Is It Michigan? Is It Indiana? It's Michiana!

Our annual summer trip to Michigan, which usually lands in South Haven, moved a bit south to Michiana this year and I am still not quite sure if the little village is in Michigan, Indiana, or both. I do know it's close to Michigan City- which is actually in Indiana, had an amazing fireworks display and poor jailers, who allowed four men to escape while we were nearby. One of the convicts was caught just a little bit down the road at Chicago Mayor Daley's beach home in Grand Beach, Michigan. This lead to my daddy's trunk being searched on the way to the dunes and we enjoyed the rest of the few days there awash in beautiful weather and the sounds of police helicopters and boats.

The King Of Pop Lived Here

On the way to Michiana this July, Uncle Dave insisted we stop in Gary, Indiana to check out Michael Jackson's childhood home and am I glad we did cause it was pretty nuts. Michael died suddenly a few weeks prior to our visit and people immediately started flocking to his Gary home, where in tribute they started leaving insane amounts of miscellaneous crap, trampling the poor grass in the process. Check out the photos for the proof. The scene surrounding the tiny house, which miraculously held 10 people, was bananas. Police, t-shirt vendors, creepy super fans and little kids dragged by their gawking parents. Thanks dad!

Poop!

This picture pretty much tells the story. While at Wicker Park one day I felt the urge, so I told Mommy, who rushed me into the field house, where I pulled down my pull-up and dropped my first official number two in the potty. From then on it was underwear only and while I initially struggled a bit with the deuce, it's now a regular occurrence. TMI, right?

A Summer Night In Millennium Park

Millennium Park, the world's largest green roof, is easily one of Chicago's greatest attractions and on a recent- beautiful Monday night I managed to experience just about all it has to offer. Uncle Dave, Dad and I headed down around 6:00 PM to meet Gigi & Papa, who took the Silver Train (re: Metra) from LaGrange and brought some sandwiches along. Before we ate, I got to play in the Crown Fountain (shhh... I peed). Then I dried off before checking out Amsterdam architect Ben van Berkel and his UNStudio's new Burnham Plan Centennial Pavilion. What a great piece of public art. After some exploring, we at dinner on the lawn while listening to The Dirty Projectors and The Sea & Cake play Pritzker Pavilion, before walking up the new Nichols Bridgeway that leads to The Modern Wing at The Art Institute of Chicago. Our friend Chad joined us and Uncle Dave snapped a great photo, just before a security guard told daddy he could not have me on his shoulders. Stupid rules.

Dad's Day

Father's Day landed on June 21st this year, so it had to share the spotlight with Uncle Dave's birthday and the first day of Summer. Had I known of the significance of the day I would have let Dad do whatever he liked. However, I think he got to anyway, since he seemed to have fun at the park with me and enjoyed watching me play with the hose. In between he got to watch the White Sox and later we all enjoyed some cake.

Go White Sox!

Just a few weeks after attending my first Sox game of the year, I got to go to Sox Park again in early-June. It was my fifth game in only three years on earth. Dad must really want to make sure I root for the right team. Gigi and Papa came along on what turned out to be kids day, so I got to dance with a random dog and play in a moon jump before we headed to the awesome seats Chris Schuba gave us. I wandered around with dad and got as close as possible to the field, where the newest White So(x or ck), Gordon Beckham, signed my dad's Sox cap. When the game started I had a hot dog, then passed out in Gigi's arms, where I slept for a good five innings, not even waking up for the firework's after Alexei Ramirez's homer. Unfortunately, that was the only highlight for the Sox that day, as they lost to the Indians 8 - 4.

Toronto III

Once again, thanks to my birthday falling near or on Memorial Day weekend, I found myself in Toronto, Ontario Canada for my annual visit- my third- with my Great Grandma, Aina. If I keep up this pace, Canada may need to make me an honorary citizen. Free health care!
Gigi, Papa, Dad and I flew the wonderful Porter Airlines, which flies right into the downtown islands. We stayed at our usual spot, the Novotel Toronto Centre, which is just a block away from Aina's pad and the amazing St. Lawrence Market. We spent the weekend visiting, swimming, celebrating my birthday and walking the now familiar streets of Toronto. However, my favorite part was our Sunday visit to Centreville, an amusement park on Toronto's Centre Island. Dad and I got to ride the Log Ride, the Dragon Coaster, Centreville Train and Ferris Wheel. Plus I went on the cars and boat all by myself.
On the way home I was told that we'd be going back to Toronto in September for Aina's 90th birthday. My cousins and Aunt Lori and Uncle Dave will be along too. Can't wait.

