Cermak Family Aquatic Center: An undiscovered gem

Just 15 minutes southwest of Oak Park, nestled in a quiet park along the Des Plaines river is a lovely little public water park for young children. Until a few weeks ago, I'd never heard of the place and, if my friends and the lack of crowds are any indication, few others have either.

The Cermak Family Aquatic Center in Lyons, IL features a lazy river, a large pool with a tunnel slide, sprays and dunking buckets and a splash pad with a toddler slide and assorted water works. The water ranges from zero depth to 2 1/2 feet, making it perfect for toddlers, preschoolers and young children. In fact, kids over 12 aren't allowed. There are lifeguards stationed throughout the park, locker rooms with private showers and a snack bar that offers pretty typical pool food fare, albeit at very low prices (e.g. $2 hot dogs)

I took the girls there yesterday and met up with a friend of mine, her 5 year old and her mother and aunt. All of us were impressed by how immaculately clean the facility was and how nice it was to relax in the lazy river and the pool without a gaggle of preteens cannonballing in off the side.

Details

Address: 7600 W Ogden Avenue, on the south side of Ogden, just west of the Des Plaines river

Hours: 11-7

Admission: $5 adults, $3 for children 4 and over, free for kids 0-3

Free parking

Friday shopping report

Hopefully this will become a new feature here on Marketing Mommy, a weekly report on stuff I bought, received or ultimately decided not to buy.

Item 1: Sundress from Soho boutique, $29

It is hot as Hades here in Chicago, so I'm wearing this breezy cotton spaghetti strap dress I purchased at a going-out-of-business sale during BlogHer weekend in NYC. I don't much like wearing strapless bras, but I haven't entirely embraced the visible bra strap trend, so I'm wearing one today. I now have a lot of floral sleeveless dresses in my closet and I probably shouldn't buy any more. At least until I miraculously lose 10 lbs and have to buy a new wardrobe.

Item 2: Silver "happy" bracelet, price unknown

This sterling silver Lisa Leonard bracelet was included in one of the swag bags I received at BlogHer and I love it. I'm tempted to order one of her custom mom necklaces--the kind with charms stamped with your kids' names.

Item 3: Simple Sojourner shoes, $14.95

I'll admit my attention was wandering during one of the less compelling BlogHer sessions and I started paying more attention to my Twitter stream than the speaker. A tweet from 6pm.com came through announing Simple shoes for $14.95. Five minutes later, I'd ordered this pair of incredibly soft, comfy, slightly Boho shoes. They're now back up to $50--50% off their $100 retail price.

Items 4-34: Elmer's glue sticks

Yes, that is a lot of glue. I balked a bit when I saw Z's kindergarten supply list called for a whopping 30 glue sticks, but I was delighted to relieve the Walgreens near my office of their entire supply when they went on sale for $0.19 a 2-pack.

I didn't buy

Despite receiving a tempting email from Overstock announcing a big sale and $1 shipping on Queen size bedding, I ultimately didn't buy any new bedsheets. We've been using the same 2 pairs since we bought our mattress in 2004, but they are soft and comfortable and--really--with one set on the bed and one in the wash or the closet, we're fine.

She's growing up

Who is this child of mine, with her tiny pierced ears and her rapidly lengthening yellow-blonde curls? Who is this girl who has finally outgrown her size 3 swim rash and her lactose intolerance and has taken to galavanting around town in my old glasses (with the lenses popped out)? This lover of animals and under-the-covers reader of Judy B. Jones paperbacks is as addicted to her hand-me-down iPod full of pop tunes and Lemony Snicket audiobooks as I am to my Blackberry. This, faithful readers, is my 5 1/2-year-old Z, possessor of a newly-rented 1/16 size violin, 23 Silly Banz and the proud recipient of an earned allowance* of $4 a week.

*In order to qualify for her allowance, Z must make her bed, put her toys away, practice violin and do any assigned homework.

Local readers, can you figure out where this picture was taken?

BlogHer part 3

BlogHer part 1

BlogHer part 2

BlogHer: Learning to love my small blog

It's a rule: you can't fly to New York City and spend your entire stay at a conference. So Friday afternoon I slipped away and took the subway to the Soho/Nolita area. I walked around, had an overpriced cup of Pinkberry (Chicago, I'm staying true to Starfruit) and found a fashion boutique holding a going out of business sale. I bought a cute blue floral dress with a lot of detailing for $29 and headed over to Uniqlo, my favorite NYC shopping destination, where I picked up a lavender cotton dress shirt, a merino wool cardigan, socks, a black long-sleeved V-neck and a green and white striped tank top for under $100.

