A Couple Weeks' Worth of Posts...

A few weekends ago we drove all the way to the North side of the city to visit Kevin, Beth and Max. We played at the beach and went to the pool at their building. Here's Clara at the beach, with a little Henry on her shoulder. Do you think that's the angel Henry or the devil Henry?
Henry was almost fearless in the water.
Here's a family picture.
And here's new Papa Kevin with Max. Max, by the way, is younger and larger than Clara. Yes. It's possible.
Here's the view to the pool from their balcony. I'm never able to hang out on their balcony for very long.
The next night we took Clara to Ravinia for the first time. The music started and she promptly fell asleep.
By the end of the evening Henry was ready to try dozing too....though you may be able to tell by his expression that he's doing his pretend sleeping.
He took this photo of us.
And then we got a family photo....almost. Clara was still sleeping.
Later in the week I was looking for something to do with the kids outside. We tried out a new (to us) nature preserve. I told Henry to grab his hat before we left. He chose this cowboy hat of mine instead. Then in the parking lot he decided he was in a Calvin Klein photo shoot. I swear I did not prompt any of these poses.
Here we are trying to dodge mosquitoes. There was a huge old oak tree behind us, but our big heads got in the way.
Friday night Clara had another first- a Metra ride downtown.
We rode down with Pete's parents and then met up with Liz for some dinner outside. See the Bean in the background?
Henry loved it. In case you didn't know, the true name of The Bean is Cloudgate. Or maybe Cloud Gate. Not sure.

Henry was especially thrilled to walk under it. He likes going under and through things.
Family shot.
Clara talking to herself.
Our main purpose for going downtown was to hear Liz sing with the Grant Park Chorus. They perform at this cool pavilion a few times a summer. For the sake of the kids, we sat where there could be some noise and stretching out.
Then we rushed back to the train. While Pete bought the tickets Henry and I made a last-minute stop at McDonalds. He had wanted ice cream all night and I just couldn't stand to see the little guy disappointed. We barely made the train.
Saturday Liz came up to babysit and Pete and I headed to a wedding.
Kristy (the bride) is a friend of mine from school. She looked lovely. Later there was much dancing.
Here's me with the Kerri/Cari's. Cari (in the middle) is my co-teacher. She's also a Hawkeye, which is why we work so well together.
And now we're just about caught up...