Happy Birthday Laura!

Today is my niece Laura's 31st B-day. Had she been born just a few weeks earlier, she would have been a true "Bicentennial Baby". We decided to keep her anyway.

"Free" Cougar's game

On Saturday night we went to watch the Kane County Cougars play the Ft. Wayne Wizards. Pete won 4 lawn seat tickets to the game from the library's summer reading program. We bought a few extra and the whole family went: Me, Jim, Petey, Mitchell, Roslyn, John & JD (Pete's brother from another mother). Well almost the whole family, George had to stay home. The weather was perfect (& no bugs), JD brought glow sticks for everyone, we had good hot dogs, great Summer Shandy beer, nachos, slurpees, cotton candy and then a finale of fireworks. We had a blast.


Petey & JD


Jim & Mitchell


John


Roslyn


Me & Roslyn


Snuggly Ros


'Da Big Boys


Mitchell in his "Ninja glow stick"


Ooooh, I need one of those sparkly things!


The sparkly things. (They remained at the ball park!)


The kids were great, the Cougars weren't!!


Moon rise


Sunset


Post game fireworks

Trout Pond

On Friday morning Jim took Pete & Mitch fishing at a local (stocked) trout pond. The trip was a success because the boys caught dinner. Jim grilled the fish and we ate them. I've got to say though, I'm not fond of trout. I finished what was on my plate with a happy face because I didn't want to disappoint Pete & Mitch. They were very proud that they provided dinner (never mind that Jim paid by the pound for the catch). Too bad there aren't any Wahoo, Mahi Mahi, Grouper, Amberjack or Tuna ponds around Chicagoland. I'm feeling the need to return to Key West for dinner!

Can you say "Daddy's Girl"?

Today Jim made cupcakes. Why? Because Roslyn had been asking for them for a few days. However, we had no cake mixes on hand so he just made them from scratch. The first time I made a cake from scratch was for my sister Susan's birthday, eons ago. It had purple frosting, got dubbed the Hamtramck cake & was the last time I made a cake from scratch. BTW, Jim has never made any cupcakes from scratch for me. I think I am now officially "second fiddle" to Ros.

End of a 24 year streak......

No, I'm not talking about the Cubbies. I'm referring to the fact that I have gone 24 years without a traffic ticket. Until today. While driving home from my Biochem class at NIU, one of Illinois' finest decided that the wide open spaces of the back country roads should not be enjoyed too much. Apparently, I was enjoying them 24 MPH too much, which translates into $95 worth of fun. It's just so easy to do in the Passat. I guess the GTI is not the only V-dub with fast .....

..... so when I was pulled over, I was hoping to be able to charm my way out of a citation. Imagine my disappointment when the trooper got out of HER car. She asked me if I had any good reason for going so fast. Of course what I was thinking was, "It's because I didn't see you or I would have slowed down!". How I actually responded was, "No". (I was traveling eastbound, a ways back behind a semi, and the trooper was traveling westbound behind a line of 4 cars, so she was well hidden.) Now, as I recall the event, all I can say is, Farfegnugen!

Form E-mails, yippee.

UIC & VCU have sent me the ever exciting form e-mails that state, "We've received your application, now send us more money, then don't call us we'll call you.". UIC is Univ of IL at Chicago and VCU is Virginia Commonwealth Univ, and yes, VA is still a commonwealth. Nothing official from the other 6 that I've applied to yet. But, no news is better than bad news in this game.

On a brighter note, after 5 tests in Neurobiology I'm getting an A in the class (10 more tests to go though). There's only been 1 test so far in Biochem, but I did get the high score on that one. Yeah me, no ducks involved this time. But the real kudos go to Jim for taking over the kids and the house when he comes home so I can actually get some productive studying done prior to 22:00. Double yeah Jim!!

Sea Lawyers.

Here's the latest fiasco .....

John comes in on Thursday and asks if he can take "Dad's new tent" outside and set it up. The answer from both Jim & I was in no uncertain terms, "NO!". It's Jim's new 6-man tent that is intended for a family camping trip this summer. (Which will probably be a future fiasco in and of itself.) We really didn't want the neighborhood gang of kids rolling around in it with their "bug & stick" collection.

Fast forward a couple of hours and one of the neighborhood teenagers, Alex, is walking John to the front door crying with a newly skinned knee. But they're coming from our backyard. So silly me asked Alex, "What's going on in the backyard that brought you down the street?". "Oh, I was just setting up the tent for the kids. They came and asked me for help."

So this is what "Detective Mom" was able to piece together:
1. John was told that "HE" couldn't take the tent out and set it up.
2. However, Madde (one of the gang) was never given those instructions directly, even though she was standing 3 feet behind John when he received his instructions.
3. Madde "sneaked" the tent up the basement stairs and outside.
4. John & Madde proceeded to ask Madde's Mom, Rose, if she would help them set up the tent. Rose was too busy (and knew nothing about the "sneaked" portion of the story).
5. When Mom says no, go ask Alex down the street.
6. The tent was set up in a strategic location behind the garage where it would not be noticed as easily or quickly. Also, somewhere along the line Ros got in on the caper.
7. John skins his knee on the driveway and we're back to me asking Alex a silly question.
8. Parental involvement included Rose not allowing Madde to play at our house on Friday and no one would be allowed to play in the "illegally assembled" tent. (Jim was leaving to take Pete to LaCrosse practice and I had hockey practice so there was no time to take the tent down there and then.)