I got back to the Hilton in time to hear the BlogHer voices of the year (typically my favorite part of the conference) and changed into yet another floral dress for the evening's festivities, a cocktail reception at the Hilton, wine and a surprise author signing with other members of the From Left to Write book club and the Mouthy Housewives party (where I got to talk to the incredibly funny friend of a friend Wendi Aarons.

As I was stumbling back to the Hilton (I'd had a few glasses of delicious Prosecco), I texted Shannan from Mommy Bits, one of my oldest, bestest blog friends so that we could finally meet face-to-face.

Heading back to the Gala now. Be there in a few.

We just left. Going to get dinner.

I looked up from my Blackberry just as two women--one who looked a lot like Shannan--walked by. Then I got another text.

Are you wearing a floral dress?

Yes, coming back now.

We both turned around and I joined Shannan and her roommate Susan (another virtual blog friend I've been following on Working Moms Against Guilt for years) for Italian food. It was so great to connect with them IRL.

Then there was Saturday. I already wrote about the session that spoke to me, so let's skip right ahead to dinner, which another of my bloggy besties, Whitney of Rookie Moms, organized. Thanks a general aversion to Thai food (yes, I was one of the whiners), we gathered at the Aspen Social Club, a mostly deserted bar with tasty food and completely outrageous cocktail prices ($60 for a pitcher of margaritas!) Fellow Rookie Mom Heather was there, as well as their Bay Area buddy Wendy, Meagan Francis, Asha Dornfest of Parenthacks (I turned into such a fangirl meeting her) and 2 or 3 other lovely bloggin' mamas whose cards I either didn't collect or simply lost.

After plunking down $40 for a margarita, a mac and cheese appetizer and my portion of the passed dips, we headed back to the Hilton for the final party of the conference, CheeseburgHer. I wore a McDonald's bag on my head, but I passed on the new cheeseburger "wraps." Blech. Instead, I guzzled a giant glass of red wine (the Hilton offered very generous pours to drink ticket holders) and hung out on a giant cheeseburger bed. 'Nough said.

Photo courtesy of Yvonne Marie

BlogHer part 2

BlogHer part 1

BlogHer: Learning to love my small blog

Friday, the first official day of the conference, began with breakfast. Perhaps I wasn't the only attendee to complain about the quality of the food in '09, because the BlogHer organizers and the New York Hilton delivered deliciousness at every meal. I piled my plate high with oatmeal, fresh fruit and a muffin and went back to the coffee urns again and again. Because breakfast was sponsored by Tropicana, I also tried their Trop 50 Pomegranate Blueberry juice. Thumbs up on taste and no artificial sweeteners.

Then I hit the Writing Inspiration: Stoke Your Creativity panel expecting to hear about ways to get around blogger's block and fire up my posts from the lazy "here's what we did" to something more interesting and insightful. Instead, the discussion seemed more geared toward fiction and poetry writers and included the well-trod territory of "going for a walk" and "setting aside time to write." I did take a few notes on blog editing, something I do far too little of. If I was to follow those directions after writing this post, I would read this out loud, cut the first and last paragraph and delete all uses of the passive voice.

I ate lunch and exchanged cards with some new-to-me bloggers and headed into the two expo halls to check out the sponsor exhibits and see if it was as icky and over-the-top as last year's swag-fest.

Now it was big. Some of the pavilions, like those for Jimmy Dean/Hillshire Farms and P&G were even more elaborate than last year's. P&G, for example, had a Home Away From Home with separate rooms for health and beauty, laundry, their charitable missions and more. I got my makeup "done" in the beauty studio and they snapped a headshot for me which I liked enough to use here on my blog.

Exterior of the P&G exhibit

Although I threw my business card in a few bowls (hey, who wouldn't want to win a Tempur-Pedic bed?), I skipped most of the exhibitors. I don't use diapers or baby bottles anymore, I'm not in the market for a new car and we never eat frozen dinners. Oh, and the frozen breakfast items from Jimmy Dean? They looked like delicious corn dogs, but they were really gag-worthy sausages wrapped in pancakes. On a stick. Not that I tried them. But I know someone who spat them right back out in front of the sampling staff.

People were eating this. In the middle of the day!

I did pick up some cool stuff, though: a to-go container for cereal and milk from the "Got Milk" people, an Assets (Spanx for less) body shaper, Biotrue contact solution (in a TSA-approved size), a giant White House | Black Market tote and an original Todd Parr drawing of my children courtesy of Stouffer's. I also got pictures of myself with Dora the Explorer and Marmaduke the dog. I snapped the former on my cell phone and sent it off to Josh in the hopes of blowing the girls' minds.

