon, and we already are staring at another trip that begins early Sunday morning. We won't try that again!

We were busy, not that we would have it any other way. Here are some of the highlights, mostly having to do with cousin Chloe and the nuptials of Uncle Colin and Aunt Katey (yes, Katey, you're an aunt!).


As we all hoped, Levynn, Lincoln and Chloe really enjoyed each other's company. Chloe thought our kids were hilarious, and our kids thought she was neat ... and hilarious.




Thursday concluded with the wedding rehearsal and a dinner to end all dinners, after which the kids looked like this.

Gram gave Lincoln his first (partial) dental cleaning Friday morning. He did admirably well, but that's what we were banking on when we asked Gram to do the job.



Friday also was the day of the co-birthday party


Late that night, the groom played Yahtzee with the family on the eve of his big day. He did not win.


Here's Levynn the lovely in her flower girl dress Saturday morning.



And here are Lev and Linc dancing early in the reception, before she hit the dancefloor with the adults for at least an hour straight and he crashed in Mom's arms.

Rock and roll

The rest of the day

We had planned to get Levynn her first library card this afternoon, but our busy morning put us behind schedule. So Dad and Lev watched "Babe: Pig in the City" while Mom and Lincoln napped, and before long we were walking down the street to Rainforest Cafe for Lev's birthday dinner.


Aren't they cute? After dinner, we walked to Millenium Park and walked all around it, stopping only to wade in the water at Crown Fountain.

And then we walked home, arriving back here at 8:30 p.m.

Did you notice what Levynn was wearing, other than the yellow dress, in every photo and video we've posted today? She wore her new calico sun bonnet all day long. She wanted one because - why else?! - Laura Ingalls wears one in the Little House stories. At one point, the wind blew the bonnet off her head (though it was tied around her neck) and she asked Mom to say, "Goodness sakes, Laura, put your bonnet back on!"

That bonnet was her favorite gift, she said. Then again, everything was bigger and better today - due to being 5 years old.

By the way, this also was Pink Bear's birthday. Levynn so informed Mom and Dad when she climbed into their bed this morning. So happy birthday, girls!

Half day update

Parts of our day, so far:

Peonies from the farmers market


Lev/Laura Ingalls on the Navy Pier ferris wheel


Three of us on the carousel


one sweet boy who passed out in the elevator on the way home after just one little moment leaned against mom's cheek.

Happy birthday, Levynn!

You're 5 years old!

Swinging babies

Look again at that photo of Lincoln swinging in the previous post. And look at this, Levynn at Fall Creek Falls in April 2006!

Playing under Water Tower Place

Yummy cake batter

When free is not free

We were bound to hit a bump or two in our summer roads, with all our grand ambitions, and Dad and the kids hit a real doozy yesterday.

Yet somehow, at the end of it all, Levynn and Lincoln returned home singing and smiling. And Dad was sane.

Where to begin? Let's start with the Shedd Aquarium (oh, is that place on Dad's .... list now) and its advertised free week, which obviously got Dad's attention. We had been there only once - back in December '07, our first month here - when Lincoln was a baby, and its recently revamped Oceanarium (where the dolphins, beluga whales, sea lions and sea otters live) has a new play Polar Play Zone that the Tribune had hyped (ask Mom the newspaperwoman about that one). There was a chance of rain, but Dad thought we'd be fine because we only would have to get from building to bus to building on each end of the trip. And if it already was raining when we departed, Dad was ready to take a bus to the bus. He didn't see a problem.

(Remind Dad to reread that paragraph before he makes any other big plans.)

But we'll spare you many of the details. To get to the point: we rode the most crowded bus, packed to the door all the way to the aquarium, that Dad ever had seen; rain was pouring down when we got off that bus; and we came upon a line snaking around to The Field Museum, with people standing in the rain waiting to enter the aquarium.

Now we'll get to the good part.

It turned out that the aquarium wanted to keep track of the number of people who entered, which meant everyone needed a ticket. So the line didn't end when we got inside the building. And then Dad saw yellow bracelets on some wrists and began to wonder.

The woman behind the desk didn't ask us anything but "how many?" and proceeded to print out our tickets. Dad then led the kids straight to the Oceanarium. We went down some stairs, through a hall and into the purview of an aquarium staffer who said we could not go any farther without bracelets. "They're discounted this week," she said, thinking she was helpful, "$16.95 for you, $11.95 for her."

This is where Dad recalled - and now would like to take the time to detail here - that he had looked on the aquarium's Web site when planning this adventure. This is what he had read there:

Community Discount Days
On our Community Discount Days, general admission is free, and packages including Wild Reef are available at a discounted rate. Shedd's 52 discount days a year take advantage of civic and school holidays to make family visits more convenient.

2009 Community Discount Weeks are on the following dates in June (14 through 19), and Oct. (4 through 9).

2009 Community Discount Days are on the following dates for Mondays and Tuesdays in September (21, 22, 28 and 29) October (12, 13, 19, 20, 26 and 27) and November (2, 3, 9, 10, 16, 17, 23, 24, and 30.)

