On The Road Again

Ahh finally a quiet moment while the three children entertain themselves in the back of the coach playing poker.We left three days ago from home, picked up the children in Green Bay and  set off for our summer adventure to the land of cowboys and horses.

First stop was Mitchell South Dakota to see the Corn Palace, which we actually never saw because the indoor water park was ever so much more appealing. These children love the water. Even Elise spends her time on the slides and is not afraid to dunk her head. Jack and Ella both swim well enough now to enjoy the deep water pools. The big water slide was humungous and it is unbelieveable how fearless these children can be.

The next day we entered the gateway to the west. We met up briefly with their parents at the Chamberlain overlook and visitor center. They are travelling alone in their car and having a little of their own adventures before we connect in Cody.

We took our time driving through the badlands so they could get a great feel for them. They all climbed to high points to get the best vistas. That's Grandpa Don, Elise, Ella and Jack taken with the telephoto lense.

We met the parents again for a quick lunch at Wall Drug where Elise was properly freaked out by the roaring T Rex which Jack and Ella could not get enough of. We had some fun in Wall's backyard before getting back into Bertha to settle down in Sundance Wyoming for the night.

This morning we went to Devil's Tower. We were disappointed in not seeing any ETs on top but we did catch site of quite a few climbers on the walls and at the top. We hiked completely around the tower, and over some of the boulders to get just the right pictures.  They were all very excited at the new adventures and the beautiful country. Elise was especially thrilled watching the prairie dogs pose for us.

Travelling with these dynamos takes a lot of patience and a great deal of energy, but watching them take so much joy out of the experience is worth every minute. They each have their National Parks Passports so they can get their stamps at each park we visit over the next few weeks. At this young age they are already developing an appreciation for the natural beauty of this glorious country.

Next stop, Cody, Wyoming and the rodeo. Elise can't wait to see the horses and Jack wants to see the bulls.

Where did the Quality go

"Buyer beware", "If it seems to good to be true it must be", "You get what you pay for".  All of these caveats came to mind last week as I spent an hour or so remaking a pillow case just so I could lie it flat to iron it. It was in a most unusual shape coming out of the dryer.  I discovered by disassembling it that the small Chinese child who likely made it could not even properly fold a piece of fabric in half and sew up the sides. It's time to pay their parents a decent wage so the kids can go to school.

You see I recently decided to buy new bedding for our bed. Khols had this wonderful half-price sale on all linens and for once my coupon in the mail was a 30 percenter. I was in shopper's heaven. So much so that on my first trip I was torn between a new bedspread and shams versus one of these bed in a bags. It was decided that since I had also wanted a comforter for Bertha, I would buy both. After all the bag came with two sets of sheets I could use on my bed at home. The total cost of a comforter, two shams, three throw pillows a bed skirt, and two sets of sheets was less than it would be to buy the sheets alone.

Well here's where the joy ends. The aforementioned pillow cases had to be remade, the sheets are very low quality though good enough for as long as they will last, the sham pillows had to be squeezed into the shams at risk of exploding, and the comforted is hardly what one would call quilted. So little stitching is in the comforter that after one use the batting is already bunching up in the corners. I did quite a nice job of quilting the comforter to keep the rest of the batting in place. The sad thing about all of this is that while I can say to myself this is alright for the price I paid, (said price was 80% off the usual price). Shame on Khol's for allowing this ********* on  their shelves and for the exorbitant initial price.

So now Bertha is quite happy with her new look, and luckily I decided on a lovely bedspread and shams for our home bedroom which is fine as is.

So anytime you find a bargain at Kohls be sure to inspect it carefully before bringing it home.

What a Great Summer

Keeping up with kids and extended family across hundreds of miles is exhausting, but worth every tired moment. It started on our way back from Florida with a brief visit in Atlanta, almost immediately flying off to Minneapolis, a quick trip to Elkhart, several visits from Green Bay, one to Green Bay, and an extended family celebration in Harrisonberg Va. And that doesn't even include the round of barbecues with friends and family here in Woodridge.  

We celebrated Jim's birthday with nieces and nephew and welcomed Emilie Mae to the family.



 



Jack and Grandpa planning our trek out west



We still have an extended vacation coming up in a few weeks to Yellowstone with our son Don's family. After Yellowstone we will depart with Jack in tow for the Grand Canyon and all the places of interest on the way. We are so excited. Jack has a great spirit of adventure and thoroughly enjoys time spent on the road with Bertha.

 

Travelling with grandchildren is one of our greatest blessings. We believe it to be the best way to have them appreciate and understand who we are and to share with them some of the wonderful places we have discovered in this beautiful country.