I think the BlogHer organizers were right to place the Expo halls far from the conference sessions. Unlike last year, when a Strawberry Shortcake doll was placed on every chair in one session, swag and sponsor signage were largely absent from the panels. And while some will bemoan the crass commercialism of all of the sponsor involvement, I appreciate them. They keep the conference fees incredibly low--far lower than most business conferences. It also makes sense from a marketing perspective. I mean, how often can a giant corporation step off the supermarket shelves and "come alive" to make a one-to-one connection with a consumer?And not any consumer, a highly connected, highly influential, permanently Googleable consumer.

We also can't forget that, despite all the squealing women, parties and generally summer camp-like atmosphere, BlogHer is a business. They make money by selling ads through their ad network and sponsorships to their conferences.

BlogHer: Learning to love my small blog

While parts 2 and 3 of my BlogHer 2010 recap are still to come, right now I want to share what was for me the most memorable, meaningful session of the conference: Little Fish in a Big Pond: Understanding, Accepting and Loving Your Small Blog. You can read the live-blogged recap here.

If you recall last year's invention of the BlogHer D-List, you know I'm okay being a small blogger. Virtual invisibility has its advantages. For starters, less work. I don't stress over my design, participate in Twitter parties or hustle to sell ads, which means I have more time to focus on my real job and my real life. If I don't post for a few days, I don't piss off the masses, I worry my mother.

Unlike the super blog-celebs Dooce, The Pioneer Woman and The Bloggess, I am under no pressure to write amazing posts. Appear on TV. Or score a book deal. In fact, no matter how I neglect my blog, botch the design or write trivial drivel, I just don't have very far to fall. In fact, if I shut down my blog tomorrow, I'm not sure more than a dozen people would call me up to complain. [Side note: I met Jenny the Bloggess at the CheeseburgHer party Saturday night and found her sweet and engaging and not at all possessing of the high horse she's entitled to.]

Now it's not to say that I don't envy the brightest stars in blogging their readership and the opportunities that come along with a large audience. I do. A little.

But what I really want is not a big blog. It's a better blog. A more engaging blog. What I really, truly, deep-down-in-my-heart desire is a blog with a shitload of comments. And that's where you come it. I'm going to improve my game. And you... won't you please, please comment more often? And if you've been reading for some time and you've never commented before, it's time to delurk. Leave me a comment--even an anonymous one.

BlogHer part 1

You know the feeling you got at sleepaway camp when so much was packed into every day that 24 hours felt like a week? That's BlogHer for me. I'll have to break down my days into a few different posts, so let's start with day 1.

Thanks to the wonder of Twitter, I found a cab share from the airport and a roommate for the conference. I exchanged hellos with Kristen Chase and crossed the lobby to my IRL friend and neighbor Carrie and one of her roommates (whom she'd only just met too). We walked a few blocks to Le Pain Quotidien, and had lunch.

Around 3 o'clock our room was ready, so Anna and I unpacked and got to know each other a little bit. Then it was off to my first party suite. I thought I'd go straight from the suite to "A Little Night Music," but I got such generous swag that I had to head back to the hotel to drop it off. I met Meagan, Sandie, Michelle, Stacey and a couple of others whose business cards I either didn't grab or lost. Bernadette Peters led a top-notch cast and our second-row seats weren't too shabby either. After the show, Sandie, Michelle, Carrie and I headed to Shake Shack and walked through Times Square, which was still hopping with throngs of people and costumed characters at 11 at night.

Carrie, Sandie and me (I'm wearing airbrush makeup--can you tell?)

New York's finest were looking fine

Back at the Hilton, Carrie and I met up with TheChicagoMom's founder MJ Tam and fellow writers Beth Rosen and Duong Sheahan for a glass of wine. Then it was bedtime for bunny.

My bag is packed and I'm headed to BlogHer

One small roll-aboard carry-on, packed. Sessions, meals, cocktails and parties have been programmed into my Blackberry. My boarding pass is printed. And a cab has been called.

Okay, can we go back to the suitcase now? I fit 1 handbag, 3 dresses, 1 skirt, 1 shirt and a workout outfit with athletic shoes in there. Plus my MacBook Pro. Plus a duffle bag for swag/NYC clothing purchases. And my toiletries.

I think I deserve to spend the $25 baggage fee I'm saving on cocktails. Come join me for a drink. I'll be the gal wearing the same pair of Dansko gold sandals all weekend.

Adventures in re-fi

It's hard to believe that when Josh and I bought a condo back in 2000, we had a mortgage rate of 8.75%. We refinanced it for a 3 year ARM and then sold the place a year later to buy our current house. We thought we were getting a real steal when we financed this place at 5.25% (on a conventional 30 year fixed) back in 2003.