Do you see Oceanarium mentioned? Dad didn't, either, because it's not there. (Wild Reef is where the sharks live - and that costs extra, too.) So Dad had figured the Oceanarium was free.

And he wanted an explanation.

After talking to a woman at the membership desk and a woman at the information desk (both asked if he wanted to talk to someone from IT), Dad was introduced to Ron. Dad gave him the same spiel - "Your Web site does not say that the Oceanarium is not free this week" - so Ron looked at the Web site. Shockingly, he agreed, and he handed Dad a bracelet. He said Levynn wouldn't need one.

Yippee!

So we watched the beluga whales.




We watched the dolphins from below, in the play area (which is very overrated!).




And the kids touched some fake stuff.



We wanted to see the dolphins' show. But when we emerged from the play area, several minutes before showtime, it was closed. "The seats are completely full," we were told. No standing? "It's a fire hazard." Will there be another show? "No, that's the last one."

Now, Dad knew better than to complain, when everyone else had paid to be standing where he and the kids were standing. But what about those people who paid? A bunch ended up trying to get into the show, too, and were turned away. The aquarium is still taking people's money but won't let them see the moneymaker? Booooooooo!

We went to the cafe to find a seat and eat apple slices we had brought. It was just about dinner time at this point, and Levynn spied the counter and asked to buy some food. But the cafe wasn't serving food anymore! Booooooooo!

So the kids ate the apples merrily, those good sports.



We'll skip more details and get right to the final point. Dad looked at the aquarium's Web site this morning, out of curiosity, and found this:

Community Discount Days
On our Community Discount Days, general admission is free. (Includes the Waters of the World, Amazon Rising, and the Caribbean Reef) Packages including Wild Reef and Oceanarium are available at a discounted rate. Shedd's 52 discount days a year take advantage of civic and school holidays to make family visits more convenient.

2009 Community Discount Weeks are on the following dates in June (14 through 19), and Oct. (4 through 9).

2009 Community Discount Days are on the following dates for Mondays and Tuesdays in September (21, 22, 28 and 29) October (12, 13, 19, 20, 26 and 27) and November (2, 3, 9, 10, 16, 17, 23, 24, and 30).

Do you notice anything different?

Recitation

Older students at Levynn's school recited the Pledge of Allegiance each morning over the intercom this year. Levynn's class was usually still too busy getting settled to stop and pay attention, but it always was going in the background. We never heard her make anything of it.

Since school ended, Levynn has started randomly reciting the pledge. It was very surprising to us. Then one day she got all the way through it, almost exactly right.

So here we have her on video, with just her one misunderstanding. Can you catch it? (By the way, she says the other hand is the flag above her head.)

Ooh, a car

We joined I-Go Car Sharing recently and reserved a vehicle for some North Side errands today. It was our first time in a car since Mom and the kids returned from Paducah right after our move in April!

But, this photo notwithstanding, Lincoln wanted to be elsewhere.

"I like to walk," he repeated over and over again.

City boy.

Super Sunday

Or so it was for Dad, Levynn and Lincoln.

Mom has wanted to tackle the disaster that (still) is our master bedroom, and Dad has wanted to tackle two free events today. So while Mom did the former, Dad did the latter with the kids. In the morning, we rode the bus north to Lincoln Park Zoo; in the afternoon, we rode the train south to Grant Park.

The zoo was the setting for what is formally called WTTW Kids Readers Are Leaders, a series of performances featuring Miss Lori from Chicago's PBS station. She encourages reading with songs and interactive storytelling.

Levynn and Lincoln are seated in the foreground, wearing their Cubs hats, and that's Miss Lori standing on the right. (Dad snapped this shot with his cell phone; he forgot the camera.) Levynn was an active participant, as usual, and Lincoln's starting to get the hang of this stuff, too. Everyone danced to the last song, and he felt inspired to do forward rolls. Dad had to stop him - it was in a crowd - but now has to admit it was cute.

After lunch and naps back at the apartment, we met Dad's friend John and his wife at Grant Park, the setting for the Chicago Blues Festival all weekend.


We ate a picnic dinner, listened to music and acted goofy over three-and-a-half hours before we walked all the way home and crashed.

This is easy now.

Saturdays in June

We hope Levynn's not all birthday-ed out come next Saturday, when we'll be celebrating her big 5.0.

She attended one big birthday party for a classmate at the beach last Saturday...


... and attended another one at a kids' kitchen (The Kids' Table) today.


But we trust she'll be ready.

Sun spotting

The Adler Planetarium offered free admission all week as part of its celebration of the 400th anniversary of telescopes, which are featured in a new temporary exhibit.

We've visited the planetarium twice already, but Dad was interested in the "family activities" advertised for the week and the heavily discounted showings of "One World, One Sky: Big Bird's Adventure" in the 360-degree theater.

So Dad and Levynn headed there this afternoon. The "family activities" were a bust, unfortunately. But Levynn enjoyed the film, and we did get to view the sun through a telescope.

Not to be outdone

Evidently, Levynn is not the only child in the household who can complete a forward roll. Lincoln pulled these out of his hat this evening.



