We headed up to Pine Mountain again this year (fourth year running) for some skiing and snowboarding between the holidays. Rebecca sported her new suit and got to hang with lots of friends. In fact, I didn't see her much during the day. She played with her friends and me with mine. Conditions were cold (single digits and teens), we got some snow and there was little wind all of which made for some decent midwest skiing. A few photos.
The Faulxs took Chicago by storm with endless eating, skating, touring and playing.
On our last full day in Italy we packed in as much as we could, repeating those things we enjoyed and trying to visit those places still on our list. Warren and I traveled to Volterra where we discovered the world base for alabaster. Visiting several studios and shops, we saw beautiful craftsmanship using different grades of stone. Each piece seemed to be more beautiful than the next. The town itself was also a nice discovery. It's beautifully preserved with several piazzas and narrow walkways. Photos.
What a HUGE day. We met Laila at the Coliseum and learned much about its history and how it was build. We then toured the oldest part of Rome, had lunch in a private dinner club in the Jewish part of town and then visited the cat orphanage. After a little nap we walked more and had dinner just off of the Piazza Navona. And no day is now complete without gelato. Photos.
The Tourtellottes came over for dinner and to do some final Italy planning. It had been raining on and off all day--rain, sun, rain, sun... We were rewarded late in the day with a beautiful rainbow--lots if detail in the color spectrum. Seen here from our bathroom.
There's something magical about introducing my daughter to an old friend and watching them interact and, almost simultaneously, introducing my daughter to a city that I love, showing her many of its features. Again watching her interact, respond and enjoy it too is an amazing personal experience. Shots and a few more shots.
Today was a spectacular day. The weather and ski conditions were perfect. It snowed another 6-8 inches of fluffy powder over night. The sky was virtually cloudless and temps in the 20s. Ash navigated us across the mountain down mostly blue trails and the occasional black. Solitude Resort is beautiful with lots a terrain variety, beautiful views and no lift lines (!). The powder was as light as air, soft and gentle.
We had a nice Playoffs party catching up with friends, having been away from home for much of January. I made some delicious home-made chili and the kids made a fun kids-sandwich -->.
We had a crazy fun time celebrating Halloween. For the 6th year running (at least) the dads and our kids collected out front: Kids in full costume, dads toting wine and beer and The Cous' dragging the beverage cart. Laura and Dave joined us this year as well as Kevin's sister Beth and her young daughters from Spain. It started off with all kids descending on the same house together. Then they quickly it spread out like a marathon race with the more aggressive kids at the front. We dads worked a zone defense armed with cell phones to make sure no child was left behind or lost--this would have been difficult to explain to the wives upon returning from the hunt. The wives, by the way, all stayed back at their respective homes handing out candy. Paper bags or plastic pumpkins are no longer good enough. Pillow cases are the "bag" of choice now among discerning trick-or-treaters. It won't tear, it holds more and it's easy to sling over your shoulder when it starts to weigh up to 5lb. (I'm not kidding). It's amazing how much candy can be amassed in such a short time. Tired and hungry we all returned to our house at 8pm for homemade split pea soup and delivered pizza--wives now all there. There was a mass frenzy of candy trading as the 8 seat square dining room table. Adults enjoyed wine, beer and, of course, one another's company. Now what to do with all this candy......! A few pictures.
and Greg had soccer on Saturday so we hung out at the field and on Saturday. Sunday we were treated an Indians game where the clinched the divisional title against the A's.
Rebecca and I with several schoolmates and their dads celebrated the last week of school with an outing to Sheboygan, WI. We camped for three days in the beautiful Kohler Andrae park. There, we pitched out tents, went bike riding, and played at the beach--it's right on the Lake Michigan. No camping trip would be complete with smores and endless playing with sticks, fire, sticks on fire, knives, etc. The kids ran all over camp in bare feet and ate dinner with only marginally clean hands--all stuff they would NEVER be able to get away with with mom around. ;-) Here are some photos of the great, long weekend.
As Rebecca and I were the first of the Old Irving Park crowd to arrive at Pine Mountain, we thought we'd post a little ski report. It was in the teens overnight and they've been making snow steadily--there's just a little natural snow. Right now there's no meaningful snowfall projected for the next week or so. But it is good conditions for both snow making and skiing--cold at night and in the upper 20s/low 30s by mid-day. Right now just the Hematite chair is running. The triple, Panorama, should be open later today (some technical problem). Just the west half of the mountain is open see map--about 1/4 of the the actual trails. There's a mix of trails open from easy to hard including, yes John Patrick, Hermatite. More runs should be open soon.