You might have noticed rates keep getting lower. Low enough that I decided it was time to refinance and start paying down our loan in earnest with a 15-year fixed. Using the calculator at Mortgagefit.com, I figured that we'd only be paying an extra $200 a month if I could get a 3.75% rate--and we'd build our equity a lot faster. We can spare the cash because the childcare + Montessori school line item on our budget is now the much more affordable Montessori school + free public school.

My first stop was the Chase branch downstairs from my office. Chase inherited our loan from WaMu and is home to our (once First Chicago then Bank One) checking accounts. They quoted us at 4.65% and talked up the fact that they'll refund 1% of your principal and interest into your checking account at the end of the year. And they spelled principal "principle" in their email. Next!

I use USAA for homeowner's insurance, life insurance, auto insurance, my credit card and the kids' savings accounts, so their website was my next stop. They offered a 3.75% rate--the lowest I'd seen advertised, but I didn't have a feel for how competitive their fees were. So I logged into LendingTree, the website where I initially got our home loan.

A friendly LendingTree rep named Josh called me within minutes of my completed application and complimented me on my excellent credit (a score of 800+, woot!). I asked if he could beat USAA's quote. He tried, calling me back after getting his supervisor to knock a few hundred off their closing costs, but cheerfully admitted their package couldn't compete.

So, while half-watching an episode of Veronica Mars, I filled out an in-depth application on the USAA website and submitted my good-faith $350 deposit. I should hear tomorrow if I'm approved.

I love my job

Reason #1: I work as an advertising creative. My job requires little math and lots of creativity. (And it pays pretty well, too.)

But we also have fun, which leads me to reasons 2 and 3.

Reason #2: Today we celebrated our account director's 34th birthday with tiny cans of sparkling wine. With straws! And cupcakes! And remember how they celebrated my 34th? On the roof of the Wit. Summer birthday celebrations at work make up for a childhood without decorated lockers and cupcakes for the whole class.

Reason #3: For our team outing tomorrow, we're renting a tiki boat. If you see 10 girls and 1 guy on a ramshackle pontoon boat on Lake Michigan tomorrow, be sure to wave hello. I'll be the one wearing a Land's End tankini, a rat's nest of windblown curls, SPF 50 and a giant smile.

5 foot 2, could it be true?

We took the girls to our family doctor for their annual physicals on Monday morning. Both of them measure in the 10th percentile for height. Z, our skinny girl, was between the 5th and 10th percentile for weight. A was about 25th percentile for weight. When I asked if it was too early to predict their adult heights, the doctor said no, she thinks they'll both end up about 5 foot 2. (For the record, I'm 5' 6.)

As usual, they received compliments for their cooperative behavior and advanced verbal skills. With one exception. Shortly after the doctor arrived, she confirmed that Z was due for 3 vaccinations (in 2 shots) and A would escape shot-free. Z turned away from us for a moment and I could see a couple of silent tears slip down her cheeks. She was a little less animated after that. A, on the other hand, repeatedly asked if "Her could give her some shots now."

When the doctor slipped out and the nurse arrived, needles in hand, Z lost it. I had to pin her down as she screamed and writhed. I'm sure folks could hear her all the way out in the waiting area.

Anyway, Z is now fully vaccinated for kindergarten. We find out on August 16th if she'll win one of the coveted 24 spots in the brand-new Spanish immersion classroom.

Flood, friends and film

My plan for this morning was to take Z and one of her friends up to Evanston for a free Chicagonista screening of Ramona and Beezus. But after last night's torrential rains, the highways and Blue Line trains were shut down and reports of flooding on roads under the viaducts was widespread.

When I picked up Z's buddy, I saw their pond-like backyard and learned their basement was flooded as well. Since I didn't want the girls to be too disappointed, I hung out with them making friendship bracelets for an hour or so and then took them to see Toy Story 3 in 3-D at the local cinema.

After the movie I dropped off her friend and picked up A and headed southwest to Brookfield, where we were going to visit the new home of an old friend. Remember how just last weekend I reconnected with 4 former Newcity colleagues? Well today I got to hang out with one of my favorite Newcity people, Alana. It was such a treat to catch up with her and meet her jolly 11 month old, Will, but getting there and back? Well, it looked like this.

Driving through a foot of water in your Honda CR-V is kind of fun, but finding out that a dozen of your friends are dealing with flooded basements and one is in dire need of a new apartment now? It sucks.

