Almost blooming?

Still no flowers, but the growth is getting so long and heavy it's almost touching the ground. Not sure we'll ever see flowers on it.

Walking around U of I

Andy and E walked around the campus yesterday after she finished golfing. (She scored 96). They saw the landmark Alma Mater sculpture and went by the Phi Sig house.

Today E scored a 99. Better luck next year.

U of I tour

Andy and E left this morning for U of I at Urbana. E is playing in the Illinois Women's Golf Association's tournament Tuesday and Wednesday so we thought it would be a good time to take the official tour of the the campus. E has spent a lot of time on campus over the last few years with the engineering and golf camps. She skipped the tour of the residence hall because they toured she stayed in during the camp. They didn't learn much new about the school or the admissions process, but Andy said the tour of the engineering college was the best they'd been on so far. E took this picture of the newly completed computer and electrical engineering building because she thought it was pretty.

Chillin' in L's room

How cute is it that August has his paw on Muffles' back?

Party time!

L had a birthday party today for her Julian School friends, but only J and R could come. I told her it is hard to have a party when your birthday is in summer, but she insisted. Two of her friends were grounded, another was at camp and a couple others were out of town. Anyway, she had a fun time with the two that came. She baked and decorated cookies that looked like a tardis as their "going-away" presents. I guess goodie bags are out of style with the middle schoolers. After J left, L and R walked to a local pizza restaurant for dinner.

Happy birthday, L!

L woke up today to find this birthday greeting from Google. I didn't realize they did that. Pretty cool. She met her friend, R, at his club and spent the afternoon swimming with him while his brother had a tennis lesson. When Andy got home from work we measured L. She's almost as tall as E is now and an inch or so shorter than B.

For her birthday dinner, L chose to go to a nearby buffet restaurant. Here she is enjoying her dessert.

The Broadmoor

Andy made it home last night. This morning he showed me photos of The Broadmoor where he stayed and played golf in Colorado Springs for five days. It's tough being an attorney. ;)

Chinese

I treated the kids to a Chinese take-out dinner tonight. Andy gets home from his business trip later tonight and since he won't eat Chinese, I thought we might as well have it for our final dinner while he's gone. Andy's been gone since Friday. That's five nights away while the kids aren't in school. That's way too long.

Our flowers

Today is supposed to be the hottest day of the year so far. It's going to reach into the 90s today with the heat index topping 100 so I thought I'd post a few pictures of our flowers before the heat wilts them all.

My chair

Look who's decided my chair is the place he should be napping.

L shares a Coke

L couldn't resist buying the latest Cokes with names on the label - one for her and one for her friend, R - when she saw them in a store last week. She gave it to him this afternoon when they went to see the new "Planet of the Apes" movie. It's a pretty clever marketing ploy. I read this in one article about the Share a Coke advertising: “When teens see that the iconic Coca-Cola logo has been replaced by their name or their friends’ names, they can’t help but take a picture and post it online.”

R's mom took the kids to the movie and they had a little time before to shop. They were in Ulta and L found a basic makeup kit that R's mom bought for L's early birthday present. When they got home from the show she went over every color with her, saying yes, no or maybe. That was probably a good idea since L listened to her and was able to repeat all the instructions back to me. L said the movie was good and she stayed at R's house for dinner. They had salmon, which L surprisingly ate, and part of a hamburger until their dog took it away.

Another Whovian?

Guess August likes L's Dr. Who scarf too.

Grandma time

B enjoys some time with Grandma before leaving for his last day of summer school.

L's tour phtos

I let L take a camera on the boat tour and she got a few good shots:

After the tour, she saw this silver man by the Wrigley Building, grabbed her camera and asked him if she could take his picture. He even posed.

Touring the city

Cindy and mom arrived yesterday and today we took them downtown so they could go on a river and lake boat tour. B was at summer school, but E and L went on the tour with them. They had a clear, beautiful day for the tour. Temps were in the high 70s.

After the tour, we did some shopping on Michigan Avenue while Andy drove home to pick up B so he could join us for a pizza dinner.

