My Second City

I live in THE Second City, but my second city is definitely Toronto, Canada, where my great grandmother and aunt live and where Dad likes to visit as often as he can. Dad even told me he'd like me to go to the University of Toronto, become a dual citizen, and invite him to live with me to take advantage of the Canadian healthcare system. I have no idea what any of that means.
The focus of the trip, as usual, was to visit with Aina as best we could. In between visits, we went swimming once and visited the Hockey Hall Of Fame and Royal Ontario Museum. Dad and I also checked out the TIFF Bell Lighthouse for the TIFF Kids Film Fest, but didn't actually see a film, rather I played in the interactive playground. That was one of my favorite parts of the trip, but not as fun as hanging out at Zane's with Gigi, Papa, Uncle Dave, Dad and Casey.
Even after the long car ride to-and-from, I can't wait to return and when we do, I am assured one of the two amusement parks will be on the docket.

Bunny Break In

It happened again. At some point on the morning of Sunday, April 8, a bunny broke into my home and left me a basket of yummy candy. As if this wasn't creepy enough, the bunny also littered my yard with eggs filled with more candy. I am not sure how society allows this to occur, but my tummy and I are sure glad it does. Dad too, cause he eats the jelly beans I don't like.

I Heart Threadless

On Wednesday, I got to go into school a little later so I could attend the second photo shoot of my young life. This one was for Threadless at their West Loop headquarters. Despite everyone working there being 20-to-30-years-old, it seemed custom designed for a kid my age. Before the shoot got underway, I played with the foosball and pool tables and hung out in one of their two Airstreams, then Jen gave Casey, Dad and I a tour of the facilities and I got to use a Nerf machine gun and play with some dogs. Once the shoot got underway, it took me a little time to warm up, but then got into the swing of things. Well worth it too cause I got a handful of shirts to grow into.

A Parent's History of Owen Martin Rucins Pt. 3

BACON!

Dr. Seuss Day

Thing 1 and thing 2
That's nothing new,
But thing 2 and thing 1?!
Now that's something fun.

Thanks Mom!

Luminous Field

Throughout the year, Millenium Park is one of Chicago's most visited attractions, but it being a park, it's forced to be outside and is less visited in the city's usually frigid winters. Therefore the city tapped Luftwork, the collaborative vision of Petra Bachmaier and Sean Gallero, to curate a light installation called Luminous Field at Cloud Gate (aka "The Bean").
Dad really wanted to go see the exhibit and when I happened to be at his place on a Friday night, he and I took the Chicago Ave. bus to Michigan Ave, where we met Casey for the fairly quick walk to Millenium Park. Once there I noticed people had glow sticks, then dad discovered they were being given away for free. Needless to say, I grabbed two. We headed to "The Bean" and enjoyed the city lights and found most of the show interesting, but there were too many people standing where the images where being projected, thus diminishing the overall effect. I guess the goal of getting people to the park in the winter months worked though. We headed back towards Chicago Ave. and decided to grab dinner at our favorite burger place, M Burger. Mmmmmmm.... M Burger.

A Tradition I Can Get Behind

For the second straight year, Dad's birthday gift to himself was a trip to Key Lime Cove, which he seems to enjoy quite a bit, but that I enjoy even more. Luckily for both of us, for the past two years, my school has been closed the Monday following my Dad's January 27th birthday, which means we get to go to the indoor water park from Sunday into Monday. This time the hotel was only at 10% capacity, so we really never had to wait in line for much of anything. Slides, games, food and drink, were all right there for us. An added bonus this year was Casey coming along. She even tried to match my and dad's enthusiasm for brightly colored hotel rooms and hurling ourselves down giant plastic slides with the aid of moving water. I think one more trip next year and she'll be fully converted.

Christmastime

Dad's amazed that Christmastime is one word and I am amazed how much fun it is. This year we swapped our schedule, heading to Gigi & Papa's for Christmas Eve and then hosting Christmas Day at our place. Dad told me that when he grew up, most of the action took place on Christmas Eve, when his grandparents came over. This was the first time in a while that a larger group gathered in LaGrange and I loved it. My cousins and I opened a ton of gifts, even after most of the adults ran out of theirs.
The next morning I woke up at home to a freshly stocked Christmas tree and stocking, thanks to Santa. He got me a cool Batcave, some Star Wars toys, a couple of games and a GIANT penguin, aka Fluffy Guy. Santa even gave Casey and I a co-present, in the form of a Penguin stocking cap.

S A N T A

Turkey Shoot

My St. Helen kindergarten's November Family Project was to show how I could catch a turkey. Dad thought a picture book might be fun, so we set out to create some construction paper characters and props, including a cartoon gun and bullet. Casey made a great turkey, which Dad and I provided feathers for. Once everything was complete my hunt for Thanksgiving dinner began in my front yard. I spotted Mr. Turkey near the pond and fired away... but he was too quick. Luckily, the local store had plenty of frozen turkeys on hand, which Casey was more than happy to throw in the oven for Dad and me.

Oh, Mama Mia

One night, while returning from a visit to Gigi and Papa's, Casey and Dad stopped the radio on a station playing an epic song that started quietly, then slowly built to a fantastic rock explosion. Casey and Dad seemed to know all the words and even did some head banging. I asked what the song was and my dad explained it was called "Bohemian Rhapsody" by a band called Queen. By the next week Dad added it, and a couple other Queen songs, to my playlist and made sure I saw the origins of the singing and head banging by showing me the famous scene from Wayne's World. We also watched The Muppets' take on the classic. After a couple months of almost daily listening and eventual performance, I really nailed it on the way to Madison's birthday party.

All Hallows' Eve

Halloween fell on a Monday this year, which meant an entire weekend's worth of fun. It started on Saturday, when my Mom unveiled my awesome costume, Jack Skellington from Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. I showed off at a neighborhood party that afternoon and on Sunday I made an appearance at Brookfield Zoo's Boo! At The Zoo, where I got cheated out of best costume due to a judge's ignorance of the "No store bought costumes eligible for a prize" rule. Finally, on Halloween, I went to school in costume, then met up with Ethan for some trick-or-treating in my neighborhood. Much to my Dad's surprise, most of the homes and apartments had candy and one block even had a street party complete with cider for the adults. When we got home we ordered some pizza, then Ethan and I combined all of our candy and split it evenly with each other. Our parents were shocked.