A couple of years ago my kids convinced me to open a face book account in order to share pictures. It seems I have had to adapt to the electronic age in order to see pictures of my grandchildren who live far away and to keep up with my children's activities. In fact, if I had not backtracked about 2 weeks worth of face book entries on their walls recently I would have never known that Mike had passed his professional engineering exam. Congratulations again, Mike.
Then about a year ago the same son suggested I start this blog as a way of keeping them informed of our adventures. I have found that by doing so they actually look at our pictures.
What I am getting at is that I have always tried to avoid posting anything embarrassing on either site knowing full well that once it is out here it belongs to the world. Knowing that and actually finding out it is for real are two different things however.
We recently had tickets to the show at The Second City in Chicago. I highly recommend this venue to anyone who likes to laugh out loud. The show was great. Our tickets were a Christmas gift. When I called for the reservation, the people in the ticket office were extremely nice. When we arrived at the show where the seating is first come first serve, the theater was about half full. However, when we presented out ticket which had my name on it, the usher said Jean Chilson is here. Don and I were immediately led to two stage side seats - the only open seats in the front half of the theater. I was feeling quite important. We hypothesized a little about how we had gotten so lucky and even wondered if it might have something to do with the nature of our gift.
It was near the end of the show when we found out the true reason for the front row seats. I guess you could say I was playing the role of an unsuspecting shill. In the middle of a skit about the TSA and how they can tell everything about you by looking at your face, the comedian wheeled his chair over in front of me and rattled off streams of information about me contained first in this blog. The details he chose to disclose to the audience that evening were simply some of the fun things I have pondered over the past year, it was all done in good fun and I probably laughed more than anyone there - except maybe Don.
But a lesson learned for anyone who puts personal information out there in cyberspace. The counter on this site is approaching 1000. And I just had a reality check that I may not know all of you as well as you know me.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
A Week-End to Just Be Kids Again
It seems like I am always playing catch up these days.
We had a great Memorial Day week-end hanging out with our Green Bay grandkids while thier parents took some much needed R & R for a couple of days. It's funny though, after and evening or so of alone time they couldn't wait to get back to their children and they made it home on Monday before we were prepared to receive them. I think it is great that the moms in our family do not find their children to be a burden and, in fact, go to the other extreme to keep them as close as they can. I am also grateful then that they are generous in their sharing of the children allowing us to snatch them up for our own alone time with them. Isn't that really the best way to get to know these precious individuals as the wonderful people they are becoming.
We took the children on bike rides on two of the days. Jack is so grown up now. He has a grown up bike which I am proud to say he bought with his own saved money. He attached the burley to his new bike and towed his little sister Elise around without ever a complaint. We were also very proud of Ella who is relatively new to riding her two wheeler on long bike rides. She rode 8 miles in one ride, far exceeding her expection of herself that she could only do 2 miles. She also never complained nor did she have any trouble keeping up.
When we weren't riding bikes, we played at the parks on the equipment and some hide and seek, we played baseball in the backyard, and we had a campfire. Just great ways to enjoy the energy and enthusiam of these great kids. In the evening, we had a dance party in the basement. These are not the children we read about who spend their time in front of the TV. Grandma and Grandpa went home suitably tired.
Next week we will have Ella sort of by ourselves on her very own adventure with grandparents. We are taking her with us to my sister Carol's family's big celebration in Virginia. They are celebrating 1) their 40th wedding anniversary, 2) the marriage of their son, Andy to Amy, and 3) the arrival of their own grandson, Joey. The occasion also serves as a family reunion for both the Patterson and the Miller families.
Unfortunately, it is just too far for two of our own sons to travel in their current circumstances. They will be sorely missed and I know that they are sorry to have to miss such a great event when all of the extended family gathers.
We had a great Memorial Day week-end hanging out with our Green Bay grandkids while thier parents took some much needed R & R for a couple of days. It's funny though, after and evening or so of alone time they couldn't wait to get back to their children and they made it home on Monday before we were prepared to receive them. I think it is great that the moms in our family do not find their children to be a burden and, in fact, go to the other extreme to keep them as close as they can. I am also grateful then that they are generous in their sharing of the children allowing us to snatch them up for our own alone time with them. Isn't that really the best way to get to know these precious individuals as the wonderful people they are becoming.
We took the children on bike rides on two of the days. Jack is so grown up now. He has a grown up bike which I am proud to say he bought with his own saved money. He attached the burley to his new bike and towed his little sister Elise around without ever a complaint. We were also very proud of Ella who is relatively new to riding her two wheeler on long bike rides. She rode 8 miles in one ride, far exceeding her expection of herself that she could only do 2 miles. She also never complained nor did she have any trouble keeping up.
When we weren't riding bikes, we played at the parks on the equipment and some hide and seek, we played baseball in the backyard, and we had a campfire. Just great ways to enjoy the energy and enthusiam of these great kids. In the evening, we had a dance party in the basement. These are not the children we read about who spend their time in front of the TV. Grandma and Grandpa went home suitably tired.
Next week we will have Ella sort of by ourselves on her very own adventure with grandparents. We are taking her with us to my sister Carol's family's big celebration in Virginia. They are celebrating 1) their 40th wedding anniversary, 2) the marriage of their son, Andy to Amy, and 3) the arrival of their own grandson, Joey. The occasion also serves as a family reunion for both the Patterson and the Miller families.
Unfortunately, it is just too far for two of our own sons to travel in their current circumstances. They will be sorely missed and I know that they are sorry to have to miss such a great event when all of the extended family gathers.
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