To think Levynn just figured this out. But maybe all she ever needed was a role model.

The end and the beginning

Tonight's gymnastics show was kind of our farewell to the old neighborhood. Since we moved in April, we continued to make our way back via train for school and weekly gymnastics.

So in honor of the end of school, the end of gymnastics and the real start of our summer (despite the weather) we celebrated after the show with dinner out and Scooter's custard for dessert. We're looking forward to making the new neighborhood more our central hangout and finding more new fun things here!

Back to the park again!

Thanks to rain, we've had to scale back our plans for Mom's days off this week. But it was dry, if chilly, this evening for Stories and Songs in the Garden - that would be Millenium Park's Lurie Garden - so we took the plunge and walked down there, this time with Mom.


A Lurie Garden staffer read a story, and a performer from Old Town School of Folk Music's Wiggleworms program led musical interludes. The kids really enjoyed it.




Here, Levynn is showing the Wiggleworms' Miss Shana the fly she trapped in her bug box, which she got as a gift from her teacher on the last day of school. She's a budding entomologist, you know.

A walk in the park

Boy, did Dad have some moxie today.

He had seen that singer-songwriter St. Vincent - whose new album has received glowing reviews - was headlining a free concert at Millenium Park's Pritzker Pavillion tonight, just 24 hours after playing for a paying crowd at an indoor venue elsewhere in the city.

It looked too good to miss.

At least, if not for a couple complications. Mom was working, for one. There was a threat of severe thunderstorms, for another.

Then again, the pavillion's lawn is a wonderful place for kids to run freely, and the park has other attractions/distractions within earshot. Plus, we want to do this as a family eventually this summer, hopefully more than once or twice (Millenium Park has free music every day), and the park is a walkable distance from home now.

But Dad didn't commit one way or the other before he got the kids ready to go to the one definite destination of the day, the downtown library. He grabbed a stack of books, a handful of diaper-changing gear, and a sippy cup, and we were on our way. We rode the Brown Line to the library, where we exchanged books and read a few.

When we got back outside, Dad simply looked at the sky - "all clear," he thought - and decided to roll with it.

"Do you guys want to eat out?"

"Yes!"

So we went across the street to Quiznos and picked up a couple sandwiches.

"Do you want to eat at the park?"

"Yes!"

Make that to go, please.

"What park are we going to, Daddy?"

"How about Millenium Park?"

"Yes!"

So we strolled to Millenium Park, where we found a shady spot in the grass to eat. As we were finishing our meal, rain came crashing down. People on the grass in the pavillion, waiting for the concert, were caught by surprise and scrambled for cover under the little trees around the park. But we already were under one and stayed dry for the brief downpour, which soon gave way to sun and blue sky.

It was around this time that Dad finally thought, "You know, there's no reason not to make a night of this now."

The kids waded in the water at Crown Fountain for a while, we took a potty break, and then it was time for the opening act, Alla, a Chicago-based Mexican-American rock-and-roll band. We stayed long enough - until 8 p.m. - to hear maybe half of St. Vincent's set before Dad decided to quit while he was still ahead.

By the time we had made the long walk home, though, the kids were in such good spirits - or maybe just deliriously tired - that they started running around the apartment squealing.

"Ready for more?"

Dad certainly is.

Call me Laura

In case you haven't figured this out yet, Levynn loves the "Little House on the Prairie" books. And in case you didn't know, the author, Laura Ingalls Wilder, is the central figure in the autobiographical series.

That's just a little background on what Levynn said today.

"I want to be called Laura," she declared during lunch.

Dad told her that he and Mom had made her name, just for her, and that she is the only person in the whole wide world with that name (as far as we know).

"I want to be called Laura."

Dad asked her if she knew how we made that name. Dad explained that there was a man in Grandy's family a long time ago - around Laura's time! - who lived in Louisville - where she was born! - and was a baseball player - like the Cubs! Dad related to her that when she was born, and he and Mom announced her name to the room, Grandy cried. Grandy was so happy.

"But I want to be called Laura."

Releasing our butterfly

From preschool, anyway.

Levynn's class had watched caterpillars spin their chrysalides and emerge as butterflies this week. Appropriately enough, the butterflies were released on the playground Wednesday.


And today ... Levynn became a kindergartner. Yay, Levy!

Levynn's teacher, getting the hug here, provided a glowing Child Progress & Planning Report. She finished it with a personal note:

"It has truly been a delight to have Levynn in my classroom this year. She is such a loving, thoughtful, inquisitive and considerate young lady. Please continue to read with her at home in order to encourage her reading skills. Also, please provide her with ample opportunities to practice writing. As you already know, she loves to write books. Have a wonderful summer and good luck in kindergarten!"

That's our Levynn!

Summer's almost here

... even if we can't feel it outside yet, what with temps in the 50s and rain this week.

But we can sense it: Levynn's last day of school is Friday; we picked up our first CSA share at a local farmer's market this morning; and our new Google calendar is loaded with events, mostly free and downtown, that we're primed to experience from our convenient new digs.

So, although we'll be hitting the road to see many of you this summer, don't let that stop you from coming here. Experience it with us!