It was a zoo!

Jay and Becky invited Andy, me, Ryan and Erika to go with them and their two little ones to the Brookfield Zoo.


Mom?



Grant liked giving Andy "five"






Why is he moldy?









Contemplation...



I thought about getting this shirt, but they didn't have it in my size...



Grant found the water






And then so did Jay...



Ryan and Marley



Grant is an equal-opportunity "fiver"












That's real!









We have to go home? Why?

Take me to the movies

I had to cover a documentary screening of the movie “Garbage! The Revolution Starts at Home,” by Toronto filmmaker Andrew Nisker.
Check out my article previewing the screening here:
http://www.mysuburbanlife.com/geneva/news/x499359765/Documentary-tracks-garbage-s-path

Andy, Ryan and Erika obligingly agreed to go with. The movie was at a park in Geneva. A lot of people brought tables and chairs and set up Ravinia-style. It was really neat. There was even one group who brought a candleabra!











Bright lights, small city

Art 101

Andy cut up a drawing into squares and drew a grid in his notebook with the same number of squares.
He had me draw each square one at a time, not knowing what the drawing would be.

The finished product:


The method:

'Labor' Day weekend

Steve and Andrew came up last weekend to help us do a few things around our place.

Mainly, Andrew played on the computer. Here, Andy is giving him some tips...


I took Andrew to get his haircut, and then he decided he wanted to put some color in. He wanted blue, but we compromised...)
We watched "The Office" during the process.


The cap comes off...

(He was bummed it couldn't stay looking that way...instead, the blond highlights just blended in with his already blond hair...so yeah, that was the compromise...)


Later we made pizza. Andrew is the "ultimate chopper"--he cut up the olives, tomatoes and artichokes for us.


Dough boy




Andrew experimented by putting the pepperoni down first, and then spreading on the sauce. Yep.


Steve's came out pretty good


Andrew was also proud of his...


The creation Andy and I made:


Mmm, pizza



Sibs

Andrew is almost taller than me!

Oh, and then there was actual work that got done:
Steve fixed the gaping hole in our cabinets where Andy and Ryan had pulled out the trash compactor that we never used.




He put this in:


Now I have to whip up a curtain to hang there. (All in due time.)

Andy painted some trim that he's planning on putting in soon.


Andrew, also hard at work..


Then came the crash...



Ain't too proud to beg.


She's hopeful Andy might have some food for her.


Instead, he makes her work for one of her chews.