We had the pleasure of attending the Chicago Black Hawks hockey game as guests of the Cohn's (and the University of Chicago). We had fabulous seats--just 6 rows off the ice, behind the Hawks bench. Dinner before the game was at the Billy Goat Tavern, made famous by Dan Akroid and John Belushi in the 70s: "Cheeborger, Cheeborger, Cheeborger!" Although now they do serve fries--and good ones--and even wine. We walked from the restaurant to the game.
We've had our first real snow of the season--a nice 6 inches. Thankfully it arrived when neither Sharon nor I were travelling. Lily is of course loving it, as is Rebecca who has converted the mound of dirt remaining in the backyard from the construction into a ski slope. Gone are the days when just sitting on a sled is fun. Now she has to stand on the on it like a snowboard. For a child who has always found it challenging to just play alone and self-entertain, she really likes playing in the snow even in the 15F cold. A few winter shots. And movies--one, two, three.
Our annual family pilgrimage to Cona. Food, wine and family--what a good mix. A few shots
So Rebecca took here hair out of the braids from the BVI sailing trip. Doesn't she look exotic? I keep looking at her and seeing Aunt Ash.
It was a gorgeous day and Rebecca played well. Two for three at the plate and one or two outs in the field. A few more photos.
Softball season is in full swing. Two games a week through early July. Rebecca's greatly improved from last year (with little actual softball practicing). She's stronger and has more coordinated--must be all the cartwheels! After three games and 10 at-bats she's only struck out once. The rest are singles and one double. Batting 900--not bad. A few runs too including one you see at right against Hunter's team. Now if Rebecca's team could only win one. Well, maybe soon. Photos.
OK, enough celebrating! ;-) I think this is the 4th set of candles this little girl has blown out. But Grandmommy REALLY topped the charts with this awesome, beach-themed cake--perfect for Dataw. Rebecca asked for a blue cake and this was mom's execution of it--fabulous and yummy too. Photos.
We did a little birthday celebrating at home. Nothing fancy except for the fact we got to eat in our own kitchen! I grilled a rack of New Zealand lamb and Sharon made mashed potatoes and steamed fava beans. All of this was enjoyed with a bottle of 2001 Kistler Chardonnay "Dutton Ranch" and a 2001 Turley Zinfandel "Old Vines". Yum!!! It went well with the chocolate cake too.
The kitchen is looking fabulous. It's so nice having one to eat/cook in! If we don't eat carry-out pizza and Chinese for awhile, I'll be very happy. Drinking morning coffee in front of the warm fireplace, while reading the NYT as the sun shines through the east picture windows. I feel like I'm on vacation (but it's Wednesday). Hood, handles and furnishings remain. A few photos.
Derek Moore treated us to a Hawks game in the executive suite (nice!). It was Rebecca's first hockey game so I had to explain to her that not everyone gets all this luxurious space, free food and a private, clean bathroom. Our teams lost but we had a great time. Photos.
The much-anticipated, long-awaited kitchen floor of Sharon's is in and it's beautiful. It covers 800sf of kitchen, greatroom and pantry. The terra cotta is 3/4' thick reclaimed roof tiles from French Provincial homes. In total it weighs 4 tons and Sharon hand placed each tile. Yes, she and the tile guy have become good buds and he now has a lifetime of stories to tell his drinking buddies..."did I ever tell you about this crazy woman I layed a kitchen floor for? Well....". Next is sealing, then grouting and then 2 more coats of sealant. And none will be done without Sharon's close supervision of her biggest investment ever in stone. The fun continue and, yes, we're getting close to being done. A few photos.
