We had so much fun last year that the girls booked another reunion this year!

I was filled with the usual trepidation that I get when leaving the kids. I know how hard it is to watch the four of them by myself and hate asking Adam to do it for FOUR DAYS STRAIGHT all while balancing a job as well.

But Adam, perfect husband that his is, said, “You should do it!”

So I did.

There was a lot of hiking…

Broome Hut Hike

Red Rock Hike

Carbon 38 copies

Drinking and Eating…

IldeWild

Wine Tasting

And Shopping…

Kate becomes a twin, again!

Gina also gave us an awesome hula hoop class. And even awesomer hula hoop demonstration!But the best part of the trip was the stuff you can’t capture on film. The impromptu laughs, the closeness and camaraderie you can only feel with people you’ve had a long shared history with.

While I was enjoying adult time with my friends, my husband was playing super Dad.

He had an all boys weekend.

He taught them to play poker.

Ready for poker.

Played lots of soccer.

They golfed…And had a silly string fight!He also spent many hours playing the games they like to play…

Adam buys Aaron new markers to appease his drawing habit.

And took them to a birthday party in the burbs…

Ben’s Butt

Boys weekend also means no cooking…

Portillos

Chilpolte

Dee’s Chinese

Pop Tarts for Breakfast

Dairy Queen

Italian Ice at Annette’s

I’m not sure they were happy to see me back!

Thank you to Adam for giving me this great weekend, and thank you my girlfriends for organizing!

This week I told the twins that my friend from Kindergarten was visiting Chicago with her family.

For the twins, who have just finished Kindergarten, this seemed like no big deal. But for me, who finished Kindergarten THIRTY NINE YEARS AGO, this is quite a big deal.

I’m humbled and incredibly thankful that I’ve been able to maintain so many friendships over the years from so many different time periods in my life.

When Becca wrote a few weeks ago confirming she and her kids would tag along on her husband’s work trip, I pulled a Julie McCoy and sent an itinerary of stuff for us to do every single day of her trip that her husband was working. Then, realizing this might seem overbearing, I said she could pick and choose what she liked. She picked them all!

So, Monday we went out to the Morton Arboretum to play in the Children’s Garden and hunt for Trolls.

Tuesday we had them over for dinner. I loved how each one of them found a partner to hang out with. (Including the adults!) Wednesday we hit the Lincoln Park Zoo.

And Thursday we did the beach.

It was so nice to see that even though almost 40 years has passed, Becca and I can still fall into such an easy friendship. We giggled like a bunch of school kids all week.

With any luck, her husband will keep getting sent up here, and we can keep get more of these visits!

The past few weeks I’ve been debating in my head whether or not I made the right decision not to sign the kids up for summer camps this year.

It’s a lot of work being your own camp director! But at the same time, I realize I will not get the chance to make the plans for the day and force the kids to come with me forever. Luckily, Jack and the twins are very easy going and, for the most part, go along with the plans without question.

We did sign Jack up for 1 week of soccer camp. That was last week. I had the twins to myself and I used the time to visit all the old haunts that were my favorites when Jack was this age. We hit Adam’s park, Oz park, Mary Bartelme park, and Montgomery Ward Park.

Mary Bartelme Park

Mary Bartelme Park

I love Mary Bartelme’s unusual climbing structures and one of a kind mist sprayer.

Montgomery Ward Park

Montgomery Ward Park

We also fed the ducks at Montgomery Ward and had a picnic.

We also had a wonderful visit from our matchmaker, Andrew. He was in town with his sister, Chantal, (who connected me with many people in Hong Kong who are still my good friends today) and nephew visiting colleges. This week I’ve been trying to find activites that both 11 year olds AND 6 year olds will enjoy.

One day we did mini-golf.

Another day we took the boat to Chinatown for Dim Sum and Thai rolled ice cream.

Chicago Water Taxi

Tasty Legend Thai Rolled Ice Cream

We hit the beach too.

Jack and I did a long bike ride on the lake front while the sitter took the twins to a park.

We got back minutes before the storm clouds dumped out onto Chicago.

But even with all this planning, there is still a lot of down time to do what you want.

Jack has discovered the Xbox and spends many hours with his headset on, playing games with friends.

Sometimes he let’s Sam join. (Sam didn’t bother to get dressed for this photo. That’s what summer is all about!)

