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Category: Family

A Weekend Without Labor

One of things God has been teaching me this past year is a new definition of “recreation” – something that once meant ‘fun’ or ‘play’ or ‘games’ has transformed into something much deeper and penetrating as I have discovered re-creation. Rather than something I do to “take a break” re-creation is now something I seek regularly, that refreshes and recharges me for the rest of “life.” This Labor Day weekend was a special opportunity for some extended re-creation spent with family. (reminder, click on any image for a larger view) The treats of the weekend began on the way to church. Now from this picture you might I assume I live out in the wilderness, but there are several forest preserves quite close. But as we drove down the road to church my tendency to be taking in everything around me I caught a glimpse of something through a break in the trees and through a fence! Sara was surprised as I quickly pulled over and put the car in reverse claiming to have seen something through the trees which appeared solid on the left… indeed, I had! My guess is an Elk? We have a lot of deer in…

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Luke’s First Rock Concert!

Saturday Luke got to go to his first live concert at Ravina. This concert venue includes a pavillion with ticketed seats like most concerts, but also includes a huge outdoor lawn area surrounded by restaurants. It is a favorite entertainment destination for Chicagoans. My last visit to Ravina was for the Music of Star Wars. Now it was Luke’s turn to join hundreds of other little tots for Ralph’s World live in concert! Daddy and Son Mommy and Son! Luke seemed a little overwhelmed at first. He kept looking around at allll the kids and people and lights, and finally noticed the band on the stage. It was so cute, there will little kids everywhere dancing in the aisles. The ushers quickly gave up trying to keep the aisles clear. Luke hesitantly joins the others jammin’ in the aisle. We had never heard of Ralph’s World, but the music was fun. It was all about lemonade, and sand boxes, and water, and chocolate cake. We were surprised to see all the adults sining along as well – one dad in front of me was singing along to a song about how his baseball dreams never came true because of his…

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We Found Heaven! In Mundelein!

NOTE: Click on any image to view full screen! As I have posted before, LUKE LOVES WATER! So we were delighted to just learn of a “Spray Park” only a few miles away this week! When we looked at it online, we knew Luke would be absolutely beside himself with delight when we got there! So when I woke Luke up in the morning and we did our usual talk about the plans of the day, I told him we discovered heaven, and it’s in Mundelein, and it only costs $2 to get in! It became our joke of the day that I repeated over and over and over, “we found heaven! and it’s in Mundelein! and it only costs $2 to get in!” And we were right! HE LOVED IT! (Dad loved it too) Since we don’t live in Mundelein, we pay double… but no complaints here! But we are a little envious of Mundeleinians who only have to pay $1 to get into heaven! We may just have to sell the house and move to save $1 every time we go here! We’ve already been there twice, and that’s $6 we could have saved if we sold our…

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Cubs? Sox? Free Tickets Buy My Fandom!

OK, I am officially still a Sox fan, but who can turn down free tickets to a Cubs game, especially the FIRST PLACE Cubs, and on Build-a-Bear Day! I got to be a good uncle and take my niece when travel plans and other conflicts prevented her family from getting to all go as originally planned when they got the tickets way in advance. Poor me. Headin’ to Wrigley in Style! My wife saw my “Do the Dew” hat as I left and said, “You don’t have a Cubs hat?” (um, I’m a Sox fan!) But I answered, “I will when I get back!” We went to pick up some friends (see below) and were on our way to root on the Cubs! I should mention that my niece is the only Cubs fan in her family, the rest are Sox fans, but she is loyal to her other uncle, (my brother), who is a serious Cubs fan. My first pleasant surprise was that that there is FREE PARKING at a Cubs Game! Granted, we were there early to get a Prebuilt-a-Bear for the girls, but we parked right on the street just a few blocks away from the park,…

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Major League Bastian in Town

You may remember when I bragged that my little brother went to the Major Leagues! As an MLB.com beat reporter that is. Well, he was in town this week for the Blue Jays vs. the White Sox series. But the first thing he did when he arrived was the Presentation: The Presentation of the Frank Thomas Ball In April I went to visit my brother in Dietroit and got to meet Frank Thomas. The highlight wasn’t meeting this famous ball hitter, it was hearing my little brother (who I taught baseball to) say, “Hey, Frank, I’d like you to meet my brother.” Of course, I wanted an auto-graph, but since we were in the clubhouse, and I was there with a temporary press pass, that is prohibited. So I had to settle for a hand shake. Even my brother, because he is press for Major Leage Baseball is not allowed to ask for autographes. So how did I get this? My autographed Frank Thomas Ball! Well, I also got to meet with John Gibbons, the Blue Jays manager, and after I left, he went and asked Frank for an autographed ball, and gave it to my brother and instructed him…

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Luke’s Year and a Half Party!

It’s hard to believe it is true, but Baby Luke is now a year and a half old! Mom missed it because she was off becoming a Woman of Faith and I was watching a friend’s kids for the day, so after a trip to the Dollar Store for party stuff, we had a short but fun birthday party for Lukie. It’s Party Time! Notice one and a half cakes with one and a half candles! Though help was needed blowing out the candles. The party was so exciting, here is Luke yawning as his candles are blown out! The best part of the party for Luke, of course, was not the dollar store presents, it was getting to EAT CAKE, as you can see in this video: HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUKE!

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