Fool me once, you earn points for ingenuity. A nice bit of "Sea Lawyering", especially for two 4 year olds and a 5 year old.

Friday Jim left for a London trip and the tent still hadn't been taken down. Now it's Saturday and Ros & John were "reminded" that they were not to play in the tent nor were their friends. If their friends didn't follow the rules they were to tell me so that I could talk to them. Later, I was trying to get some of my homework done. (Once again, silly me.) Ten minutes later I went outside to water the garden and guess what I see? Madde & Ros in the tent along with the lantern, 2 sleeping bags, a box of books & a bucket of blocks.

Fool me twice, the tent is disassembled, you're grounded and your friend is sent home. The end.

Quack! Quack!

After much stress and 3 business days of dealing with AADSAS (Associated American Dental Schools Application Service) to correct my screwed up GPA, my application was FINALLY verified and sent out to schools on Monday June 25. They screwed up my GPA so badly that my overall GPA went down from last year, which was mathematically impossible considering I'm carrying a 4.0 since returning to school! And, not surprisingly in the process I discovered that the GPA they calculated for me last year was incorrect also. I never even thought to double check their work because everyone knows that AADSAS does things their way. This year the error was so obvious that I immediately set up multiple spread sheets to get all my "ducks in a row". It was a good thing too because throughout the correction process they continued to want to make minimal corrections. I was able to quote published instructions by page and paragraph that they didn't even know about. All in all, the fiasco ended per the letter of their law and thus in my favor this year. Yeah me and my ducks. Who knows whether the GPA error last year caused me to miss out on any offers of admission. C'est la vive. I'm off to my hockey practice....

Happy 26th B-day Brian!

Brian as a "Sand Rat".

Brian on patrol in Iraq.

Brian & Mitchell hanging out.

Lil' bro Jonathan & big bro' Brian playing dress up.

Fishing Adventure.

Jim took the kids fishing this morning at west beach so I could study in peace. (He's a regular Saint!) It was Ros & John's first time. There are no pix of Mitchell from this trip. Apparently, he was too busy actually catching fish to be photographed. Well, he caught one fish, which is still one more than everyone else combined!

Roslyn's 1st time fishing.

John's 1st time fishing.

Petey & Ros on the pier at Crystal Lake West Beach.

Eeew, worms!

Jim's Belated B-day Cake.

Yesterday we finally celebrated Jim's B-day since Mitchell is home for the week. His presents included a king size sleeping bag and a 6-man tent for camping. He opted for a DQ ice cream cake, which is gone already!

Jim's 42nd B-day.

Summer Fun!

School's out, the sun is shining & the hose is accessible. Here are the results:

Roslyn's new shades & Crocs.

John in the world's coziest pool.

Petey, ready for action.

Coming down the chute ....

....mud surfing.

Mitchell in action.

The mudslide.

Ros in action.

John in action.

The muddy aftermath.

Husmann Elementary presents .......

Peter, Chris, Sarju & Adam performed as a "Gymnastics Comedy Act". Picture four 5th grade boys doing what they do best, using physical comedy for laughs. The show was a raging success. (The pix however aren't so great.) There were some of your more typical acts like piano or violin pieces, but the best acts were the ones the kids did on their own. As you'll see below there were girls performing original dance numbers to songs, a Monty Python performance (complete with shrubbery & a herring) and even an appearance by the famous Blue Man Group. The show was introduced by an adult, but everything else was completely handled by the 5th graders. Only 1.5 days of 5th grade remain, then they're all officially middle schoolers!

Sarju, Chris & Peter

The arch

Flopping for laughs

The tumbler's tumbled pyramid

That's What Girls Do

The Knights Who Say Nee

The Blue Man Group

John's additional plans.

Today while I was making dinner, John announced that when he grows up he is going to plant flowers, go into outer-space, paint "really good" pictures, be a rock star and be a Dad. I hope Hailie is still okay with that!

Helping the Feds help you- Jury Duty Scam

Rhonda sent me this:

A scam has been verified by the FBI (see link below). Most of us take summons for jury duty seriously, but enough people skip out on their civic duty, that a new & ominous kind of scam has surfaced. The caller claims to be a jury coordinator. If you protest that you never received a summons for jury duty, the scammer asks you for your Social Security number and date of birth so he or she can verify the information and cancel the arrest warrant. Give out any of this information and bingo, your identity just got stolen. The scam has been reported so far in 11 states, including OK, IL & CO. This scam is particularly insidious because they use intimidation over the phone to try to bully people into giving information by pretending they're with the court system. The FBI and the federal court system have issued nationwide alerts on their web sites, warning consumers about the fraud.

Check it out:
Snopes link
FBI link