And Aaron has been busy creating more art galleries. Here are a few from his Star Wars collection.

Can’t wait to see what next week brings…

Ben’s birthday and birthday party were celebrated on the same day this year.

He requested a Star Wars themed birthday party. Which I did my best to accommodate.

Before the guests arrived, I had a ‘Make Your Own Droid’ station set up for them. I also set up a Star Wars Cookie decorating station.Soon after guests arrived, the pizzas were delivered.

After lunch, we started the games. I organized only non-competitive games that the kids could easily win with.

First we did a glow-in-the-dark death star pass. The kids stood in a circle and threw the ball around. If they could catch it 10 times consecutively, they got a ticket. Next they played a star wars variation on ‘Red Light, Green Light’. Instead of yelling, “Red” I yelled something red, namely Darth Vader’s light saber. Yellow was C3PO. Green was Yoda.

Every time they passed me they got a ticket.Next we played sharks and minnows. If the kids got the balloons off of the adults, the entire team got a ticket each. It happened so quick I didn’t get a photo.

The balloons were also thrown randomly around the house for kids to find their own uses for.After the games we did a Star Wars Pod hunt. It was actually an Easter egg hunt but we stuck Star Wars stickers on the eggs for effect. I forgot to take pictures.

I also had a charades game planned that I completely forgot about!

But they had plenty of tickets to shop at the prize table.And when each kid left, Adam let them loot it for free again.

Next we got out the cake!There were a few really nice moments, like when Ben’s friend wanted to set up an Imaginex battle for him for his birthday because he knew who much he loved that.

I liked watching the impromptu soccer game unfold as well.Finally, Ben opened all his presents and Adam spent many hours putting them together with him.

If your lucky, summer for children can be a time where you have the freedom to explore your hobbies. Sometimes all that uninterrupted free time, time enough to be bored, is actually a good thing. Through that boredom, creativity can eventually flourish.

Aaron has used the time this past week to create his own art gallery.

He gets onto kids youtube, presses the microphone and says, “how to draw ….”

Here is his gallery of Clash of Clan Characters.And his gallery of sharks.For someone who can get so easily frustrated, it’s beautiful to see him following the instructions intently, patiently. To work long and hard at a huge project and see the delight on his face when it all comes together.

Adam celebrated Father’s day last weekend. Sorry, I’m a little behind on the blogs!

This year I trolled pinterest until I found these chalk drawing that I thought looked cool. I framed them and captioned them like this…

Afterwards, we headed to the beach.

We did our usual shell and rock collecting, sand and ball playing, picnic and ice cream eating, and lots of racing. Happy father’s day, Adam!

Ben’s school runs 11 months a year, but there is a week off between the regular session and summer sessions. It did not coincide with the other kids summer holiday, but they will all have the month of August off together. Which I plan to break my camera with so many fun and exciting pictures of summer enjoyment! I’ll try to just give you the best bits, though…

It was a lot nice to have the kids holidays separate, especially since Ben’s friend group has expanded. He had three play dates with three different kids during his week off.

One day we headed to the to the Museum of Science and Industry. We checked out the new Pixar exhibit. We also took in some free standing exhibits. Ben’s buddy is so bright it was a pleasure taking him to this place of learning. When one of the women at a free standing exhibit lit something on fire with butane, he said, “Is that on the periodic table?”

Another day we picked up a different buddy and headed out to the Morton Arboretum to go Troll hunting, another new exhibit that opened June 22.

We also spent a day with a third buddy at Maggie Daley Park playing in the playground, mini-golfing, and splashing in the Crown Fountain at Millennium Park.

They both won a free round of golf!

One day Adam moved some work around and took Ben to the Shedd Aquarium. He loves sharks.

Ben is pretending the shark is eating his arm.

It was a great week off for him. He really enjoyed it but I noticed there is no time for him to reflect on that now, as he is busy thinking about his upcoming 9th birthday…

Around the end of last year, I forced Adam to sit down and watch “Forks Over Knives” with me. It’s a documentary based on the book, “The China Study”. I think how it happened was that he asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I said, “For you to watch this movie.”

My sister sent me the book many years ago. Actually she sent it to Adam in response to hearing about his high cholesterol. But he never touched it so I picked it up and read it cover to cover.

