Congratulations to Gram

She graduated from Harvard University on Thursday!

Dad flew to Boston on Wednesday - or was it on Thursday? (that's another story altogether) - to join the Chambers side of the family for the occasion, which was some 40 years in the making.

See, a few years after Gram finished her two-year degree in dental hygiene, she started taking courses in Harvard's Extension School. Another 34 years later, she finally earned her four-year degree there. For that, she also earned a special mention during the graduation ceremony.



(Dad had trouble locating Gram in the crowd. That's her sitting down at the end.)

Now here she is on her walk to get her diploma. As noted, she graduated cum laude, but she also was on the Dean's List!



You'll understand if she rests on those laurels - for a few months, anyway. She'll be working on a master's degree soon enough!

The wheel of time

You may not remember shots of the kids in this tractor wheel through the years, but they are memorable to us. We take a new one each time we revisit the Museum of Science and Industry, as we did today. It's a neat record of their growth. Look back at the first one, of just Levynn, in April 2008.

A family adventure

As we were walking - and walking - from the closest bus top to that remote Chicago spot known as Northerly Island, at the furthest reaches of Museum Campus, we were beginning to wonder. Was this worth it?

But it was! The Chicago Park District's Family Adventure Day, the kickoff to Chicago Wilderness’ June Leave No Child Inside Month, was one of our most enjoyable outings in a long time with a variety of activities both kids could appreciate and (though perhaps sadly for the park district) not many other people to get in their way.


There were campfires to roast marshmallows and popcorn:



There was a bird-watching station with binoculars, telescopes, field guides, and a craft:




There was a mudpie-making station:





There was an entertaining animal guy with frongs and snakes and turtles:



There was fishing:


and more!

The new mayor

Dad and Lincoln went to Millenium Park today to see Rahm Emanuel's inauguration, Chicago's first mayoral change since Uncle Dan was a year old! Maybe it will mean something to Lincoln in another 22 years.




By the way, the grass was glorious! Off limits this spring, it has grown so lush it felt like a pillow.

Outings!

Suddenly, Levynn's class is all about the field trips. It must be that time of year - you know, the end.

This began with a Mom-led trip to Tribune Tower last week. Actually, it began with Mom's appearance in the class for career day months ago. After that, Levynn's teacher contacted Mom and asked if it would be possible to bring the class to the Trib. So Mom looked into it, organized it and made it all happen. With the help of Dad and a page designer at work, and using class photos submitted by the teacher and writings from the students, she even put together a mock front page for the kids to take home.

(Click on the photo for a closer look.)

She's gotten compliments for pulling it all off, and she deserves it.

The class also went to a play place this week - all the way out in the suburbs, like there aren't a gazillion right here in the city! - and they'll go to Lincoln Park Zoo next month.

And Levynn had two playdates at other kids' homes this week.

Meanwhile, Lincoln's been making his own field trips with us: Chicago History Museum and Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum last week and Adler Planetarium this week.

Happy Mother's Day

... to Mom, Gram, Grandy, Mammy, Aunt Christina, Aunt Rachel and any others out there!