A Parent's History of Owen Martin Rucins Pt. 2

Ahhh, the simple days when I could be put on my back in the grass and left to my own desire, which apparently was blindly conducting an imaginary orchestra in the sky.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

A couple weeks ago I caught a glimpse of a commercial promoting a monster truck rally called Monster Jam. I was amazed and asked if I could go. Dad kind of laughed it off, but later that week Casey got word that our friend Nick and my friends George and Angus were going, so we looked into it and next thing you know, we are sitting in a suite at Allstate Arena watching huge trucks jumping through the air and crushing mid-'80s era sedans.

Speaking of the '80s, one of the intermission distractions was a battle between two super slow moving "transformers" (seen above) that utilized fire and "rockets" to try and destroy each other. The fight was accompanied by some great zynth-pop instrumentals. Dad was cracking up.

Thanks to Nick and Mike for letting us join in on the fun and to Casey for persuading my elitest Dad to soak-up some rural culture right here in the big city.

A Tale Of Two Days

For the last two days of January, Dad and I escaped to Key Lime Cove in Gurnee. I had been there before with Mom for my fourth birthday, but this time around, the juxtaposition of the indoor water park environment and the outdoor winter wonderland- plus the complete lack of people- made for a surreal experience. See that photo above? It's not a stock image, that's how few people were there. And that meant no lines for ANYTHING. Non-stop sliding and splashing.

Our Midwestern-tropical-getaway came to an end and we returned to Chicago just in time to experience the third biggest snow in the cities history. The Blizzard of 2011, left our front yard with six foot snow drifts, which I loved climbing on while Dad took part in one of many shoveling sessions. Blizzard bonus, for just one day, I was able to play in the middle of the street.