It examines the link between animal products and cancer, cholesterol, and heart disease. It conclusions eating a 95% plant based diet is the healthiest diet for humans.

Adam has always had borderline high cholesterol, something he claims is hereditary. Still he was tired of every single doctor’s visit ending with a warning to lower his cholesterol levels or he would have to go on statins. After watching the movie he thought maybe he would give it a try.

So, for the next six months I prepared him three vegan meals a day. He very carefully kept under the 5% limit, only eating meat or dairy when social or work situations made it awkward not to.

Then, last week he had the test.

Before the diet, his total cholesterol was 230. After the diet it dropped to 220, his LDL (the bad stuff) only dropped by 2, and his HDL (the good stuff) dropped by 8.

It was an absolute failure.

We were both shocked.

Afterwards, he said to me, “You know, the only time I was able to get my cholesterol way down was when I was super skinny.”

Instantly I was transported back to Hong Kong, lying on my living room couch with a searing headache and dry mouth, next to my roommate, Fionnuala.

I asked her why I felt so bad. She told me it was because we mixed alcohol the night before. That was should never mix beer with vodka.

So the next time we were out, we stuck to beer. No mixing! But the next day, we were back on the couch feeling awful. Maybe it was the beer that did it?

The next time we just stuck to vodka. No luck, another nasty morning after.

Tequila? Wine? We ran the full gamut. Finally, after our extremely thorough research we came to the conclusion that it really doesn’t matter what you drink, it’s how much you drink.

It’s quantity. Not quality.

And, seeing Adam’s results after drastically changing his diet, I was once again reminded of the lesson when it comes to food or alcohol intake. It’s quantity, not quality.

This week Adam happily slipped back into his carnivorous ways.

Perhaps they should consider moving Mother’s Day to Memorial Day because this weekend, for the first time in a long time, we had an absolutely glorious time.

This weekend marks the turn over from six months of harsh, hobbit-like weather. I feel like, for the past half of a year we have holed up in our house, lips chapped dry from the forced heat, eyes the shape of squares from staring at electronic devices too long, skin pale from lack of sun, in a constant state of annoying each other. Outside of the house was a terrain so unwelcoming you need to suit up just to enter.

But not this weekend! This weekend it was lush and green. And the the sun warmed your skin like a hug from someone you missed deeply but had given up hope of ever seeing again. For once the cold basement was a welcomed addition to our house, not a place to avoid.

Saturday night Adam took Jack to a Cubs game. But not just any game, this one they let 9 lucky boys onto the field to stand in the position of one of the nine players. Jack was one of them. 

Ian Happ personally signed a baseball for him.

Then, the next day, we packed up toys, towels, a picnic lunch, the tent, chairs, the wagon, a portable table, slathered the kids in sunscreen and headed for the beach.

It was 90°F out, so hot that our feet burned when walking on the sand. The water, in contrast, was a chilly 58°F.

Ben and Aaron, my more sensory kids started the day running into the freezing water then laying on the sand like beached whales, warming themselves in the sun.Jack and Sam created together.And there was more! Water fights.They dug this huge hole and buried both twins in. Then later they used the hole for some game where they poured water in then dug with all their might, laughing all the way. They spent hours shell and rock collecting.

Ben and Adam found a special one for me.

They also did ‘shark races’ from the water to the shore.

And threw the football around a bit… We had a picnic lunch.Then, ice cream!

There was some other really great moments too. Like when Ben was lagging behind the group, Jack ran back, took the chair he was carrying from him, and walked next to him.

Finally we went home and cleaned up. Ben and Aaron’s hair took three washes to get all the sand out. But it was totally worth it. The next morning Ben asked if we could go to the beach again. When he asked he did so with a bright red, sunburned face.

So, instead we headed up to the Botanical gardens.

It was another scorcher of a day, but luckily there was a strong wind that changed the weather from soupy to delightful.

We spent hours walking the gardens.

We smelled and touched in the sensory garden.

We played tag on the lawn.

We found a dead bird and a few dead fish. (And live ones too!)

We had races in the maze.

Sometimes we just sat and chatted. At one point Jack was giving out math quizzes to the younger siblings. They loved the challenge!

