A new life; same as the old life?

Last couple of weekends I have gone out to take some photographs. I have a laundry list of DIY tasks on my list that I am supposed to be doing, but work is so busy that I don't really seem to have the energy. The family are out of town in the UK for a few more weeks. Yesterday I went to shoot Fabyan Villa, it's Japanese garden and the restored windmill, out in Geneva, Kane County. Unfortunately the garden was closed for three different wedding shoots; so I will have to go back some other time and maybe take the kids. I was able to watch them put up the sails and start up the windmill which was very cool. The guy climbing the wooden substructure to grab the sail cloth and unfurl it, then watch on a windy day how they adjusted the sail to make sure that it wasn't turning too fast. From their website... Fabyan Forest Preserve was once part of the large country estate of George and Nelle Fabyan. They came to the Fox River Valley in the early 1900s and bought a farmhouse ...

...and apparently it is going to be one of the worst in forever. The weather has been decent this fall or autumn, depending on which country you are from. October has been another busy month, which ended up with waving the family off to the UK for an extended 5 week plus trip. As I write this, it is already 11 days and they have flown by! I have been busy working, and took a couple of weekend trips out to take pictures. Also, as is always the case when the family goes away, I have a boat load of DIY jobs to try to get done. I have already hung two new doors, ripped the trim off the upstairs hall, and put up a new light in the office. The rest of the list is way too long to go through, but it ranges from cutting a new doorway in Cooper's room to simple stuff like touching up cracks, paint dings, etc. I decided to check out the Naperville River Walk and it was excellent. We have talked about it many times, and drove through the city a couple of weeks ago to check it out when we wer...

and I am a blogger, it has been over a month since my last post! Seriously, where does the time go? September has been a super busy month, with the end of summer and everyone trying to squeeze in their events before the weather starts to turn. WARNING; monster post, lots of pix, grab a coffee/G&T! Every year, the rules are that everything opens up for summer on Memorial Day and closes on Labor Day (this year Sept 5th). With this in mind, I took a day off work in the middle of the week to do some stuff with the family, including a day trip to Six Flags Great America. Well I guess Labor Day came early in Gurnee, because the Wednesday that we went to Six Flags, August 31st, they were closed! WTF! Fortunately they were still open weekends and holidays, so we used our season passes to spend a couple of hours there on the Monday night of Labor Day. We even managed to get Addison onto one of the water rides, twice! Only a few pictures of the fun and games as it was a short evening. Wauke...

Growing up these VW campers were all the rage. If you had one you were definitely cool. They were better than caravans, more spacious than cars, almost like the original mini van. Well now you can buy a piece of this nostalgia in the shape of a four man tent.

I cannot believe it is the end of August already and officially the end of summer here in the US next weekend. It has been a strange summer, lots of storms, oppressive heat and mosquitoes! As is always the case at this time of year everything is being squeezed into the last few weekends. Last weekend I went to the only golf outing truly worth it's salt. The Timothy O'Tooles 14th annual outing. It was our first time, but the pictures of previous outings convinced us. They promised an all in experience with all the food and liquor you could drink, free samples on every hole, etc. Well they came up a little short of every hole, but probably at least 14 or so out of the 18 had free liquor and some nice sights too. Click here for a few shots from the day. This weekend we have already seen Tony Bennett, last night, at Ravinia Festival. Always a good time, the picnic, the lawn, camping out on the station platform waiting for the train. This afternoon, we are off to an "ope...

We went to the botanic gardens again today, this time for their 7th annual kite festival. We watched the skilled flyers take their kites in very little wind and do amazing stunts. Unfortunately it was VERY hot and we were sitting in full sun, so we were not able to stay very long. It was like watching an air show though, these folks could fly their kites in perfect formations, just like the jets and bi planes due in the air and water show. Click here for some shots from the little time we stayed there. Click here for full event details if you want to see more about the event. We are hoping that this one is a little cooler in September!