My 5 year old reviews Kidz Bop 18

Yes, I let my kindergarten age daughter listen to Top 40 radio. In the car. Sometimes. I also let her listen to just about everything Josh puts on. And since he's a professional music critic, he's got music playing pretty much all the time. And it's virtually never the "radio-safe" version.

No biggie, right? Except when said 5 year old starts singing about "sippin' gin and juice" and wearing "Daisy Dukes with bikinis on top," I start channeling Tipper Gore.

Enter Kidz Bop 18, a CD compilation that's basically That's What I Call Music as sung by kids. I gave to it Z to review and she typed up the following.

Personally, I kind of like Kidz Bop myself. Same catchy pop tunes with decent production values and lyrics that are more grade-school appropriate than anything Katy Perry would write.

Disclosure: I received a review copy of the CD for free.

A budget-friendly birthday party in Berwyn

Ice cream parlor birthday parties are pretty commonplace among families in our Oak Park community, but not one of the 5 families we invited to A's 3rd birthday party had ever heard of--much less been to--Over the Rainbow. Located 2 blocks west of Oak Park Avenue along the train tracks in Berwyn, Oak Park's blue-collar sibling suburb to the south, Over the Rainbow is a charming old fashioned Hershey's ice cream shop decorated with memorabilia from the owner's favorite childhood story, The Wizard of Oz.

For an unbelievably affordable $70 fee (good for up to 10 kids), we had the run of the place for 2 hours. The owner organized games, read to the kids from a pop-up The Wizard of Oz storybook, and served hot dogs, chips, juice and enough ice cream cake to feed all the kids, all the parents and bring home leftovers. Everything was included except for the balloons and Tony was enthusiastic and animated, keeping the kids entertained the whole time. They tried on ice cream cone hats, played musical chairs, a ring-toss game and hot potato, and ended with a modified version of BINGO that everyone won simultaneously. Tony even handed all the kiddies a small goodie-bag of candy.

A had been looking forward to her birthday party for over a month, and she seemed a little overwhelmed by the excitement at first, but by the time the hot dogs were passed out, she was fully warmed-up and having a blast.

We had a fabulous time, and I highly recommend Over the Rainbow for an outsourced birthday party that doesn't break the bank.

Doing a disclosure statement when there is nothing to disclose is a little weird, but I want to make it plain that I received no compensation or consideration for this post.

I'm just a little bit rock and roll

Did I mention I spent 4 hours at the Pitchfork Music Festival with Josh and the girls Friday evening? Oh right, I saved that anecdote for my first ever post at the brand-new collaborative mom-blogging site TheChicagoMoms.com.

I went back on Saturday night, without the kids, and ended up bumping into 4 co-workers from my days at Newcity (a decade ago).

But then I was all rocked out. Sunday I sacrificed the opportunity to see Big Boi live for a lazy afternoon at the pool and a laid-back Popeye's picnic at the weekly free concert in Scoville Park.

A few more photos from the fest...

The limits of self-imposed happiness

In This Is Not The Story You Think It Is: A Season of Unlikely Happiness, Laura Munson recalls a what could have been a sad, sad summer. Her husband announced he didn't love her anymore. His business was failing and she was writing novels that never got published. The dream life they'd built in Montana was a house of cards in danger of tumbling down.

But it didn't turn out that way. Fueled by therapy and a pile of self-help books, the failed novelist journaled through her summer of discontent, determined that her husband was wrong--he did still love her--and he just needed a little space to figure that out.

And--if her book is to be believed--she was right. Her husband came back and her journal turned into her first published book. Go her!

Now, I think there's something to be said for taking responsibility for your own happiness. Life can serve up a lot of crap (death, job losses, financial difficulties and rocky relationships), and wallowing in our misery and playing the blame game are probably pretty poor choices. But I think Munson's Pollyannaish "serenity now" approach only works for the challenges of a pretty comfortable existence. I also just finished reading Sarah's Key, and it's pretty clear that the French who watched tens of thousands of Jews get deported to Nazi death camps probably should have gotten angry, spoken up and fought back instead of thinking, "Hey, those Germans will do the right thing if we just step back and give them a little space."

I received my copy of the book in exchange for my participation in the From Left to Write blogger book club.

Happy 3rd birthday, A!

As you've reminded me eleventy-hundred times in the past month, you're "almost big," "almost tree" and "a little bit big and a little bit small." Every time you bite into dinner, you ask me "does this help me grow big?" and if I answer in the affirmative, you sit up a little bit taller to show me how fast you're growing up.

You love the home daycare you've been attending twice a week since babyhood, beginning each day with "Am I goin' to Adriana's house today?" and sighing with disappointment if the answer is no. You are, however, very excited to start school this fall, and you already know your teacher's name and many of your Montessori classmates.