I think the best part of the weekend was that both days we brought the kids some where picturesque and kid friendly then let the day define itself. I loved seeing them out soaking up precious vitamin D. I loved watching them exercising their bodies. But mostly I loved watching us interact as a family, making jokes, interacting and bonding, holding hands, playing tag or running races.

Mother’s Day 2018 was a bit of a disaster. In fact, I considered not writing about it at all this year.

We started the day with the usual cards and gifts cards. Which I completely appreciated. It was the first year all four kids were able to sign the cards themselves. That was kind of cool.

The night before Jack and Ben had gone out with Adam to buy the twins belated birthday gifts. Unfortunately everything Jack suggested, Ben though was bad. When they got home and gave the presents, Both twins liked their gifts but then Ben convinced Sam that his wasn’t good enough, that there was something better out there. Which really hurt Jack’s feelings. I had a long talk with Sam about the concept of ‘keeping up with the Joneses’. There is always something better out there, being happy in life is learning to appreciate what you have.

It’s a hard concept for a 6 year old.

In fact, it’s a hard concept for a 45 year old.

Because mother’s day this year I felt kind of awful.

I spent the first part of the morning helping Sam build a lego set he got for his birthday. It took us a good 30 minutes to complete. When we were done, Jack broke it in 1 second.

Down time at home on the morning, playing with some of their new birthday toys…

We didn’t go out to eat at a nice restaurant because I didn’t feel our kid with special needs could handle it. That he would ruin the experience for me.

When we tried an outing to the zoo Adam had to practically strong arm Ben into going. Adam kept telling him to be good! Remember it’s mother’s day and to be nice to mom! That depressed me even more, that the kids had to be yelled at just to be nice to me. Why weren’t they nice to me all year? How come I only get a day? And even then it’s too hard?

I almost left without Ben and Adam, but finally Adam managed to get Ben to come with, and he promptly fell asleep in the stroller meant for the twins. I worried he would keep us awake all night after sleeping the day away.Playing tag after the zoo…

We also stopped at Cummings Park…

At one point during the day Adam told me to relax, take a break. But I knew if I didn’t finish the laundry, dishes, clean up, whatever it was, it would just be sitting there waiting for me on Monday morning when the house is quiet and I actually do have time away from the kids. It upset me that our lifestyles are so busy there really isn’t any time to relax.

While I work in the kitchen, Aaron likes to hang out and draw.

Evening game of Slamwich, another birthday gift.

While Adam was putting the twins to bed, Sam threw a stuffed animal and it hit the lego set we built that morning, that Jack smashed and I fixed afterwards. It was smashed to pieces again!

After the twins went to bed, Adam very nicely ordered from one of my favorite restaurants, Cheng Du Impressions, for take out. I thoroughly enjoyed that too.

Then this morning as I was driving back from dropping Adam at work, I turned on this week’s podcast of ‘This American Life’. It was about breaking up. They started talking about how many break up song there were. Then they played some classic ones. When they got to Bonnie Raitt’s “I can’t make you love me, if you don’t.” I started bawling right there, by myself in the car. The foggy, rainy day was a perfect backdrop.

That song brought me back to a very specific time in my life. When I was so distraught, lonely and rejected. My mind quickly ran through all the rejections in my life. The time that I would play this very song over and over again and lay on my floor next to my pink boom box in a miserable heap. Or the year in Hong Kong when I woke up every single morning for months with a pile of snotty tissues next to my bed and I wondered if I would ever go back to falling asleep normally instead of crying myself to sleep every night. Or the time I recently moved to Shanghai and I was sitting on the balcony of my new flat looking out and thinking, I’ve been dating half my life, where the hell is he?

I was very glad not to be in any of those times in my life. For every set of Joneses, there is another set of Smiths or whoever else. It can always be better, but it can always be worse!

And as most of my readers already know, he finally did show up and together we built this breakneck pace of a life together. I can’t say I haven’t been distraught, but I haven’t been lonely since. Or rejected!

So perhaps I should be listening to my own advice. Screw the Joneses. Look around, there is plenty to be grateful for, and everything in life doesn’t have to be perfect for you to find it.

I got home and carefully rebuilt the lego set once again. Sometimes you got to fix things more than once. Ah, yet another life lesson.

And much like the other saying about life and lemons, if life gives you a pile of legos, make something beautiful. Or at least rebuild the darn thing so you aren’t left stepping on a pile of pain.