A new life; same as the old life?

I haven't written in my blog for a while. Not because nothing is happening, but because I have been up to my ears in work and preparing to go home for the holidays (insert Carpenters medley here!) So let's see, what has been going on? Soon after I wrote last time Highland Park had their Halloween celebrations. The city had some special events going on, wagon rides, donkey rides, etc. We waited in line for 30 minutes only to find that AJ decided she didn't like donkeys! She and Lorraine went on a hayride instead and I minded the the stroller.The first picture above is AJ's skeleton Osk Kosh shirt, with the donkeys in back. The neighbourhood really seemed to get into Halloween, with lots of houses decorated, and lots of kids running around. The week before Thanksgiving, Highland Park lit up their holiday lights. They had a high school band, Santa came in to town and there were sleigh rides. AJ really loved the drummers, especially when they got their trashcans out and sta...

My inlaws just left (almost 3 weeks ago now, where does the time go??) There was, of course, the usual round of shopping and drinking, eating, etc. One of the things we did do was to go to a local pottery store, where you can choose items to paint and draw on, which are then fired for you. Mads mad some cat bowls, and Jan made a wall tile, which you can check out in the other pictures. Lorraine and I made this tissue box cover. There are a couple of other pictures in the collection, but as you can see, we put her name on there, and also go prints of both hands and feet. The feet were relatively easy to do, but she kept closing her hands, making it really difficult to get a good print, but it turned out OK. The weekend after they left, we went out with Godfather Mike to celebrate AJ's birthday with him. Did some shopping, got some of the cheapest gas in the country in Wisconsin and spent some time down at the lakeshore, walking around and actually in the lake paddling in just her na...

Please scroll down for pictures and write up of the three day birthday extravaganza. I have only posted a couple of videos here, the rest are on the photobucket page. This one is of us all singing Happy Birthday. No idea what happened to the focus, but it comes good at the end. This one is one the favourite toys she received. It vexed her, because she has a similar toy in which you push the balls in to do things, but this one kept blowing them out, watch her reactions. There are a ton more videos here

AJ's first birthday has come and gone, and like a celebrity she has had 3 days of celebrations. We started on Saturday with a combined birthday and housewarming party, the "public" celebration if you will. Several friends and relatives came to visit, laden with gifts and food. We opened some gifts on the day and partied until the wee small hours. She mostly had a good time, although with the whole stranger anxiety thing still going on even with Jan and Mads, there were some traumatic moments. We had a big cake made by our local supermarket and she had some fun rubbing it mum's face. Mads was seriously delayed getting in, over 6 hours late, but Mikey V, the trooper, assisted by going to the airport to pick her up. Once AJ was in bed, the adults continued the party playing a fun drinking game called What The F&*K . Day 2 of the celebrations were supposed to started by waving off some friends on a Jaguar motor tour of Route 66, but talk about a pissup in a brewery, w...

Today is officially the first day of Fall (Autumn for the Brits) in 2008, it is also two days since the Chicago Cubbies clinched their 2nd Division title in as many years, a feat unmatched since 1908, and we all know what happened that year. I was at the game on Saturday, and the timing could not have been better. I was really worried that the team would clinch on Thursday or Friday, as they could have, however they held on until Saturday and the town was buzzing. AJ's birthday is one week from today. Hard to believe that she is one year old already! We are of course having a party, combined with a housewarming on Saturday. Work is progressing well on the house, and I really must take some pictures again. I have all but finished painting downstairs, and only a couple rooms left upstairs. The main yard work will be completed this week, and I still hope to get the hot tub going by next weekend for the party. My MIL is in town for two weeks from today, and my SIL arrives next weekend,...

For those of you with the slightest interest in the game, this week is very exciting. What game? I hear my British readers yell. Baseball of course. Unfortunately Hurricane Ike, in addition to flooding my garden (I know I got off light compared to Texas, so no letters to the editor please) completely screwed up my playoff chances in the Fantasy Baseball League. I ended up losing by a mere 13 points, including two cancelled games. Some bad lineup decisions compounded the issue with almost 150 points sitting on the bench. C'est La Vie, there's always next year, third time's a charm right? The good news there is that my friend Nigel, also a Brit is in the final and he is winning so far. The Brits lead the way in the game they " Invented " For me though, the real excitement (sorry Nige) is that the Cubs " Magic Number ". The Cubs magic number is 4, so basically the Cubs need to win 4 the Brewers need to lose 4 or we win two, they lose two, etc. When the magi...

I don't think it has stopped raining since Friday night and it is now Sunday lunchtime. We have had a big front move through and now it's all about the after effects of Ike. The Cubs have already had games cancelled due to the storm in Houston and it looks like the lack of games will cost me the playoffs! It appears that the bottom of our garden is a bit of a collector area! And now for something completely different! I really must get a cover for the new grill, yes Steve that's five, count em, five burners, 60,000BTUs.