Your passions are swimming, swinging, riding your trike and playing pretend. You love Z's friends and they love doting on you. You are the willing "baby" in their games of house. You also love to play with your baby dolls, wrapping them in blankets, feeding them and pushing them in your doll stroller to familiar destinations (Fox Park, school, day care and the library).

At the pool your fearlessness elicits impressive gasps from other parents. You love to jump in off the side of the pool and disappear under the water. "Don't catch me!" you yell, "Back up so I can jump and go under the water!"

You're incredibly silly and you love to clown around for an audience. If something you do makes someone laugh, you'll do it again and again. You love to dance and you like your music "big." You've got a few signature dance moves, including one ripped straight from the Beyonce "Single Ladies" music video and one that involves you bending over to touch the floor and wiggling your bottom in the air. Dancing, according to A, is best done in a spinny "Princess dress" or in your underpants.

You're a cuddly kid and very attached to your mommy. You behave better for Daddy, but you've also hurt his feelings by saying "I hate you" and "I only love Mommy." You complain when we hire a babysitter, but you're always an angel after 5-15 minutes of fit-throwing.

Speaking of fits, you don't shy away from a good temper tantrum. You are a child who feels passionately--both positive and negative emotions. You've recently quit spitting in anger, but you will push and kick me and your sister to get a rise out of us.

But most of the time you're a pretty great kid. You hug, kiss and tell us all how much you love us every day and you adore your wide circle of friends. You love to hold hands with and be carried by me, Daddy, your sister and the child you met 2 minutes ago. You sing nursery rhymes with me at bedtime and listen, rapt, as Z reads to you on the couch. You are quick to apologize when you spill your milk, pinch your sister or stand on the cat. (But we know you'll do all of the above again the very next day.)

We'll celebrate your birthday tomorrow with a small party at Over the Rainbow ice cream parlor.

Love,

Mommy

Happy 2nd Birthday, A

Happy 1st Birthday, Baby A

My day ended with poetry

Have you ever had a day when you go to work and work through lunch and two people cry in your office and you rush home because you're having your neighbors over for dinner and your kids barely eat but they have so much fun playing that they throw a fit when the evening's over and one is still tantruming in the bath as you leave for your Hebrew lesson? And you go to Hebrew and then to the grocery store and come home and check Facebook and then, just as you're about to plug in your phone and go to bed you find The Book of Poems!!!

Here are a couple of selections, Z spellings and all...

If you have a dog

don't let him in the fog

Why don't let him in the fog

Becuse you cant see him

If you have a cat

Don't let him wear a hat

Why cant he wear a hat

Becuse it looks silly

Once there was a cat

Who wore a hat

Why did he wear a hat

Becuse he had no hair.

S'mores

We've been working through our summer bucket list, roadtripping, picnicking and going to the pool multiple times a week. But we hadn't yet made s'mores. So I took advantage of the hot coals left over from the Rachael Ray magazine beef-lemon-tomato kabobs (which I highly recommend, especially if Josh grills them).

Nom nom nom.

Married life is great (if not quite what I expected)

When the 18-year-old me was imagining her future husband, she pictured a guy who was tall (at least 6 foot), Jewish, artsy (preferably in a rock band) and made a good income doing good things that made the world a better place. Bonus points if he was rakishly good looking and a vegetarian (as I was at the time).

Josh and I started dating when I was 19. Yeah. While he's a good 5 inches shorter than my requirement, he was Jewish (check!) drummer in a rock band (double check!) when we met and has morphed into a good-looking guitarist/rock critic extraordinaire (yes, he's one of those guys who gets better looking with age). His earning power is easily eclipsed by my own, but by staying home with our kids I trust he's doing his part to make the world a better place.

Plenty of people are surprised to hear I've been with Josh my entire adult life, but there are advantages to meeting your mate before you've grown up. The biggest being that we weren't too set in our ways when we met. He lived in a filthy shared apartment and washed his laundry once a quarter (all together on cold in an extra-large washer) when wet met at the University of Chicago. His idea of cooking was something called Beef Stroganoff a la Rudy, which consisted of browned ground beef mixed with noodles and a can of Cream of Mushroom Soup. Now he does 5 loads of laundry a week and has grown into something of a foodie--a lucky strike for me since he makes dinner most weeknights!

Thanks to Josh I have watched a good chunk of the "worthy" movies of the last 50 years and my taste in music is far broader than the indie rock I adored in the mid-90s. And thanks to him I've met two of my favorite people in the whole world.

This was our 4th of July

Independence Day is the smell of sunblock, the plasticky-tart taste of melted Fla-Vor-Ice, diving for candy at the hometown parade and hitting a "home run" at wiffle ball. It is the company of good friends, the fuzzy mojito headache and a stomach stretched taut from too much barbecue.

