Gone Batty

The little guy took his infamous bat to the vacuum cleaner with the aggression of a steroid-fueled baseball player.

Sucks to Be You, Vacuum from chris k on Vimeo.

Your Guest Is As Good As Mine...

...but mine is so darn cute and kissable, and his sister and mom are just as precious.

On this day, we celebrated my friend Khair tying the knot. Many thanks to his mother for snapping these pics.

Acquired Required Taste

When Beni and I were more spry – read: before children – we made a point of traveling to Chicago every year for the Taste, the world’s largest fare fair. We ventured the crowded paths of Grant Park with Olivia in 2006 but hadn’t been back since. Reed made his debut on this day, and both he and his sister represented our family well in sampling the incredible array of foods available.

Our bodies nourished – but also overheated from the unrelenting sun – we headed to nearby Millennium Park, where we were cooled by the water tumbling down and shooting out of the 50-foot glass block towers that flank the shallow reflecting pool.

Ann Arbor Day

On the first day of our vacation not spent with family and friends, we took the time to meander through the streets, shops, museums, and bubble tea joints of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Ann Arbor is also the home of the University of Michigan, where Beni once braved snow-packed sidewalks, stadium-filled insanity, and sorority-life drama to earn the status of Wolverine alumnus. And so her trip back to her college hometown was not complete without our hailing to the victors' valiant campus. Here are some pictures from the Diag:

Lives Merge Ahead

Families members weren’t the only people holding reunions this week. College roommates got together as well, as Beni caught up with Laura, her first-year college roomie. Laura and her husband Dave are the proud parents of Luke – he of the tighty-whities – and baby Nathan, and we had the distinct pleasure of spending this afternoon with them all.

I love the familiar ease by which good friends, even those separated by time and space, can carry on a conversation. The topics have evolved to reflect their current life experiences, but the cadence of their chat was surely that of two friends chatting in the cramped un-comforts of a freshman hall.

Magnetic Personality

Petoskey, Michigan: home of Petoskey Stones, charming shops, equally charming bookstores that are featured in The New York Times, and funky coffee shops where young authors construct playful sentences with magnetic words.

The Isle of Mac

The big accomplishment during our family trip to Mackinac Island was not the tandem ride around its circumference or the washing of clothes by hand, but rather nary a reference to the island or the characters of Lost by yours truly. You’re welcome, Beni.

As you can see, our daughter has graduated from bike seat to seated biker, and she joined Aunt Crystal and Uncle Bruce for some water breaks along the way.

Son of on a Beach

Location: Lake Huron
More exact location: Latitude, Longitude of +45° 48' 0.00", -84° 24' 0.00"

Beach Boy from chris k on Vimeo.

To Form a More Perfect Reunion

You can’t spell family reunion without the letters in “fun.” (Although, to be fair and balanced, the same could be said for “no fun.”) Our family foursome made its way northward to once again become a union with various factions of Beni’s extended family. We had a lovely time catching up with everyone, getting in some beach time, and surveying – quite seriously, I might add – our food options before lunch.

A special thanks to Beni’s cousin Carol, whose organizational and planning skills made the whole event a success, and whose thoughtfulness meant that the kids even got their very own drink cozy as a parting gift.

How Swede It Is

♫ A horse is a horse, of course, of course,
And no once can talk to a horse of course,
That is, of course, unless the horse is the famous wooden Swedish variety.

Go right to the source and ask the horse
He’ll give Reed an answer that he’ll endorse.
He’s always on a steady course.
Talk to Mister Red. ♫

We’ve hitched our ride at my parents’ house for a couple nights. We’re galloping about the state of Michigan this week to meet up with various family members and friends (and the traditional carved and painted wooden horse statuette of my mother’s motherland).

Where the Son Does Shine

Beni and Reed enjoyed their time together poolside earlier this evening.

Party of O

The annual gathering of friends to commemorate one’s arrival on this earth transpired this morning at one of the spray parks in town. Olivia and her friends celebrated her June birthday with the traditional (at least in our family) decorating of Krispy Kreme doughnuts with sundry sugary items – your frostings and sprinkles and the like. When not triggering a spike of insulin production within their bodies, the kids had fun playing in the water and on the playground. Reed, too, got in the act, demonstrating his party trick of walking up a slide.