Can there be anything more American than the Bald Eagle? Even though not technically bald by today's definition, historically (colonial times) bald also meant to have white hair, hence their name. They appear on coins, flags, standards, logos, pretty much anything you could think of. Every year Bald Eagles come down from the north on their way to warmer climes and to be able to eat. They stop over in the Midwest in Illinois and Iowa amongst other places, for a few weeks, using the locks and dams where the water doesn't freeze to fish. Years ago the eagles were on the endangered list and were struggling to have any success breeding due to DDT weakening the egg shells causing them to break when the females nested. DDT was banned and populations immediately increased, but are again under threat, though they are no longer on the endangered list. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend a Photo Safari with Chicago Photo Safaris to view and photograph these magnificent birds. My ...

All of the really cool winter things are just starting to kick in, Christmas lights, winter wonderlands, train sets and holiday festivals. Today was the Highland Park holiday festival, where they switched on the holiday lights, without an actual Christmas tree of course. There was ice sculpting first thing, some cider, chestnuts, and then Father Christmas arrived on a fire truck to switch on the lights. I took a bunch of really cool pictures of the ice carving, check em out .

This it the tourist slogan for Illinois , a play on the name of the main shopping street in Chicago. IE there are more miles worth seeing in Illinois than just the Magnificent Mile; or at least that's how I interpret it. So this weekend, we decided to see if it was true. As you may have noticed, I have been doing a lot more photography wise, and one of those guys I have been working with runs his own business doing "Photo Safaris". Well on Sunday Gary was running an aerial safari from Rockford "International" Airport. Gary actually runs some really cool safaris, both locally and around the world. Click here or on the logo for more info. I could have gone myself for the two hour flight in a Cessna, over Rockford, Galena and the Mississippi river, but we decided it was a good way to start to prove/disprove the Illinois tourist board, and take the whole family; with a view of seeing what we came across on the journey worth doing. We left home around 10:30 on Satu...

As you no doubt saw below, Addison went of to school this month. That's about as much excitement as we have had, although we did finish the plans for the kitchen upgrade (more on that in a separate post) We just got back from the UK, and I have been working to upload all the photos we took there and since we returned..here they are. Browse at your leisure, but here are a couple of my recent favourites. Random pictures of the kids from September 2010 A weekend trip to Center Parcs A day out at Longleat Safari Park Fall festival at the local nature center A day out with some colleagues down in Chicago Fright Fest 2010 - Six Flags Great America

We went on this trip as an alternative to standing on a baking hot beach to watch the air and water show. I was hoping to get some great pictures, as i hadn't been to the show for years and was excited by their claim on the web site "will give you one of the best seats for the Annual Chicago Air & Water Show." After getting over the sticker shock, the $49.90 base price actually comes out at $65 including taxes and "fees" and the additional $49 to guarantee a window table, we were excited. We arrived and got on board easy enough, only to notice that it was pretty empty and we would have had a window table anyway, and secondly, even the non window tables were pretty friggin close! Ripoff number 1! The food was limited and average at best. We were amongst the first to board and it was already mostly cold. A selection of chicken something, beef something and some sides, and that was about it. Brunch at the Hancock is about $50 without the rip "fees" a...

I remember as a child living in South Africa, going to the drive in movies with our parents in an old beat up Volkswagen Beetle. They would lay down the back seat and we would curl up under a blanket "asleep" to be able to into 18/R rated movies, so they could see them without having to hire a babysitter. I guess I must have been around 9 or 10 because the movies I remember came out in the late 70s. We saw a terrible B movie, The Car and what I thought at the time as hilarious, although now who knows, The Last Remake Of Beau Geste , but I remember it as a very cool experience. Care all around, windows rolled down a bit, speaker on a cable, hung on the side window. At the time, of course, I didn't know it was really an American institution. It was much later through the magic of television and my exposure to American TV shows, that I learned just how much of an icon the drive in was. Of course with the advent of modern cinema, surround sound, air conditioning, etc, they ...