Even skipping the fireworks, we had a fantastic Fourth.

Hurray for liberty, loved ones and keeping an eye on the ball.

Road trippin' part 2: what didn't work

What Didn't Work:
1. Expecting children to eat a balanced diet on the road. If a restaurant offers a kids menu, you can pretty much expect your little ones to eat a carb and salt-heavy meal (that is, if they haven't stuffed themselves with car snacks and destroyed their appetite). Think chicken fingers, grilled cheese sandwiches, plain noodles, mac and cheese, hot dogs, pancakes and fries washed down with chocolate milk or apple juice. I knew we were in trouble when, at our last stop of the trip, A announced "I love bacon and french fries!" The good news is that our 2-day road trips were bookends on a week at a vacation rental home. Which meant that breakfasts consisted of fresh fruit and bowls of Grape-Nuts and evenings included carrot sticks, peas and a bowl of apple sauce.

2. Taking turns driving. I enjoy a turn behind the wheel, but it is much less fun when your 2 1/2 year old is screaming bloody murder because she only wants you to pick her toy up off the floor, unwrap her snack, take her trash or play telephone.

3. Listening to the radio. Thank G-d we packed four iPods full of music because commercial radio stinks. Especially in the South, where 3 out of 4 stations are Christian and the other quarter play nothing but car dealership commercials, even when the mountains didn't mess up reception. There was one exception to this rule, and that was an awesome classic country legends station in Louisville (think: "Take This Job and Shove It"). But even it played far too many "Come one down and we'll make you an offer you can't refuse!" commercials.

4. Sleeping in our own beds. My hats are off to any parents of small children who are able to keep the bedtime routines 100% intact while traveling. Josh and I spent exactly 1 night in the same bed during this trip. Instead, we played musical beds, lying down with and even sleeping with our kiddos in separate bedrooms. I'm looking forward to the time when our youngest won't treat a night in the same bed as her big sister as an open invitation to an all-night wrestling match, or a night's sleep that doesn't end with getting kicked awake ... in the face.

Did you read Road trippin' part 1: what worked?

Road trippin' part 1: What worked

What worked:

1. Dividing the 11 hour drive into two roughly equal halves. Six hours buckled into a car seat is plenty for one day.

2. Giving Z my hand-me-down iPod. She was plugged into audio books, Taylor Swift and ABBA the entire time and happily zoned out, looking out the window and listening. Once in a great while she'd take off her kid-sized earphones and read a book, color a picture or provoke her little sister, but mostly she was content to sit quietly.

3. Packing a decent variety of snacks, from the familiar crackers and carrot sticks to the super-special/exotic Pringles, animal crackers and Fruit Roll-Ups.

4. Stopping for good food. Thanks to a little advance planning, a GPS device and Twitter access from my Blackberry, we only stopped once for chain fast food (and we only bought a Happy Meal so we could access the PlayLand guilt-free). Instead, we enjoyed the best bad-for-you food at places like Triple XXX Family Restaurant in West Lafayette, IN and Lynn's Paradise Cafe in Louisville, KY. We even ate semi-healthfully at the Alfalfa Restaurant in Lexington, KY.

5. Driving in the morning. Our kids are much better behaved in the a.m., so leaving after breakfast let us get most of the driving done before prime meltdown time and ensured enough time for a dip at the hotel pool before dinnertime. Speaking of hotels, I can't praise Staybridge Suites in Lousville enough. For $100, we got a 1-bedroom king suite with full kitchen and a very nice bathroom. The staff was helpful, the pool was immaculate and well stocked with towels and new deck chairs and the breakfast featured real foods (as opposed to the thawed, plastic-wrapped Jimmy Dean sausage biscuits and Pop-Tarts disguised as a "continental breakfast" at Ashley Quarters hotel outside Cincinnati [which was a rip-off at $150]). And did I mention the pillows? There were 8 just for the king size bed!

Stay tuned for part 2: what didn't work.

Jump! Jump!

Remember how I said Z's turned into a swimming fool? Let the record show that her almost 3 year old sister is will not be outdone. Yes, she's armed with a little flotation assistance from water wings or a swim vest, but she's fearless when it comes to jumping into the pool unassisted.

My heart skips a beat every time her head disappears under the surface, but she can't get enough of the thrill.

I climbed a rock

Although seeing my mom and my sister and watching my children bond with their cousins is pretty spectacular, the highlight of my vacation thus far has definitely been the 2 hour rock climbing lesson that Josh, Eleanor, Simon and I took at Chimney Rock Park on Monday.

