Adventures

This has been a wild and wonderful weekend.

On Friday we got a taste of Chicago's theatre scene, joining a large contingent of friends and cohorts who went to see Trish burn up the boards in a fine little show called Heartbreak Waltz. You should check this out-- it's well done, albeit a little disconcerting to watch large chunks of one's teen years dancing across the stage. They're at the Chopin Theatre until the end of May; call and buy a ticket or four.

After the show we trooped back to Tripp's place to help celebrate Trish's 30th. Lots of joy and conviviality, fueled by incredible gumbo-- supplied by Jeff, bayou chef extrordinaire. He's promised me the recipe, and I'm going to stalk him until I get it (after all, I know where he lives...). We stayed up way too late, enjoying conversations and company. Good thing Tripp unfurled the futon for us (Many thanks, bro!). Check out his blog for a list of bloggers in attendance.

Both kids had games Saturday morning, so we left early to pick them up from Aunt Janice and Uncle Mike. We made it to the field, just in time for the kids to warm up for dueling 10:00 am starts. Fortunately, both soccer (Kyle) and softball (Carolyn) are at the same park, so we were able to trot back and forth between games. Our family split for the day-- Carolyn's team won, Kyle's lost-- and a good time was had by all.

I went home to spend a couple hours on my ethics paper, and an hour in blissful slumber, before we took the kids in to eat dinner with another Seabury contingent. Led by my favorite chaplain, we converged on Ed Debevic's for "fast food and fresh service." We had great fun, especially the kids, who hadn't been there before. Even Kyle, the serious introvert, was grinning at the general goofiness, and graciously shared his crayons so we could all color our hats.

This afternoon we spent an hour or two chatting with my grandmother, and some cousins who brought her baby sister in for a visit (Gram's 98, Aunt Harriet's only 93). This is family we don't see often, and I enjoyed the time. This was preceded by several more ethics hours this morning, so I could do this with a clear conscience. (I'm about a third of the way there, enough that I'm past the worst of the "I'll never get this done!" panic. No fear of relaxing entirely; there's plenty of homework left to sweat over).

Yes, we played a lot this weekend, and I'll have to be really diligent this week to make up for lost time; but it was worth it.