Selfie

L's latest selfie. She looks a lot older than 11. Yikes.

Belated birthday dinner

B didn't have his birthday dinner on his birthday because E was in Japan and L was at camp. It wouldn't have been much of a celebration without the whole family. We've been pretty busy, but we decided he had to get his birthday dinner over before it would be L's turn for hers. We went out last night to his choice of restaurant, Fuddrucker's.

Tied for 18th

E played a golf tournament in Inverness today and ended up scoring 95, making her tied for 18th place among the senior girls. She got rained on a few times while on the course and said the course was hilly, but she was pretty proud of her finish.

K-9

L started this project last night and was putting the finishing touches on it today. She's created Dr. Who's K-9 robotic dog out of cardboard and lots of duct tape.

Cats' game

Our cats love to hide screws under the carpet. We put the screws in a dish on a shelf every night and every morning when we get up there's at least one under the carpet.

It's 7-11

I should have guessed why B was a little late getting home from summer school today - it's July 11th and that means free Slurpees at 7-Eleven. He had to stop and get one, of course. Then he told L about it when he got home and she had to walk over to a 7-Eleven with her friends, E and B, and get Slurpees for all of them. I took B for a much-needed haircut this afternoon and let him get another Slurpee (from a different 7-Eleven though). He said he might even go later today and get another one. The boy likes his Slurpees.

Almost up to date

Completing this page only puts me a year behind in B's scrapbook.

Just in case

E was napping with her phone on her chest ... just in case someone was trying to reach her. At least she leaves it in the kitchen to charge overnight.

Blooming?

I was pulling some weeds from our flower bed the other day and noticed a vertical growth on my Chicken and Hens. Haven't seen that before. I did a little research on the internet and apparently that means the hen is "blooming," which they do when they're two to three years old. It's supposed to die after it blooms. I'll be watching to see if it blooms. Hopefully it won't kill the whole plant.

Ribfest

E and L went with the church youth group this afternoon to Naperville's Ribfest. The church paid for their admission to the festival ($15 each) and then they each blew through $30 of money. They each bought the unlimited ride pass for $10. E played some games and L, obviously, played a lot of games. She didn't have enough money left over for food so she gave her friends her last $2 and they shared a mozzarella stick with her and parts of a funnel cake. E bought some macaroni and cheese and lots of drinks. They both complained that it was too hot to be outside and that the lemonade they bought there was making them (and others who had it) sick because it was too sweet. B opted to stay home as he hasn't been feeling well.

Happy b-day to me!

L gave me this cute pillow this morning for my birthday. She made it yesterday, taking time out of her July Fourth festivities, while she was playing at her friends' E and B's house.

Andy decided it was time to redo the shelves in our bedroom closet. He was putting his shirts away yesterday and the top shelf just fell. That's his story any way. He and E went to Home Depot this morning and bought a shelving kit. They even got free hotdogs as part of the store's customer appreciation day. He spent the day installing the new shelves. This is everything that came out of the closet:

We sorted through a lot of clothes and were happy that everything that came out of the closet didn't go back in.

Union proud

L walked with Aunt Allison and the letter carriers union in Oak Park's July Fourth Parade!

Trip photos

This is E and her school buddy, Kotone. They went to an arcade after the last day of school. I've been waiting for E to show me some photos. These are a few of the photos she had taken on the camera we had her take along. She has others on her phone, she claims. She plans to post them all to Facebook so she can share them with the rest of the students.

Stylin' in the school uniform.

A pretty view of the Japan Sea.

This is the bread E made. She said it tasted good. Sure looks pretty good.

People working in the rice paddies.

E at the school festival. They created a room based on a Mario video game. She said the festival and Tokyo were the best parts of the trip.

A better picture of E and her host sister.

A model of the Tokyo Tower they went up in.

A view from the observatory.

In Tokyo.

I took this one after E got home. She's wearing the jacket of the gym uniform she bought at the school. It has her name written on it in Japanese. She also bought the uniform uniform sweatpants and shorts.