Clam Bake 2013

It's officially autumn.
One of our busy fall weekends has come to a close.  Last night we went to Chris & Val's annual Clam Bake.  The anticipation began months ago when we got a "save the date" magnet in the mail.  It had a photo of a big bon fire on it, and ever since, our kids have asked when we're going to "go to the big fire."  The anticipation drew to a close yesterday morning when we fed the kids small breakfasts and lunches knowing that there was going to be a bunch of good food and a late night ahead of us.  Between the hay ride, the food, the fireworks, the catching up with friends that we now see once a year, the new photo booth and the staying up past dark, it was a full, fun evening that the kids and we won't soon forget.

Many thanks to Grace ($$$ glasses) for keeping up with our kids and giving Jenn and me some catch-up time with the grown-ups!

We followed up our late evening with catching Aunt Haley over at Kent State.  The score wasn't what we were hoping for, but we love seeing extra of Aunt Haley, Grandma Laura & Grandpa Dave.
On Friday evening, Jenn had some time with the ladies producing more art (I know!  Whooda thought!!!) at Wine and Canvas while I took the kids to the clinic to throw monkey-balls into the woods (I think they're some kind of walnut seed thingies, but the kids call them monkey-balls) and to collect what remained of the buckeyes.
Jenn's been having some more food fun with the kids' meals.

Grilling @ The Ledges

Well that was one of the longer gaps between posts.  Wow.  Sorry about that.  And it's not because there's been nothing going on at the Gates Home.  No way.  Lincoln has been off to a great start at Kindergarten, Lydia and Henry are getting into a routine of being the only ones at home during the day, Jenn is running like crazy keeping up with things, volunteering at Lincoln's school and prepping for her 1/2 marathon in early October, work has been steady for me, an abridged version of one of the essays I wrote with Eden Myers appeared in print in Veterinary Economics (original here), Jenn and I have been keeping up with our friends and Bible study groups... whew.  So you can get an idea for where the time has gone.
In fact, the time has so gotten away that I forgot to share some really cool photos from a couple of weeks ago when Lincoln, Henry and I went to Szalay's Farm early in the morning to watch a corn harvest.  The boys were quite into seeing the harvester and tractors work.
It's getting cooler around here, and it really feels like fall.  We finished dinner early the other evening and went to Rita's for some frozen custard.  It'll probably be our last frozen custard of the season.
This evening we packed some stuff for dinner for the kids and went to the Ledges.  Jenn ran around on the trails and I grilled some hot dogs for the kids and we had a picnic.

Gates Art

Breakfast @ The Casey's

At the outset of our vacation, the Art Institute of Chicago was third or fourth on our list of priorities with the City Pass (and we *highly* recommend the City Pass if you're visiting Chicago). As it turned out, we'd go to the Art Institute first if we were returning. This is not a put-down of the Field and Shedd, just an assertion that the Art Institute is that good.
If you've known either of us for 15 minutes, you know that we're not artsy in the least, but Sunday turned out to be our Art Day. From the Thorn Rooms to the Modern Art to the current Impressionism & Fashion exhibit and the Abelardo Morell photography, we were absolutely into it, and if we lived near the downtown Chicago area, membership would be on our agenda.
We swung by the Willis Tower (former the Sear's Tower) to visit the Sky Deck. They told us our wait with the City Pass would be 1 hour, without the City Pass would be 4 hours… and we were up and down in 35 minutes. The views were pretty neat.
The parks in the photo above are Millennium Park and Grant Park, the peninsula is the museum campus where the Field, Shedd and Planetarium are located, Navy Pier is hidden behind the buildings on the left. We walked (and Jenn ran) all over the area in this photo many times during the weekend.

We finished off Sunday evening with a trip to Bottle & Bottega for our own art.
Big thanks go out to...

• Grandma Paulette & Grandpa Doug for taking the kids on Friday so we could get out of town early.
  
• Grandma Laura & Grandpa Dave for taking the kids so we could stay the whole, long weekend.
  
• Pete & Moe for their generosity and hospitality during a fantastic anniversary weekend.

Finally, it has come to my attention that I misspelled Kindergarten in Lincoln's photo in the last post. In my mind, I've known it was spelled with a "t," but I've seen others spell it with a "d," so I thought I must have been mistaken. When my Blogger spell-check didn't catch it, I really thought I was mistaken. Please spare me and refrain from asking, "If a bunch of others jumped off a bridge..." Chalk this up to a parenting "Oops!"

10th Anniversary

It's been a big last week.  Lincoln started Kindergarten!  He's off to a great start, and showing very good maturity as he walks into school by himself, goes to where he's supposed to go, and does what he's supposed to do.  He's a good boy and he's making his mom and dad proud.

Henry and Lydia are doing well at home in his absence.  The house is always just a little more manageable with two kids, and they play pretty well with each other while Jenn keeps up with odds and ends.  They're also able to get a bit more focused attention, which is also good.
This past Friday marked our 10^th anniversary.  Wow.  We look back at wedding photos and now say, "We looked so young."  It's been a crazy 10 year, and there's no way anyone could have predicted how the years would play out at the outset.  So as for the next 10 years?  It's anybody's guess.
Rather than exchange anniversary presents, we were able to make a trip, er, a vacation to Chicago of the long, Labor Day weekend with the help of the Grandparents.  A big thank you to Grandma Paulette & Grandpa Doug for taking care of the kids on the front end, and to Grandma Laura and Grandpa Dave on the back end.  
You might recall the friends we made on our Royal Caribbean cruise, Pete & Moe.  They live in down-town Chicago and way back when we first met them they offered their place for us to stay any time we visited Chicago.  We took them up on their offer and they've been wonderful hosts, providing us with a comfortable room, good company, exemplary chauffeur services, and fantastic restaurant counsel.
In addition to the touristy things, like the Shedd Aquarium, Cloud Gate, and the Field Museum, Jenn also went for a run along the shores of Lake Michigan (she's in the pink top above), and we walked all over the Grant Park, Millenium Park and Navy Pier areas.

We've eaten at some really good restaurants.  Our first stop was breakfast on Friday morning at Yolk.  A Nutella crepe with banannas and strawberries and a carnita pulled pork sandwich with an egg over easy and cream cheese on a pretzel bun.
A deep dish pizza from Geno's East was our dinner on Friday w/ Pete & Moe, and then we went to Shaw's Crab House on Saturday evening with Mike & Christine (son and daughter-in-law), where Jenn had scallops and I had shrimp, and we were surprised with a chocolate cake and key lime pie on the house for our anniversary.
On the agenda today is...

The Art Institute, dumplings from Chinatown, the Willis Tower, a wine and art event... where we get to paint (!), and a few other things that I can't remember, and I'm not sure how we're going to fit it all in.  Photos to follow.