The doctor's office

Today the plan was to go visiting teaching in the morning and then take Ben and Tim for doctor's appointments at 1:15. Ben needs forms for school, scouts, and sports physicals filled out, and Tim needs a followup on the tetanus visit from a couple weeks ago.

However, a half hour before I was to leave to go visiting teaching, Nate came and asked me to take something out of his ear. It was one of those little watch batteries, and I could not get it out with my fingers nor with tweezers. So I called the doctor's office, and had to leave immediately. No visiting teaching. I'm back from that visit (which was successful), and am waiting for an hour or so before we go back again.

Good thing I had a good book to read.

Update: Ben is now 5' 7 3/4" and Jon is 5' 1 1/4". Supposedly all 4 boys are tall for their age...

They're camping where?

Charles and Jon are gone this week at Scout Camp. Nate was asking me where they were. I told him scout camp, but he wanted to know where that was. I said, "It's in Wisconsin." Nate said, "Oh, Swissconsin."

Ben leaves Saturday for High Adventure camping in the UP. I'll bet you're wondering where that is! It's the Upper Peninsula, aka northern Michigan.

Free Summer Movies

Our local movie theater has been offering a free movie each week at 10 am. You usually have to get there at least by 9:30 to make sure you can sit together and get a decent seat. So far this summer we have seen The Water Horse, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Surf's Up, and Shrek the Third. We look forward to Horton Hears a Who and The Veggie Tale's Pirates Who Don't Do Anything. It's been fun for the kids and for me! And it's free!

Artemis Fowl

Today, Ben and Charles went to hear Eoin Colfer speak. (We now know that the first name is pronounced Owen. Go figure.) He writes the Artemis Fowl series, and Ben is a big fan. Ben brought the first five books for Mr. Colfer to sign, and got the newest book hot off the press. Six signed books. Ben says he will be staying up all night tonight to finish that sixth book.

The show was called Fairies, Fiends and Flatulence. Tonight was the first stop on his US tour which includes 9 cities. The show tonight was simulcast to 40 other bookstores, the first time Disney has ever done a simulcast for an author. Ben said it was funny, and the technological stuff made it cool.

Read more about Colfer here: www.eoincolfer.com

On a Clear Day...

you really can see forever! This afternoon, it was beautiful day--warm, bright, sunny, but not hot and humid, like July often is in Chicago. We decided to take a drive to the Scenic Overlook, which we usually call Trash Mountain. It's the highest point around here, and it really is a mountain of trash. It was the dump at one time, and it had reached maximum capacity. So they planted grass on it, stuck in pipes, and now they generate electricity from the methane gas. Pretty slick!

Anyway, we packed a picnic dinner of parmesan drumsticks, deviled eggs, watermelon, apricots, Pringles, and cookies and headed up there. We had been curious as to how scenic the overlook could really be. After all, this is Illinois flatland, and it's mostly covered in trees! Well, as is so often the case, a change in position can really change your perspective.

Here's what we saw at first, which is looking towards our house (although you really cannot see our house, so don't look for it).

Then we walked to another side, and discovered this view:

Yes, that is downtown Chicago in all its glory. Mind you, Trash Mountain is about 30 miles away from downtown!

We spoke to a forest ranger there about how impressive that view was, and how we were surprised that the hill was high enough to get us that view. She proudly exclaimed that it was 190 ft high! We waited until we were in the car to start snickering. (Guess we're a little snobbish about elevations, having lived in a mountainous area.)