I'm Three

Due to my annual birthday-weekend trip to Toronto (post coming soon), Mom and Dad had to throw my third birthday party a week prior to May 25, but lucky for me- and thanks to Dad- my favorite man from the sun, Gustafer Yellowgold, happened to be in town. He played an awesome 45 minute set at Schubas.
After the concert, a ton of my friends and their parents, plus my family, headed upstairs for snacks, drinks, sweets, presents and ice cream cake, which Dad and Mom got for me at Baskin Robbins.
It was the best three-year-old bash ever.

Aspiring Musician

Whenever I visit Dad at Schubas I always try to walk on stage and sing some songs. I like to practice these tunes at home using the too-large-guitar my Uncle Dave got me for Christmas. Have a look.

Dinosaurs Alive!

Wow!
Last Sunday, I had the best time ever at my favorite zoo, The Brookfield Zoo, where they have an awesome new exhibit called Dinosaurs Alive! There is good reason for that !. The dinosaurs are life size and look so real. The sound, eh, not so much, but who cares? I got to run amongst dinosaurs without fear of being eaten and got to dig for their fossilized bones. So cool. On the way to the carousel we saw one last dinosaur, the Ruyang Yellow River dino, which is the largest ever discovered. Daddy, Uncle Dave, Gigi & Papa and I took a carousel ride, then headed to my favorite permanent exhibit, the Swamp. I danced to the Cajun music and said hello to the alligator, one of the only animals left on earth, who can be traced back to the dinosaurs.

It's Root, Root Root For The White Sox

Daddy's a huge White Sox fan and he has taken me to a couple games already, but this time we sat in awesome seats, thanks to his friend Dave Rockland at Jam. They are directly behind the visitor's dugout, which happened to be the Toronto Blue Jays. We didn't boo cause we love us some Toronto. I was so close to home plate, first base and the pitcher's mound, but I was more into eating popcorn and a hot dog and talking to the people sitting behind us. The seats are also on TV whenever a lefty was up. I was sure to wave to Papa each time and the next morning Dad replayed the game so I could see myself on TV. It was cold and a bit rainy, so I wanted to leave around the 6th inning, but not before we saw Alexei Ramirez hit a grand slam, which meant some loud fireworks. The Sox went onto win 10 - 2, but have since played like poop.

A Visit From The Bunny

I spent Easter weekend at Gigi and Papa's with Daddy, Uncle Dave, Aunt Lori, Uncle Mark and my cousins Alexa, Madison and Quinn. I woke up and played with Gigi and just before Dad came downstairs I found an Easter basket, then I found another, and then one more. Luckily for me, at some point Easter became a Jr. Christmas, so I got a marble contraption and a Play-Doh thingy to go along with enough candy to last me a month. Seriously, there's still a basket full of it on my Dad's kitchen table.
As if toys and candy were not enough, I got to go to the First Congregational Church of LaGrange with Gigi and Papa. I made it through the entire service thanks to some awesome stained glass windows and killer organ jams.
The day's Easter themed activities ended with an egg hunt in the backyard with my cousins. I found more than Alexa, but had lots of help.

The Field Museum

My Chicago Museum tour continued a couple weeks ago with a visit to The Field Museum, one of our cities oldest. Mom, Dad and me went to the (old-school) Real Pirates exhibit, but before we zoomed through that we checked out the huge display of taxidermy, from the littlest bugs, to the largest mammals. However, I was more into the old phones and buttons on the sometimes outdated displays. Dad took some photos throughout the short visit, but the pirates were off limits. I had a blast, got a snake, and we became members, so I am sure I'll be back soon to see the rest. Admittedly, it's got a little ways to go to overtake my love of the Museum Of Science Of Industry, which I visited a couple months ago with Gigi, Papa, and Dad. Thanks to Dad's hard drive fail I have no photograph memories of the visit. Gotta go back.

MCA

Daddy took me to Chicago's Museum Of Contemporary Art, on a recent unseasonably-warm-Sunday, for Family Day. The MCA's Buckminster Fuller exhibit just opened, so I got to see all his whacky, yet ingenious ideas. Dad helped me build a geodesic globe and I made a portfolio and some art to put in it. My favoririte part was the scavenger hunt. Dad and I had to find eight different pieces of art in the museum and I put stickers on the scavenger sheet I was given. I hope to go back for April's Family Day.