Describing our ski vacation as awesome would be an understatement. Unbelievable, really--as in what just happened?. We drove 5 hours north to Iron Mountain, Michigan (U.P.) with our good friends Jennifer and Kevin and their kids. To begin with, our condo was right on the slopes and just steps from the from the lodge. The Pine Mountain was reopened this year under new ownership of some other friends. None of our kids had ever skied, so it was a whole new experience for them. They all had lessons for the first few days where together they quickly advanced from the Bunny Slope to bigger and better things. The mountain was relatively small but nicely manageable. I wasn't sure how my back was going to hold up after not having skied for 13 years and having back surgery 7 years ago. I was mentally prepared to read in the lodge most of the 7-day vacation. But to my pleasant surprise it was strong enough. It's amazing how having not skied for so long I could pick it right back up. The weather was great--not too cold and it snowed two of the nights, making for some great powder skiing. We stayed on property the entire week, moving from the condo to the slopes to the pool/hot tub to the lodge for all meals. That made it easy and the prices for everything was U.P. reasonable. Watching our kids advance was amazing. I think they even dreamt about skiing as they seemed to be even better the next morning. From green circle to blue square to black diamond, they covered the whole mountain and from time to time even went down the slopes on their own. They loved going on the lifts on their own and even the helpful lift operators commented how they were excelling. Rebecca loved hitting the jumps and left the mountain with a few face-plant scratches. Meaghan and John Patrick had fun keeping up with their friends on the slopes. And they all would just go straight down the hill with us parents yelling behind them "turn!". Later in the week Sharon arrived along with a few more friends, which made for some fun, festive evenings including New Years eve. There's lots more to be said about the unbelievable week. But for now, here are the photos and movies:
House construction progress continues to plod along. The front porch is now mostly complete except for the front stairs which will probablyt go in in the spring when it's warm enough to pour concrete. We're really happy with the overall front of the house. Remaining interior work is all the trim, tile, flooring and cabinets. I took a few interior pictures but generally then don't show much--it's hard to capture the look and feel. Photos.
Lily LOVES the snow. Lots of places to dig and bounce through. The cold doesn't seem to bother her at all. The only thing better than the snow is playing with her buddy Watson in it! So much fun. Within no time she gets herself covered in snow. It matts in her hair into little snow balls that she tries to eat it off when back inside. The only remedy is a towel in front of the new fireplace where she lays down and the snow slowly melts off (along with an occasional doggie-shake). The photos.
Rebecca and Hunter made an awesome gingerbread house--well constructed and sealed, complete with a sweet walkway out front. Well, Lily liked it too and left alone with it, she gobbled up the front! Well at least we got this picture.
Grandpa George and Rebecca made a dog house for Lily. All it took was a great idea from Rebecca and the two were off to the garage where they collected some scrap materials including cedar clapboard and cedar shingles from our house project. The end result was a terriffic house that looked just like ours! Now all we need is to run some electrical, HVAC and plumbing to it and she'll be all set.
As part of our little house project, we removed the back half of Grandpa George's house. It was an addition constructed about 30 years ago that wasn't really being used and most importantly, it was obstructing Sharon's view of the backyard from her new kitchen. So, off with it! The process was actually quite cool. The carpenters literally cut the addition from the rest of the house using Skil saws and then the back hoe just carefully pulled it all down. Pitcures.
Rebecca has invented a new sport called Construction Climbing. It involves salvaging construction materials and scaling unfinished construction projects. In this instance Rebecca demonstrates how to fashion a climbing harness from burial speaker wire and use another strand to attach to the harness and sling over a segment of electrical conduit. She climbs up the wall studs and self-belays her way down strattling the HVAC return vent. She plans on making this a demonstration event in the next Olympics.
We celebrated Yom Kippur at the field musuem. It was like herding cats, and Jennifer and I managed to not lose anyone (permanantly at least). The kids played very well together and we all had a lot of fun on what was a beautiful day.
Front porch progress continues with the cedar floor down and columns in. It looks great! More images.
Ok, yes, I know it's been a while since you've been updated on life and house progress. August has been a bit of a slow month in terms of construction and most of the work has been interior mechanicals (HVAC, plumbing, etc). We just started work on the front porch and it's looking GREAT. It's massive and round and will be a great face to the new house (now, if we can only get rid of that pine tree in the front!). The current siding and (original?) cedar clapboard underneath is being removed down to the studs so that the new pre-painted cedar clapboard can be applied. This process has begun so hopefully soon I will be able to share with you new developments.
France was great. We were in Paris for a few days and then traveled to the south of France where the Canal du Midi meets the Mediterranean Sea. There, we chartered a river barge and motored north through the countryside of vineyards and other crops. We went through many little towns on the seven day tour. Stopping in most for a little walking or bike tour or for dinner or local fare.
early-evening snack and then dinner around 8pm "on shore" in restaurant along the canal.
Construction on the house continues. The cedar tree and front porch are removed, new roof on (mostly), basement floor poured and HVAC is under way. We've made a few improvement changes along the way as things have taken shape like adding a few windows. More photos.
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