Yard sale & L from Ohio

L scoured through all of her belongings and found enough to set up a table at a block-long yard sale on Grandma Barbara's street. Andy and his sisters sold a few things from their mom's house, and we were able to sell our old sofa ($75) and Andy's old Orange Crate Schwinn bicycle ($250). L ended up with $47 after the five-hour sale!

B's friend, L, came back for the day. He got here at noon, just like he said he would. The boys played a lot of video games, looked at things (?) on the computer and went to Pete's for lunch and dinner. We made a campfire tonight and let them roast marshmallows. L bought a cap gun and caps with her yard sale money and she and L were running around the house shooting those off. The neighbors must have loved that! Above is L and E playing some video games while B was on the computer.

Here again

B's friend, L, came back for a weekend visit, just a week after he was here! We usually don't get to see him for months and months. His dad stayed for the week to perform with the Grant Park Orchestra and when he took the boys to meet their mom last week, he decided to bring his daughter up with him. Now his mom is back and everyone will go home together Sunday. L got to our house about 5 p.m. and he and B had a good time playing until 11 p.m. He says he's coming back tomorrow!

Winner

E shot a 120 today on the golf course in Geneva. Again, she wasn't happy with her performance at all. The goal for her at this point isn't to win, but to build up her endurance to play 18 holes in all kinds of weather, on a variety of courses, with girls of varying skill levels. Playing 18 holes two days in a row is just too much for her. She's done it twice this summer and the second day was always worse than the first. Today her tee off time was 9:30 a.m. and we got to town early enough to drive around. I found a Target and Kohl's and figured I could do a little damage shopping while she played. It worked out pretty well, though I'm still searching for a new swim top for our Florida trip.

On the way home, we got a call from L who decided it was time to be picked up from Grandma's house. She had plans to stay with Grandma until Saturday morning, but I think she got bored and ran out of things to do. When we got into Oak Park we swung by and picked her up. B was surprised when we got home with L in tow! B again opted to stay home, but the rest of us drove to Lombard where Andy and E take golf lessons. The business just moved into a new shopping center, with their office on the second floor above a steak house. They had demonstrations going on, served us sandwiches, pizza and cheesecake (yum!), and drinks. We all entered a raffle and L won a golf hat!

Geneva

Today was the start of a two-day golf tournament for E at Mill Creek Golf Course in Geneva. L was spending the day with Grandma B and B didn't want to come along. I'm not familiar with the area, so I spent the day (about nine hours by time it was done) sitting on the clubhouse deck reading (and finishing) a book. E teed off at 2:37 p.m. and didn't finish the 18 holes until closet to 8 p.m. She shot a 117 and said she lost lots of balls so she wasn't too happy with herself. Here's E enjoying a Coke before the game, in a happy mood:

Another early birthday

L signed up for the birthday club at Toys R Us a few months ago and today she received a $3 gift card in the mail. She also had a $15 check from Grandma B so that gave her $18 to spend on early birthday presents. While we were shopping, she heard a clerk announce a girl's birthday and said they were giving her a crown and balloon and if you see her in the store, wish her a happy birthday. L decided she too had to have a crown and balloon so she marched up to the service desk and showed them her gift card and told them her birthday was coming up. They gave her a crown and a balloon (totally embarrassing E, of course) and she continued with her shopping. She ended up buying two Crayola Color Explosion kits (buy one, get one free) and two Littlest Pet Shop kits (again, buy one, get one free). What a smart little shopper!

Tattoos

L's friend, B, came over today and she brought some big tattoos with her. L promptly found the two pink skeletons and stuck them on her forearms. At least they're not permanent ... yet.

Birthday dinner

We went to Palmer Place in LaGrange for my birthday dinner tonight. I chose it so we could sit outside because the cold front came through. Temperatures have been in the 80s today - a nice change from last week. Unfortunatley, I didn't realize that the sun would be in everyone's eyes. Perhaps we should have arrived a bit later.

Ohio boy returns

B had his sleepover with his friends L and IB, but instead of going to bed at 1 a.m. he said they finally got to sleep about 3 a.m. B woke up at about 9 a.m., but his friends stayed asleep until we woke them up at 11 a.m.

L's dad took B with him this afternoon and they went swimming at what B called a "boring" pool. We're not sure where they went. When he brought B home I was able to snap a quick picture. Tomorrow L has to go to Ravinia where his dad is performing, with the Grant Park Orchestra, I believe, and Monday he'll drive them to Indianapolis to meet up with their mother and go back to Ohio. It's been just over a year since L's family moved to Ohio and we've been able to see him in October and March when he came back home to visit. As he was leaving, he said, "I'll see you on Skype."

Hot golf, cool ice cream

I drove E and L to Buffalo Grove today for another of E's golf tournaments. Andy had called the golf association yesterday, asking if they were going to cancel the tournament due to temperatures expected above 100. They said no, so we made the drive there. We stayed with E at the Buffalo Grove Golf Course while she had her lunch, then left to get our lunch while she went to the driving range.

L and I ate at McDonald's then did some shopping before meeting Cristel, a former coworker of mine, at The Buffalo, a restaurant and ice cream shop. When I was reporting for Buffalo Grove and neighboring Wheeling, I would occasionally meet sources for breakfast or lunch at The Buffalo. We all had ice cream. L had a brownie sundae with hot fudge and chocolate ice cream! Hard to belieive, but she never stopped talking the entire time. E called us when we were finishing up. She got too hot on the golf course and decided to quit at the 10th hole. When we found her in the clubhouse, she had a bag of ice on her forehead, her cheecks were still red and she said she felt a bit weak. Not a good day for E. For me, though, it was kind of fun to go back to Buffalo Grove and see what I remembered and what had changed. The bank clock/thermometer in Oak Park said 105 as we drove home.

B was lucky enough to stay home for the day. His friend, L, was in visiting from Ohio so he, L and friend I were in the house all day playing video games. They did leave to go to Pete's for lunch. Tonight, L's brother, M, came over for dinner (Andy grilled hamburgers - too hot to cook inside) then E walked with him and a mutual friend, J, to Hole in the Wall for ice cream. M's Dad came to pick him up and L was successful in getting a sleepover here - on the condition that they're asleep at 1 a.m.

Happy birthday to me!

Temperatures today reached 103 degrees at 2 p.m. (breaking the 1911 record of 102 degrees) and they're expected to rise more throughout the day. With heat index, that feels like 118. Needless to say, even with the air conditioning on, I'm not baking myself a birthday cake. Instead, L and I picked up a quart of "birthday cake" ice cream at the grocery store today and made cones. And, surprisingly, it does taste like birthday cake. Mmmm. Guess I can say this is my hottest b-day ever.