Lincoln's first full (half) day

After a week of a little, a little more, and a little more still, Lincoln finally arrived at his first full day of Pre-K today. Two hours, 45 minutes of good times!

So we acted like it was his first day and treated it like we have all of Levynn's.




And he came home talking about a BFF!

County fair in the big city

We went to Garfield Park Conservatory's annual County Fair yesterday, and the highlight was a woodworking session that was very hands-on to the kids' delight.

Here's Levynn at work.



Lincoln did it, too.



And here are the finished products.

Then they put their hammers to use.

So, about Lincoln...

Wondering about him, now that it's been more than a week since Levynn started school?

Well, his Pre-K classes will start next Wednesday with a drop-in hour, followed by a full hour each Thursday and Friday, 1 1/2 hours the next Monday, two hours Tuesday and finally a full half day Wednesday. From there, he'll attend five half-day classes a week.

In the meantime, as part of the school's easing-in process, we were visited at home today by one of Lincoln's teachers, and it went very well. We think he's ready to go!

A Wedding

A friend of Mom's from work got married a few weeks ago and Mom helped her get things together. Here are some pictures:

Here's Mom and the whole bridal party, including that cute little flower girl.

This is the Lovely Levy as the flower girl.










And Levynn danced the night away. Maybe we'll get video of that here, too. But there's a lot to sort through.

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!