Ella with her new BFFs
Gillian and Jocelyn



In Ella's case, we recently brought her along to a great family celebration. I was excited to have her meet my siblings and get to know them a little. She became instant BFFs with second cousins she didn't even know existed. I think she has a better sense of the size and scope of the word family.

Ella's other new BFFs Aunt Carol and Beth

In Harrisonberg we celebrated a brand new marriage, a well seasoned marriage and the beginning of a new life with three generations of family. Rolled up into such a bundle, isn't that what family is all about?

Enjoying our annual 4th of July barbecue and fireworks.

Beware What You Put Into Cyberspace; It May Come Back to Bite You

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.

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.

Where Has May Gone?

I had no idea how long it had been since my last post of May 4 until I opened my blog today. It's not that there isn't anything to write about, it's just that I found out that even in May you can experience the devastating effects of cabin fever on the psyche. Since I wasn't able to do the things I really wanted to do, I couldn't find the motivation to do even the things I could do. The recent devastation caused by tornadoes around the Midwest was a come to Jesus wake up call to me. I became ashamed of the moaning I have done about a few missed outdoor activities when we have been so fortunately spared the tragedy that so many have had to endure.

We have actually had a few very nice week-ends in spite of the crummy weekday weather.

I had one of the greatest Mother's days in a very long time. I found myself surrounded by children and grandchildren for the week-end. The Green Bay Chilsons were all in attendance. We had a nice bike ride stopping off at a park on Saturday and ate our way through Chicago food which started with Papa's Pizza, continued through Portillo's Italian beef and finished off with a Mrs. Fields birthday cookie in honor of Elise's upcoming third birthday.

Lindsay joined us for most of the day. We were able to get over to her new house and took a break there to have a little fun with the Kentucky Derby. We all drew horses to bet on and contributed a dollar to the pool which was seeded with a little extra cash by our local bookie, grandpa. Ella was the big winner in the pool. She won first and second place for $15. I hope she spent it well.

Sunday they all accompanied me to church, and we played a little baseball, built a fire in the bong, and grilled brats before they headed for home. That's about as close to perfection as a Mother's Day can get.

A few days later I received a package in the mail from the Atlanta Chilsons of 6 pints of ice cream. How great is that? Who would believe you could send ice cream in the mail?  I just finished the last drop this week.

Of course, the Minnesota Chilsons were all acounted for with greetings of love and phone conversation.

The next week found us out with the Fox Valley Winnies on a camping week-end in Shipshewana, Indiana. We took this opportunity to visit nearby Elkhart and Don's mothers's cousins. We spent a delightful afternoon listening to stories from long long ago and following up on some of his geneology pursuits. It is so interesting to receive historical information from those who have lived it. Present also was a cousin of his own generation whom we haven't seen in 40 years and yet is somehow felt like the years have never passed. 

Mary Jean lives in a lovely home on the St. Joe river where she introduced us to the family of swans who have taken up residency on the nearby shore.

Well guess what. A few days home again and we headed up to Green Bay where we had a couple of days alone with the kids while their parents enjoyed some much needed alone time for R & R.


Well, here we are home again for a couple of weeks. The rain is coming in again, but it looks like I might finally be able to get a golf game in tomorrow before it comes back again on Thursday. O well, at least the lawns are a beautiful shade of green and all the vegetation looks greater than ever. I might even be able to get some flowers planted between storms this week. And I'll add a prayer of thanksgiving with each plant I pot that our home and family are intact and healthy.

Rain Rain Go Away

What a beautiful day today is. The sun is shining, God's in His Heaven and all is right with the world. I thought I was more than a bit crazy venturing out onto the golf course at 7:30 this morning wearing 4 layers of clothing and winter gloves. The temperature was somewhere around 37. But you know enough just has to be enough. Last week I actually found myself angry at the weather. Me. The one who always mocks my husband for his obsession with knowing what the forecast is and keeping up with the constant changes. My attitude is pretty much wait and see what comes and don't worry about it until it gets here. There is nothing you can do about it anyway. You see, one thing about living around Chicago all your life is that you never really know what the weather is going to be until it gets here, and once it does, it is not likely to maintain the status quo.

But really, three full weeks of rain and cold in April leaking into May with narey a break? Come on  who can blame me for being angry?

Well as I always say "what a blessing to have friends". The day I became so angry, I called a friend I hadn't spent much time with lately and made a lunch date. Even running into the restaurant in the pouring rain lost its power to detract from good company and good conversation. I only wish I had made the effort sooner to reach out and touch someone instead of waiting for the clouds to clear. For a day, anyway, I was able to clear my own clouds away.

By the time we finished the second hole, the sun came out, the gloves came off, and the outermost layer of clothing  was shed. I am so glad that I was not deterrred by the early morning gloom because now I feel like I could lick anything that comes my way.