Hello Huskies :})

On Thursday, the seventh grade had a visit from two huskies and their owner. They live in Michigan, I think. They compete in a small dog race similar to the Iditarod. Thursday was a preview of our IDU (Interdisciplinary Unit). We Have an IDU every year - an entire week where every class spends time on a common subject.







This year we will be building our own sleds, and then we will race around the block. During the race we stop for pit-stops to see if the "dogs" are ok,(the dogs are actually seventh grade students)and to answer trivia questions. The dogs came to our school so we could see how they pulled the sled so we could get an idea how we will. The owner had two dogs, a boy and a girl. The girl's name is Mandy, the lighter one, and the boy's name is Cruiser, the darker one. So far, our team has figured out our blue prints and I've been selected to be the musher (I'm the lightest of the group, so no running for me =D. We have almost attached our wheels and everyone, but me has seen the trail. During the IDU week we go to our 1st period class (Tech)8th period class (Gym)and our foreign language which is my 4th period (Italian). So far, I love this IDU. Too bad I have to miss Tuesday for an Italian field trip (but at least my Papa gets to come!).

This Friday, the 29th, is the day of the race. Stop back here this weekend and I'll tell you what happened.

~ Mason

Nice Day for a Walk - Finally!

The sky is clear and blue. The sun is shining brightly. The temperature is about 25 degrees (where is that little degree symbol on a keyboard anyway?) - by recent standards, this is a perfect day to get outside.



With Daisy leading the way, we meandered through the Thatcher Woods Forest Preserve located a few blocks from our house. The whole time, we kept hearing loud popping and cracking noises. No hunting is allowed out here - but it wasn't gunfire, it was the sound of the ice sheets cracking from thawing out.



The river was flowing, but there was still a lot of ice everywhere.



Have a great weekend.

~ Max

Ultimate Egg Salad Sandwich

Jenny and I used to eat egg salad sandwiches about twice every month, I've had maybe 2 since she died - and today, for some strange reason, I had this unbearable craving for one.

In the past, whenever I hard-boiled the eggs, they would end up rubbery and get that gray ring around the yolk - yep, overcooked. Jenny taught me the proper way to hard boil an egg, and I've never forgotten.

First, cover the bottom of the pan with one layer of eggs (or as few as one, but what's the point in that??), then cover the eggs with cold water - there should be about an inch of water above the tops of the eggs. Bring the water to a boil, on medium to high heat - uncovered. Once the water boils, remove the pan from the heat and move it to a cold burner or counter top and cover the pan. Set the timer for 14 minutes for large eggs (12 for medium and 16 for extra large). Once the time is up, run cold water over the eggs while they are still in the pan for at least two minutes to stop the cooking process. Crack and peel the eggs to eat (I'm sure you knew that, but hey - you never know who reads these things =D)

Now, for the Ultimate Egg Salad Sandwich.


Two hard-boiled eggs (done to perfection;-)
Tablespoon of Hellman's Lime Mayo
Teaspoon of brown mustard
Two green onions, finely chopped
Garlic salt
Black pepper
Combine ingredients in a bowl

Two slices of bacon
One slice of sharp cheddar cheese
Two slices of bread, toasted (my favorite is Brownberry Healthnut)

Enjoy, it's Delicious =D.

~ Max

No School - President's Day

Mason and I decided to venture outdoors on her day off from school. Not such a great idea, the high reached 14 degrees :P We made the most of it by checking out a new driving range that opened up. There are only three like it in the country.


Top Golf USA has found a way to use microchip technology for golf. Each golf ball that you get from the dispenser has a microchip that identifies the ball as "yours", so when you hit it to a target, it registers back at a computer terminal your points, yardage and displays how far you were from the intended target. They even have leagues for this - my prediction, this will evolve into something everyone can enjoy, much like bowling or darts. Top Golf will let you use clubs from their inventory, so even someone who doesn't own clubs can play (like renting bowling shoes and balls) - this could sweep the nation, but will only be found in populous places.


The "suites" are heated and they have a full menu and bar, so should be great for parties too. Why didn't I think of this???

~ Max (trying to stay warm and not depressed).

Breakfast at Mother's Day

Sunday we went to a restaurant called Mother's Day for breakfast. I ordered a Belgian Eskimo Waffle and hot chocolate and papa had bicuits & gravy.


The waffle was huge! I thought the food was good, but the service wasn't. It took a long time to be greeted, even though several people walked by us while we "waited to be seated". The room wasn't completely full, there were several empty tables. Papa's coffee cup was empty for most of breakfast too.

Overall I would give this a 6.5 out of 10.
~ Mason

Happy Valentine's Day

Mason and I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day.

Whoooaaaa! Ouch!

Tonight the snow started to come down just in time for the drive home. I handled the treacherous traffic with no problems, but when it comes to walking, er...um, that's a different story.

It was about time to leave for Mason's dance class, so I decided to go start the car and let it warm up a bit. There was some new snow - and that is really slippery when it's covering a thin layer of ice that had accumulated on the last step on the front porch (how? I have no idea, since it didn't get over 10*F today). After I got over the shock and the pain in my butt, I realized my watch was no longer on my wrist - I found it, a little worse for wear, on a pile of snow.


The watch must have caught the edge of the step and the weight and force of my fall, slid the watch up my wrist - removing a little skin along the way - before the band couldn't take it anymore. Oh, well - I haven't written anything on the blog in a while...


Sure will be glad when Spring gets here.

~ Max

Another 6-12" ?????

I can't take it! This is getting way out of hand. What in the world am I doing still living on the frozen tundra? Oh, I remember - I have a daughter, who I love very, very much. She has "roots" here, friends, family; and this is home.


We are supposed to get another big snow storm tonight, so far it's just rain and sleet, but they (crazy weather people) tell us it should dump another 6" to 12" (how much room for error do they need? well, around the Great Lakes they need a lot of room for error - it's not Hawaii people!)it all depends on how fast the temperature drops.

Just in 2008, we've gotten about 16" of snow so far - just the other night we added about 3 inches to the already 7 inches left from the weekend before. Then the rain came today and melted about half of it, so even if we get the low end of the projection, we'll have about 10 inches of cover - great for skiing and sledding, not great for anything else!

Oh to be here - someday. This picture was taken by one of our friends on Flickr, Michelle. She takes some amazing photos and she said it would be ok if I "borrowed" it.

Sailboat at Ios Port Greece

I Now Know Where She Gets It

Of course, I've always had some idea.



Not sure if it's learned or if it's hereditary, but it's clearly obvious.

~Max

Snow Day

The phone rang at 6 o'clock this morning. That's odd, Jenny's dad calls at 6:30 - on the dot. When I answered it, I heard a recording by someone at the school district letting everyone know that school had been cancelled due to snow. We got about 7 or 8 inches. In our 9+ years here, school has only been cancelled one other time. It's a small community and most of the kids live within 10 blocks of the school - but it would have been very hard for teachers to drive to school.

So, I worked from home today and Mason hung out. I'll be a lot happier when this winter is over - really sick of it!

~ Max

Mason Dancing

Mason has been taking dancing classes the past few weeks. The classes are for 7th graders only and focus on the classic dance steps, waltz, mambo, tango, etc. While she doesn't want me to, I'm planning on attending the final class in a couple of weeks. I'll take some pictures and post them - hope you'll come back to see them.

Meanwhile, