You Capture / Fruit

Beth said capture fruit, so I captured fruit.

I love a good apple.

The only way I can eat a bowl of cereal is with fruit.

I love having a basket of fruit all washed and ready to eat on the kitchen counter.

Time to head to Beth's to see the rest of the fruit.

You Capture / Beautiful Flowers

I was hoping that Noah would have picked airplanes for this post. We went to the air show on Sunday and I got some amazing shots, if I do say so myself. If you want to check those out, they are the post before this one. We are lucky enough to have a son-in-law with a family member who has a house right on the beach about a block from where they stage the air show. In my travels back and forth from the house to the beach, I found some pretty flowers. I even found a butterfly!

Time to head to Beth's.

Air Show Day

If you like pictures, this post is for you.

We went to the Gary Air Show today and it was awesome.

It is days like today that I remember how much I love my camera.

In no particular order,

here's the air show.

And at the end of the day, the lake was calm and beautiful.

p.s. If you double click on the pictures,

they become big and awesome.

You Capture / Summertime

SUMMERTIME

The first produce from the garden.
Jack and daddy in the pool.

Lizzy making her way in the pool.

My little daredevil Natalie having a blast with her daddy.

Family reunions with dancers.

Family reunions with pinatas.

Pretty flowers in the yard.

I love summer.

So do lots of people at Beth's.

You Capture – Patriotism

I actually just went back and added these fireworks pictures.

I remembered them after reading Beth's moms blog post.

These were compliments of my nephew-in-law on Sunday.

He did an awesome job.

By parade standards, I went to a pretty lame one on the 4th.

But, for the second year in a row, my town didn't have one.

At least the little town next to us did.

Of course, there were the big American flags.
Two of my daughters and a son-in-law were showing their patriotism.

There were lots of little flags everywhere you looked.

And believe it or not, you didn't even have to be American to show your patriotism.
Even Kung Fu Kangaroo was waving a flag.

I hope you all had a great 4th of July.
Time to head to Beth's.

Holy Cow!!!!

On June 29, I had the pleasure of heading into the city for a Cubs game.

I always start getting excited when we get to the skyway.

We were cruising right along until we hit a little traffic on Lakeshore Drive.
My friend Tom was a little excited when we passed Soldier Field.
He called it the mother ship.
He is the biggest Bears fan you will ever meet.
I'm pretty sure he wished we were really going there.

We passed Navy Pier
We finally made it to Wrigleyville.
Not a bad trip at all. Only took us an hour to get there.
We met some friends at the Cubby Bear.
I'd never been there before. We had so much fun.
My wonderful friends bought me a jersey. I love it!

We had a couple cocktails and appetizers.
I was saving my appetite for a hot dog at Wrigley.
Then it was time to head across the street.

We made our way inside and got our free can koosies.
We saw the poster of Jeff and I wished he was still playing at Notre Dame.

Here's my awesome friends Tom, Marge, Katy and I in our seats.
My hubby had a golf outing that day and couldn't go with us.
These were the kind of seats you dream of. Nine rows up behind homeplate.
It was the perfect weather night. Not too hot and definitely not cold.

The band came and played for us.

The guys from Mike and Mike in the Morning threw out the first pitches.

Tom said big Mike used to play for Notre Dame.

It was time to play ball.

It was a full house.

Ryan Dempster was the starting pitcher and he threw an amazing game.

Tom said the pitcher for the Giants was really good too.

Not as good as Dempster this night.

The Cubs were up 1-0 for most of the game.

For some reason, the powers that be decided we needed a pitching change in the 9th inning and in came Marmol. The Giants scored and the game was tied.

Batting for the first time in the game in the 9th was Aramis Ramirez and he connects.

The Cubs win and we get to sing Go Cubs Go!!

There was as much excitement on the field as there was in the stands.

I'm pretty sure Mr. Baseball himself was smiling when we left.

Now, let me tell you the story that made the above story possible.

Four years ago, I met a pretty awesome family at preschool. Their daughter was starting class with us. She was a cute as a button and she had a little brother who was pretty cute too.

Fast forward to year two. I find out that this little guy is a White Sox fan. As you all know, I am a Cubs fan. We start a banter between us that lasts to this day. I would ride him about the Sox and pretend that he was a Cubs fan. Even at three years old, he would always have a comeback. At his sisters preschool graduation that year, he comes up to me with an envelope in his hands and throws it at me saying "Here's your stupid Cubs tickets" and walks away. I laughed and then almost passed out when I opened the envelope. There inside was four tickets with a parking pass to a Cubs game. The seats were right behind homeplate nine rows up. Holy cow, how did I get so lucky? How could the pleasure of having these kids in my life make me worthy of such an extravagant gift? This would be my first Cubs game. I had wanted to go all my life and never gotten there and now I would. All I could think of was that there would never be a way to thank them that would ever live up to the honor they have given me.

I went to that game with my husband and my sister and brother-in-law and it was amazing. It rained for half the game and the Cubs lost, but I will never ever forget that game. It was definitely one of the ten best days of my life. The next year, I got the same gift. Different seats and the Cubs again lost, but the weather was beautiful.

Fast forward to this past school year. Our banter continued and I loved it. My little guy has matured into quite the young man. I know that might sound silly being he was a preschooler, but he is just a neat kid. He has a great sense of humor and knows lots of things about lots of sports. Lucky for us, our only rivalry was in baseball. We both liked the Bears and the Blackhawks. But we had the most fun with our baseball banter. During one of our last days of school, he brought me two little Cubs helmets. He said is dad told him to give them to me. He said I could eat ice cream out of them.

June 6 was preschool graduation. This day always pulls at my heartstrings a little anyway, but this year had a most special moment for me. The ceremony was over and there was lots of laughter and picture taking happening. Up walks my little baseball buddy with a gift bag in his hand. His mom and dad are with him. They asked if I would open the gift then. Inside are the 9th row awesome seats with the parking pass but there was something else. There was an official major league baseball inside a case signed by my little friend. Talk about a moment that melted my heart. That ball now sits in my computer room on a shelf with the little helmets and a picture of Ryan Theriot in a Cubs frame from my first game. I will treasure it forever.

Let me tell you why I love working in a preschool. I get to meet some of the most amazing children and families. I get to be a part of their lives for a few years. Sometimes I'm lucky enough to have many siblings and they remain a part of my life for years. This year, I was invited to four former students high school graduation open houses. I think that is amazing.

But the truly amazing thing is that sometimes, you meet some truly awesome families who leave an imprint on your heart that you will carry with you forever. This story stems from one of those families. I can't imagine changing that shelf. It makes me smile every time I look at it. And every time I look at it, I will remember that sweet little man who loved the White Sox and I think maybe loved me too. I can promise you that I love him!