So I have been working on improving my photography, reading the manual, taking on line courses, checking out local photo safaris that I might want to try and thinking about joining a camera club. I went to one before I left for the UK, which was pretty local, just the next town over. When I arrived, at the old people's home, sorry assisted care living facility, (I didn't know before I left home) I walked into the big man's waiting room! Now I have no problem with old, I will be one myself one of these days, and certainly in the MG club we had our share, but I was the youngest in the entire room by about 20-25 years. When I thought of joining a club, it was with the hope of meeting some people, reasonably close to me in age and interest, to attend meetings, maybe some excursions and have fun. So with the age of this group, it really wasn't for me. Last night I tried the only other local group that I could find, still 30 minutes away, but relatively local. This club seeme...

My postings seem to be getting less and less regular as life itself takes over! The holiday season is fast approaching with Thanksgiving tomorrow, and the sales, although again this year, despite the economy, I am not overly impressed with the deals. The weather has been exceptionally mild here with temps still in the 50s and last weekend I was out putting up the Christmas lights in a t-shirt, and in the same breath I was preparing my snow blower for the inevitable. Jan and Mads are coming for Christmas, with Jan actually coming for two months. We figured with the two kids now, it is going to be difficult for Lorraine to travel on her own. The plan is that Jan comes here, baby arrives, we wait until the two month check up, then she and Lorraine fly with both kids, and then I join them for a bit and fly back with Lorraine. So Charlie, I will be bringing my clubs and looking for some spring time golf! Speaking of the baby, Cooper James will be coming along very soon....December 10th is t...

So I have been busy as you probably surmised from my lack of writing. Lorraine and Cooper continue to progress well, and we are on track for an early December delivery. MIL and SIL (the giver of the new rain coat on the left) will be coming over, for varying times, MIL for two whole months, how will I cope. Just kidding Jan, you know you are always welcome. The idea is that Jan stays until Cooper is cleared to travel, then they all go back to the UK for a few weeks. I will join them towards the end and fly back with Lorraine and the kids, so basically she has travel assistance both directions. We will have to do it like that for a while until both kids are more independent I guess. We have been busy cramming in all sorts of activities, including Halloween, a trip to Six Flags, Brookfield Zoo and for me, my first ever Bears game. Of course I sliced up my fingers, Addy had a birthday and there was all manner of other things going on. Addy had a few friends around for her birthday and spe...

As Addison grows up, I am continually amazed by her intellectual abilities. She is small for her size, in the 25th percentile last time we checked, but her mental abilities are off the charts. I am sure most parents think this about their kids, and who knows, maybe I am no different. However, when you read the articles, guidance, etc, and it says that typical 4-5 year olds can say a couple hundred words and can form sentences with 5-6 words, and she is already doing that....well you can see where I am going with this! She already knows pretty much all of the colours, can count to twelve, and knows about 8-10 letters and words associated with them. She can recite in total "Fe Fi Fo Fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman, be he alive or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread", and almost all the words and actions to Insy Winsy Spider! Of course along with such cognisance (I blame/credit Lorraine depending on if she is being annoying or cute :-) comes the annoyi...

Similarly to my recent post about city trips, we haven't taken advantage recently of the host of local free events. Most of the local towns and cities have a lot going on in the summer, I guess because the weather is not condusive (read frickin' cold) in the winter! From concerts, to "Taste Of" events, to Arts & Crafts festivals. A couple of weeks ago, we went back to the old village where we lived for two years to enjoy their free Friday lunchtime concerts, although the term concert is rather loose, as often it is really more of a DJ spinning some tunes. Nevertheless it is an opportunity to get outside on a beautiful sunny day and enjoy the weather; and whaddayaknow, this time actually was a band, and a pretty decent one at that! They also had the obligitary fire engine for the kids to climb on. As usual more pictures are available here . We ate some sandwiches, hung out with the other friends and their families for a brief time until it was time to go back to n...