So You Think You Can (Watch Four Hours of) Dance?

Olivia takes dance classes from a woman who owns what must be the world’s busiest dance studio: the recital featured hundreds of her dancers in what seemed like hundreds of routines that took – I kid you not – nearly four hours to complete. It’s not that I’m complaining – I’m just trying to provide some context for how well regarded she is within our community. While I'll concede that my eye is untrained in the world of dance, it's clear that the quality of the performances bolsters her sterling reputation.

Olivia was involved in three separate dance routines – ballet, jazz, and tap – and in each one, she flashed a stage smile that lit up the entire auditorium. And nearly a year to the date, she was joined offstage afterward by her friend A.J., who was there once again in support and with flowers.

Familiar Faces, Places, and Races

The summer children’s fun run program returns to the place where we first became acquainted with it: the track of the university from which I receive my monthly paycheck. I’m happy that it’s back here – it’s much closer to our house (and so we’re much more likely to participate week in and week out), the odds of running – pun unintended – into our university friends are much greater (see above: Olivia hanging out with her buddy Aiden before their heat), and the possibility of “home track” advantage (okay…competitive as I may be, this last item is a joke). The kids run with their age group for one lap around the outdoor track. Every kid gets a ribbon for finishing, and punch and cookies await them on their way out of the stadium.

The whole thing is incredibly well run – pun intended – and quite fun. In the first installment of what we hope are many, Olivia set the track on fire with a torrid pace – by that I mean she ran a quarter-mile at a pace that I’d find challenging to sustain for a mile – to set a personal record, proving that ribbons, sugary drinks, and cookies are incredible motivators.

Truth, Justice, and the American (Girl) Way

We made a pilgrimage to an American Girl store on this day, fulfilling a promise we’d made to Olivia when Kit Kittredge joined our family last Christmas. We’d vowed then that we’d make a trip around Olivia's birthday to the place of awestruck children, where girls stare wide-eyed at the museum-like displays of dolls and doll accessories – and parents stare wide-eyed at the costs of said dolls and doll accessories. Kids are encouraged to bring in their own dolls for services such as hair appointments, photo shoots, and afternoon tea.

Thanks to the generosity of G and Grandma Moose, Olivia’s doll Kit – a Depression-era child – came away with pierced ears and an earring set, clothing accessories, school supplies, a homemade scooter, and her dog Grace. (I guess the Depression wasn’t hard-hitting for everyone.) And as parents, we came away with the sure-to-be lasting images of the expressions of sheer joy and wonderment on our daughter’s face from the moment we entered the store to the time we checked out.

Kreme of the Crop

Krispy Kreme's Original Glazed doughnut
52 grams
200 calories
110 calories from fat
12 total fat in grams
3 saturated fat in grams
5 cholesterol in mg
95 sodium in mg
22 total carbohydrate in grams
<1 dietary fiber in grams
10 sugars in grams
2 protein in grams
5 sugar-filled kids celebrating Olivia's birthday the best way how

Morning Six-ness

Six candles in her cake hath Olivia. Six years…a third of her childhood complete, only a dozen more before she’s off to college. Holy sh*t! [Dad shuffles off to the next room to gather himself and grab some tissues.]

We thought it’d be fun if we sent the birthday girl, from the moment she woke up on her special day, out on a six-clue seek-and-find as a tribute to both her years of life and her adventuresome spirit. Here’s how it all went down:

Birthday Clue #1 from chris k on Vimeo.

Birthday Clue #2 from chris k on Vimeo.

Birthday Clue #3 from chris k on Vimeo.

Birthday Clue #4 from chris k on Vimeo.

Birthday Clues #5 & #6 from chris k on Vimeo.

Gift of Grab from chris k on Vimeo.

The Presence of Presents from chris k on Vimeo.

Triple Play

From a recent visit to the children’s museum:

1. Scoop! There It Is


2. Eye Spy



3. Mirror Image (I seem to remember someone else having tunnel vision nearly five years ago.)