We'll start with my godson Matthew. Over the past month we've had the great opportunity to spend a good deal of time with our nephews. As seen below, Matthew is getting pretty darn cute (he must take after his mother). Anyway, we had the pleasure of treating him to a lunch at Red Robin - he took full advantage of their unlimited fries special. Also following is a video of him trying to hit a ball as it is 'pitched to him'. Let's just say he is in the learning process.
Each year Megan's family is part of a charitable race at Arlington Racetrack which is named Horses for Henry, after her Grandmother's brother who died several years ago. This is a picture of the family going down to the track to take a picture with the race's winning horse/jockey. It is always an enjoyable event and maybe one day we'll be old enough to go down for the picture. (Then I can get my picture taken with a real live jockey, no matter how much their stature and secret lifestyle may creep me out. I imagine them to be on the shadiness level of carnies. Perhaps they can prove me wrong.)
Like I said, we've gotten to spend some time with our nephews and one weekend we got the chance to babysit for the night/morning. We had such a fun time playing games, reading books, singing praise and worship songs and eating granpy's french toast. Megan and I did get a good scare when at 4 in the morning Jacob climbed out of his crib and we heard a rather loud, THUD! Waking up in a panic Megan harshly wispered, "Jacob!" into the absolute darkness. He responded with an angelically cute, "Aunt Megan?" about 3 inches from her face. We then found out that bringing a squirmy 2.5 year old into your bed in the morning means that you don't get much sleep - or much of the bed as he likes to take up as much room as possible. We certainly had a fun time at our first sleepover. Here are a couple of pictures to make the occasion.
The next weekend we went down to visit Fr. John in Champaign. Now let me preface these photos by saying that I value the opinion of my wife, sometimes I question if I value it a little too much when I put on one shoe of each (gym and casual) and go to ask her opinion, then forget to ask her and even forget to change shoes until I realize when we are 2 hours down I-57 and I'm stuck with one shoe on and another shoe on. Boy did I feel like a doofus. Anyway, He was in such good spirits back in Champaign at St. Matthew's. We took him out to lunch at Dos Reales (the best Mexican restaurant this side of the Mississippi - heck maybe even the other side of the Mississippi). So after lunch we got the grand tour of the St. Matthew's rectory, church and school tour. We had a spledid time down there, as Champaign usually unvails a most welcoming atmosphere if not but for nostalgia's sake.
These two photos are of the Chicago Honor Flight 'welcome home' event at Midway Airport. My grandpa, on his 92nd birthday, was able to take part in this flight wich goes about 4 times a year to Washington D.C. with WWII veterans. The plane leaves first thing in the morning and the veterans (and their caretakers, as the average age is in the 80s) are able to tour the memorial sites which are dedicated in their honor. It is a very emotional day which is capped off by a 'mail call' on their flight home where they receive letters from their loved ones and this grand welcoming. As you can see Megan awaits with her sign, as many other did, and Grandpa has his picture taken with some of his children (Joan, Jane and Alan). It was a really awesome experience to be a part of, I would recommend going for a welcome home sometime.
So that is what has been keeping us busy over the past few months. Again, I apologize for the lack of posts. Still, consider yourself somewhat caught up with our semi-busy life.
