Public Lens

There may be no “I” in team, but there are two eyes peering out of the lenses of these shades from Target.

Land No-Lakes

In our portion of flyover country, we have vast seas of commodity crops – namely corn and soybeans – but not much in terms of bodies of water. One of the rare exceptions is a man-made reservoir that serves as the primary potable water source for our community and some of the surrounding areas. It is also a place where one can swim, water ski, or fish. (Although not simultaneously – that would prove rather difficult.)

On this day, our family joined Julie and Marcos’s at their relative’s lake house, where we celebrated the last day of summer break, a fitting end to a memorable and fun period of our lives.

The twins shucking some commodity crops

Gramma Phone

Baby Gaga's "Telephone" from chris k on Vimeo.

I didn’t realize that Reed was having a conversation with his grandmother until they were halfway through their conversation, but I did manage to capture some of it, which gave me an excuse to pay homage, by video’s title, to my favorite pop star. And that gave me an excuse to pay homage to our favorite TV show paying homage to my favorite pop star.

Sweet Sixteenth

If you were to ask Olivia the famous historic figure with whom she’d want to have dinner, the answer you’d get back would depend on the year. Two years ago, she may have said Jesus, having spent her preschool years singing his praises; last year, she would have surely said Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., with whom she shares in a desire to dream of a better world. And while these two men may still be seated tableside, it is Abraham Lincoln who has taken his place at the head table.

Much of this can be attributed to a lesson from her kindergarten days, but historians might be able to unearth some earlier influences, however subtle. The tour that Olivia and I took of DC this summer only served to solidify her interest in our sixteenth president, and so it was only fitting that we’d spend an entire day devoted to him – visiting the many sites devoted to him – in the capital of the Land of Lincoln.

Lincoln Home

Lincoln Tomb

Burial chamber

Can You Dig It?

It took over a year, but all that hard work has paid off: the dinosaur bones that Olivia and other kids began excavating at the “dig site” in Indianapolis’s children’s museum last summer have now been assembled and are on display. (Okay, make no bones about it, that’s all a bunch of prehistoric hooey, but the truth is that Olivia and I returned to Indy’s crown jewel again this year – this time with Beni and Reed – and we all had a yabba-dabba good time.)

Bubble Tea Party

My name is Chris, and I’m an addict. (But so is my wife.) It all started the night of my commencement ceremony for graduate school. Beni, Aunt Liz, G, and a three-year-old Olivia stayed long enough to witness my walking across the stage to receive my diploma, but they cut out shortly thereafter to avoid traffic and preschooler meltdowns. Their oasis was a local tea shop – a place near campus that we’d noticed before but hadn’t yet frequented. Well, they had us at hello, with the hello being a sample of their fusion milk tea with tapioca pearls.

A search for the term “bubble tea” within this blog and my Twitter account reveals that I’ve written on the topic quite often, and so I readily admit that my obsession is just that – a domination of my thoughts by the persistent desire for the sweet beverage of curious name and textures. At the point, I’ve given into its seductive powers, and so seeking out the next bubble-tea spot while on vacation has become a reflexive as searching for a vegetarian restaurant or locating the nearest Marriott hotel chain at which we can cash in my loyalty-reward points.

Here are some of our fave fat-straw moments from our summer travels:

Chicago's Chinatown

With Sabine in a Maryland mall

Downtown Providence

The North Market of Columbus (OH)

Dutch Treat

The Dutch may have finished second in this year’s World Cup, but their Wonderland amusement park ranked number one in our hearts. We stopped by the Lancaster, Pennsylvania attraction on our way home from our two-week East Coast (mis)adventure. (As Beni astutely points out, a vacation is no vacation when there’s a toddler in tow.)

We were joined in amusement by the incomparable G, who, when not riding the Sky Ride with her granddaughter and daughter who’s grand, gave me and Beni the opportunity to sneak in some roller-coaster rides so that we could feel like kids again.

Dude, You're Getting a Del's

Del’s Lemonade is to Rhode Island what Vernors is to Michigan: a satisfier of the sweet tooth whose identity remains entrenched in the state of its creation. No visit to the Ocean State is complete without a stop by a Del’s stand (or roadside truck, in this case).

No Average Joe

Beni’s Uncle Joe, or UJ as he’s affectionately known, made the trip up to Rhode Island to join his parents, sister, niece, the kids, and me for a couple of days. He’s been battling cancer since his diagnosis a year ago, and so his presence at our gathering heightened our awareness of the preciousness of life and significance of family support.

Here’s hoping his continued recovery is as smooth as his conversational manner, and as expeditious as the smiles that cross his face.

We send you our love, UJ.

Ivy (Little) Leaguers

It’s never too early to heap unrealistic expectations upon your young children.

Yale University – New Haven, Connecticut

Brown University – Providence, Rhode Island

Screen Play

Computer literacy begins early nowadays, doesn’t it? Our sixteen-month-old seems as comfortable around a computer as we are in a bubble-tea establishment, which today happened to be Empire Tea and Coffee in picturesque Newport, Rhode Island. I enjoyed an horchata chai that was nothing short of amazing, and Olivia swilled her similarly stupendous orange-creamsicle drink, all of which Reed broadcast on his Twitter feed.

Right to a Speedy Trail

"Hiking the Appalachian Trail" has taken on new meaning ever since Mark Sanford, the governor of South Carolina, got tangled (tango-ed?) up in his trail of lies in trying to cover up his tryst with his Argentinean mistress. Well, before its entendre got doubled, it literally meant to trek the hiking trail extending through the Appalachian Mountains from central Maine to northern Georgia. And it was the original meaning that my uncle, cousin, and I did – a mere sliver of it – near their home in New York.