I know this is going to upset a bunch of my American readers and friends, but a discovery has been made in an old diary that America's Pastime was actually first played in the UK in 1755, more than 20 years before Independence was won. Apparently Major League Baseball has been informed of the discovery, but has so far not commented. The full article is here , but the crux of it, is that a diary chronicling part of William Bray's life, a well know historian and diarist, recently discovered in a garden shed last year details him playing baseball in 1755! Wiki Answers seems to back up this theory that the game was in fact invented in the UK You can click here to hear the news item on BBC's Radio 4. Sorry guys, but at least you still play it and have the "World Series"

Not the Cubs, although hopefully they will be there too, but no; me! I made the fantasy baseball playoffs for the 2nd year in a row and hope to not get my ass kicked in the first round this year. I won my division and have two rounds of play offs before I can win the title. This week I go up against the Epsom Braves, my friend Nigel from the UK. Quite the funny thing, two Brits showing our American friends what it takes to get in the playoffs. So wish me luck in beating my fellow Brit and taking my A game to the "World Series". That is the scores on Tuesday night.

The Radio Flyer wagon is an American institution. It comes in many sizes, designs, different materials, different wheels, etc. I guess it is supposed to be a kid's toy, that they use to haul stuff around in or maybe more likely an adult toy, they use to haul the kids around in, but it does have other uses. Lot's of parents (and some not parents) buy them to take to events such as the Ravinia Festival , or even down into town to take the kids shopping. We recently went to see Tony Bennett at Ravinia and borrowed Hazel's wagon to haul the cooler, tables, chairs, etc, whilst Addy had a comfy ride in the pushchair (stroller for the Americans), it worked great. So now we are hoping to join the American institution, with the purchase of such a wagon for AJ's first birthday/Christmas. The one above is the All Terrain Wagon, with removable sides, so it should be great for multi purpose use, and will hopefully last many years to come for when AJ grows up and wants to actually pl...

Wow, I can't believe summer is coming to an end. The official end of summer here is Monday 1st September this year. Local attractions either close completely or significantly reduce their operation. We have a local water park in our new town, three golf courses, a beach, and a very nice town center, few of which we have taken advantage! We did do our first garage sale earlier this year, and raised $400 ourselves and with friends over $1000! As you can see we had a lot of crap to sell, but people bought it, with some folks coming back several times over the two days! Click here for a few more pictures. This past weekend it was the Taste Of Highland Park, where local restaurants bring out sample sizes of their product and over charge you for their promotional advertising. It was however an excellent day out, lots of good food and a nice walk to town. On the same day, they had the Port Clinton Square Art Festival, celebrating it's 25th Anniversary. We ended up continuing our walk...

As you all know, I love my camera, despite not being very good with it!  I am hoping to take a class this winter though, with the New York Institue Of Photography. It's a correspondence course , and they give you assignments, tutuor support, etc. It sounds pretty good for the price. If anyone is interested in taking it themselves, let me know, cos they are always sending me discount vouchers. Check out all of the courses here . However, when last in the UK, Lorraine and the Cooper girls went to get proper professional pictures taken. I have all of them on various formats, but I uploaded a bunch of them here. Click to check em out .

Yesterday was an interesting day. We started the morning darker at 6am than it is on some winter mornings, due to a heavy storm rolling in, and finished it the same way with the Cubs game stopped short for tornadoes and lightning, and a superb light show to our south, as you can see on these videos. Check em out! Between the flashes, you can see some excellent fork lightning too. Apparently about 1/2m homes were without power after the storm and there were a record 88,000 lightning strikes.

I recently had my first Jimmy Buffett experience. Jimmy Buffett is a huge deal here in the US and specifically in Illinois. It is a big party time every time he comes to town, people dress up in Hawaiian shirts, and head north to Alpine Valley in Wisconsin and behave like it is Spring Break combined with Mardi Gras, combined with Girls Gone Wild! It's kinda like Vegas, in the sense that what happens at Buffett stays at Buffett, and my camera actually helped that cause by screwing up on the picture download, losing most of the pictures I had of half naked women and girls making out with girls. Here are a few samples.

I have a bunch of pictures and videos of the young 'un that I have been meaning to get around to posting for a while, including some of the "The Pox", some recent, some crawling video, crazy fake laughter, and some older pictures that Lorraine has had on her camera for a while. Lastly, Lorraine had a professional session done whilst in the UK, so there are some of those pictures too. So in no particular order..here goes, click the picture to take you to the linked albums. From UK trip (May), inc swimming, horse riding & Scottish rellies. From June, inc "The Pox" The Godfather & weird sleeping positions. Miscellaneous July Pictures Miscellaneous Videos, inc first feeding, crawling, standing & rugby league! Click here for more videos.