After getting suited up in harnesses and climbing shoes and learning how to tie knots and support a climber from below, we got to scale two different 30 foot rock faces and one 90 foot rock face.

It was incredible. A complete adrenaline rush that had me sweating like a fiend and working muscles I didn't know I had (although I didn't discover that until the following morning).

And yes, this photo is of me, nearing the top of my final climb.

She's a swimming fool

Two weeks ago, Z wouldn't jump into a pool unassisted or swim in the deep end. Seven Fenwick Swim Camp swimming lessons later she's ready to rule our vacation home pool.

Welcome to Weaverville

We left Oak Park around noon on Thursday, stopped for an hour in Indianapolis, and spent the night in Florence, Kentucky.

This morning we hung out in Lexington, eating a late second breakfast at the Alfalfa Restaurant and exploring the Explorium Children's Museum. We hit the road again around 1pm and let the kids burn off some energy at a McDonald's PlayLand in Knoxville, TN, before finally pulling into the drive of our vacation rental in Weaverville around 6pm. Z was amazingly well behaved the whole way. A, not so much.

We're here with my mom and stepdad and my sister and her family. Z's excited to show off all her newly-aquired swimming skills in the pool and A's delighted have her same-aged cousin to play with. Josh and I are looking forward to some grandparental babysitting, which will more that make up for the fact that we always end up sleeping separately when on vacation (we're each bunking with a different kid).

More crazy weather

After the second insanely destructive thunderstorm in less that a week (this one featuring lightening, thunder, hail and winds that lasted 2+ hours), Josh ran outside to capture the eerie, pumpkin-colored sky at dusk (approximately 8:35).

Wordless Wednesday: These are 2 of my favorite things

Culture shock

I just finished Girl in Translation for the SV Moms book club--likely the last ever as the Silicon Valley Moms Group is sadly closing down the Chicago Moms Blog and its sister sites across the country.

A powerful coming-of-age-in-America story that reads like a memoir, this debut novel from immigrant author Jean Kwok reminded me a bit of the times in my life when I've felt like an outsider looking in, not quite fitting in.

I grew up with my dad in the Foreign Service, and while we spent more time Stateside than many Foreign Service families, I recall clearly our moves to West Berlin midway through my 4th grade year, to Islamabad, Pakistan after 6th grade and my return to the U.S. in the middle of 9th grade. My struggles to navigate my way through new school and make friends are familiar to any kid who had to move around, but they were compounded by the added complexities of a new language and an unfamiliar culture.

It seems trivial comparing my relatively minor struggles to fit in to main character Kimberly Chang's travails in Brooklyn. After all, she has to deal with a huge language barrier, total culture shock and the utter poverty as she fights to win scholarships while working in a sweatshop alongside her widowed mother. But I still remember my return to the U.S. after nearly 6 years abroad. You might think an American teen returning to public high school alongside some of the same kids she left behind in 4th grade would have a fairly seamless transition.

You'd be wrong. I had culture shock. A minor case, no doubt, but culture shock all the same.

Apparently watching a few old episodes of DeGrassi High and listening to a tape my cousin made of an Omaha Top 40 station did not prepare me to be cool in Arlington, Virginia in 1991. I didn't know any of the TV shows on the air. I couldn't name any of the cool bands. I wasn't wearing any of the cool brands. And I had no idea my bangs should be curled, teased and sprayed into gravity-defying sausage rolls. (Besides, trying to catch up was hopeless as I didn't have a curling iron in the right voltage and the drugstore hair care aisle gave me a panic attack.)

I received my book for free as a part of Silicon Valley Moms Group Book Club. See how other moms were inspired by this book here.

The Little Looster: Not for small bathrooms

Market overview: Small, potty-trained children need a stool to make one. They simply can't climb onto the toilet and use it effectively without a step and some support.

Opportunity: Most step stools are small and easily kicked over.

Potential solution: The Little Looster, a lobster-claw of a booster that wraps around the base of your toilet.

The Promise: "As an extension of the toilet, the Little Looster never needs to be shuffled around the bathroom. All grown-ups can use the toilet while standing or sitting without needing to move it out of the way."

The Reality: If you've got small bathrooms like we do, no adult will be able to use the toilet with the Little Looster in place. Grown mens' shoes simply do not fit between the Looster and the wall. This makes grown men very grumpy.

Conclusion: My almost 3 year old loved the Little Looster, but Josh has demanded it's immediate removal from our house so we're going back to our highly-kickable Ikea stool. If you live nearby and want it, shoot me an email.

Disclosure: I received a free product sample of The Little Looster, which retails for $39.99.