A Morning At The Conservatory

Dad and I met Gigi and Papa at The Garfield Park Conservatory last Sunday, where we took in a couple gospel tunes from a local congregation holding their Sunday morning service, before we wandered through the beautiful conservatory rooms.
The GPC recently celebrated it's 100th anniversary, making it one of the nation's oldest, largest and most beautiful conservatories in the country. I especially like the children's area with it's slide and giant bumble bee. Dad snapped the photo above by one of the ponds, which has fish and a few Chihuly sculptures leftover from his show a few years back. We ended our morning by looking at the rare Double Coconut Palm Tree and it's 50 lbs seed.

Self Portrait

My Godmother Breebo is super cool. She lives all over Europe and she let me use her camera during the holidays. I was experimenting with self-portraiture. What do you think of these?

Santa's hat rules.

This Christmas ruled. I was able to open my own presents and I got lots of them. But I think my favorite item of the season was the Santa hat. My Gigi got me a nifty white and red striped number and my Mom got me a cheapo Walgreens version, but both were stylish and warm for the season. I'd keep wearing them all season long if my Dad allowed it.

I'm Ron Burgundy?

Chalk Preschool recently moved me to the Blue Room, so I could hang with some older kids and I got to party with them yesterday during the Holiday Party. I missed the memo about the party being a pajama jammy jam and showed up in my best '70s business casual attire instead. The ladies were impressed.

SANTA!

On Saturday, December 20, Santa stopped by Bullfrogs & Butterflies, my local toy store, and Mom and Dad braved the snow, so I could say hi. the big guy was old, but friendly, and I got a candy cane out of the visit. I was excited to meet him in person, as I watched him in The Polar Express almost daily for the past two weeks. Some kids were not as happy to see him and started crying.

A Holi(Sun)day

On December 7 I headed to Gigi & Papa's to get ready for the holidays. I got a cool Santa hat and then baked gingerbread men cookies with my Dad, Uncle Dave, and Gigi. After my nap, Dad and I headed back to the city to see the Red Moon Theater's Winter Pageant Redux with Mom. I really enjoyed it, aside from the giant rope, which was part of the props I played with after the show. As if all this wasn't enough, I ate a pizza dinner too.

Missouri Turkey

My mom took me down to Missour(ah) for Thanksgiving. My uncle Matt has his own house, huge yard and a really awesome john deere riding lawn mower that I didn't want to leave for even 2 minutes. We raked leaves, went to a beautiful state park, visited the canoe rental where my mom and her siblings worked and even deep fried a turkey. Missouri is cool. (My mom likes to hear that.)

Bubble Time

I might have put too many bubbles in my bath. I'm a bubble monster!

Chalk's Halloween Party

I headed to preschool on my off day for the Green Room's annual Halloween party. Dressed in the Gigi purchased Spider costume- complete with tights thanks to mom- I devoured cupcakes, played with pumpkins, and frosted cookies. Just before I left I took a photo with my three awesome teachers. Thanks Miss Celia, Maeve and Stephanie.

Cape Cod Arrival

Dad I and I traveled to Cape Cod, Mass for our friends Kevin & Kelly's wedding. I had just woke from a nap, when I changed into my party clothes and handed a juice box and pretzel. Then we headed out to listen to The Decemberists, The Walkmen, Broken West and more.
More pics soon.

Fall Fashion

My mom is pretty psyched to dress me up in Fall fashions. She even made me wear the sunglasses that I hate wearing. But I did it for her, because she's my Mom and she'll give me candy if I behave.

Breakfast Time

My parents are so proud of my appetite so I keep them happy by eating all my eggs, sausage and fruit for breakfast.

Mustache Man

What do you think? Should I grow one?

Owen's White Sox Drum Solo

I recently attended my second White Sox game, a thrilling come from behind victory, and I made it through the entire three hour contest thanks to help from Mom, Dad, Chris Schuba and some (plastic) beer bottles. Check out my skills on the stadium seats. And thanks to the White Sox home run prowess, I also learned a new word: Fireworks.

My Third Lollapalooza

My Dad works in the music industry so we get all sorts of insane hookups for shows. So they brought me to my 3rd Lollapalooza, which is kinda suprising considering I'm only 2. How does that work exactly? During Gnarls Barkley, I found a pack of other industry kids to play with and I ripped off my shirt to impress them with my six pack. Then I tried to drink some dude's beer that was stoned on the lawn. Mom busted me which was really annoying. She's such a party pooper sometimes.

Owen's Return To Toronto

Sorry for the huge lapse in posts, but as you will see in the coming weeks, I've been a busy boy. Multiple international jaunts, birthdays- including my 2nd, music fests and more.
I'll start with my second visit to Toronto, Canada, where I celebrated my birthday, while visiting my great-Grandma Aina and great-Aunt Zane.

A Parent's History Of Owen Martin Rucins - Pt. 1

This blog started well into Owen's first two years, so we now return to the recent past and take a look at some key moments, or at least good photos, of Owen's early months.

In our first installment, we exam the name that might have been. Oscar was Owen's original moniker, but it fell in the delivery room to the likes of Oliver and Wes and finally to Owen. Add the middle name Martin, which is in tribute to Owen's late grandfather, Myra's father, Martin Mazzei. The last minute name change meant we already had some gifts with Oscar emblazoned on them, including the cap seen here. Owen seems a bit surprised, doesn't he?

I Won The Lottery! Sort Of.

Although I am only 23-months-old, I have played the lottery three times. Not a lottery to win some scratch, rather to get into a safe, accredited, quality pre-school. Like my much older parents I don't quite understand why our government doesn't provide for this kind of service for all the children in this country, but dad assures me that our military is kick-ass and that's what really matters to most in power.

I was crushed when I lost all three lottery attempts. But mom and dad kept on digging for new options, until yesterday, when Chalk Preschool called to say that the last winner had backed out and I guess I was the runner-up. Woo hoo. I start on June 2 and it's only three days per week, but may jump to five in July. Wish me luck and check out Chalk by clicking the logo below.

Choo Choo

On a recent beautiful, yet windy day, Dad decided to ditch working from home in favor of taking me on the El for a quick ride through the Loop. Then we walked the length of Grant Park into Millennium Park, where I took my afternoon nap. Dad caught up on his e-mails, while sitting in the sun.

All Cleaned Up

Mom tried her best to cut my hair, but we had to go to a professional in the end. Check out my before and after photos.