Wow, almost a month since I last posted. The Cubs and White Sox continue to be in 1st place in their respective divisions and leagues. The records continue to be broken, and everyone is starting to predict a Cubs/Sox World Series; something that hasn't happened since the early 1900s. I have a bunch of pictures to edit and upload, Addison, The Pox, 4th July, the house, and the garden, soon, I promise. Lorraine has been unpacking, cleaning and organising. We only have the stairs to clean with the whizzy carpet cleaner we borrowed. If you ever need to buy one, the Bissell we borrowed is excellent; I can recommend it. We haven't done any decorating since we moved in, as we have been concentrating on the outside. Lorraine has started playing golf again in her weekly league, and of course Addison is keeping her busy as a full time job. Lorraine is making all Addison's baby food from scratch with organic meats and vegetables, she eats better than I do :-) Addison is growing at an ...

This weekend, the battle of the Central division leaders went the way of the Cubs with a three game sweep of the Chicago White Sox. The Cubs continue to set standards that have not been met by a Cubs team in several years. They are 20 games over 500, they have won 14 straight home games (a first in 72 years). Ryan Dempster is 9-0 at home this year, something no Cub has done since 2001. Aramis Ramirez, hit 4 home runs this weekend, giving him more home runs against the White Sox this year than any other hitter in the major leagues, yet the Cubs have only played the Sox three times, against some other teams having played them more than twice that. Of course none of this matters, unless the Cubs keep it up through the end of the season and find a way to stop beating themselves every time they get close. So keep supporting them, keep cheering them and let's take it all the way this year.

Poor little thing, she is all sick with the pox. We have no idea where it came from, although with a two week incubation and being an airborne disease, it is probably from the plane ride home. She is in remarkably good spirits, considering, and apart from the abundance of spots, you would never know she was even sick. Hopefully she will get well soon, and be back to her old photgenic self!

Writing this I am sure will freak out both inlaws and parents, as this is probably the closest we have come to an actual disaster. At the weekend, I was sitting watching the game, and Lorraine was putting AJ to bed, when the EAS kicked into life. Apparently the weather had taken a turn for the worse and a tornado moving at approximately 36mph (I am told this is slow) was headed our way, and when I say our way, I really mean our way, between 10 and 15 miles away! The EAS recommended hiding in a basement or internal room with no windows. So we rounded up Reggie, AJ, a couple glasses of wine, baby milk, some water & my blackberry to keep in touch and headed into our downstairs bathroom, between the office and the laundry room, only one external wall and no windows. It did touch down 15 miles away in Mundelein but there was little/no damage. It was a very destructive tornado, just not anywhere near us. I know it shouldn't be exciting to experience these events, and I probably shou...

I know Olly's views on personalised plates, but with it being so cheap and easy (my very favourite type...) I just couldn't resist. The process is all on line, you can have pretty much anything you want so long as it is not vulgar and no-one else has it. Imagine my surprise however, when not only could I have Gordy, but I could have it on an Organ Donor plate, one of my favourite things, although I hope they wait until I die, unlike the " Meaning Of Life " Oh and one of the front of the truck, cos I just love the look of it!

We last left our intrepid global traveller in the South of England, following a triumphant trip to the motherland. The timing of this entire trip had been dictated by the one and only date for my in laws 40th birthday gift. The Aston Martin Experience was in Oxfordshire, which meant another several hours in the car, and on one of the few days where it rained for the whole trip. We had left AJ home with Grandma, and intended to make a whole day of it. Arriving in the middle of nowhere, around 10:30am, very little signage or directions, we stumbled upon a tiny sign to get to the farm, and on up to the circuit purpose built for such events. As you can see from these pictures , they had a plethora of exotic cars. The rain was still coming down hard, but nothing could dampen our spirits as the cars roared around the circuit. We had a couple of quick sighting laps in the rally cars with the instructor, showing the lines, where to turn in, etc. We then took our turns in the Aston, 6 laps of h...

It's been a long and tiring two weeks, and now I have to go back to work. Regular readers will know that I spent the last two weeks at home in the UK visiting friends & family. It was a packed schedule, planned with military precision to maximise socialising and golfing opportunities. We landed at 5:30am and jumped straight into a rental car, headed for Scotland via the Lake District. We spent that first night with some friends at their farm/stables/guest house catching up on all the old skiing gossip from Soll. We even got AJ on a horse for her first assisted "ride". There are a few more pictures here of AJ on the horse. We left the farm mid morning and wended our way further northwards to visit my family who had never met the baby. We had checked into another guest house in Ayr, call By The Sea which we can thoroughly recommend. It has recently reopened with new ownership and a significant refit. The location is great, one block from the beach, and close to the t...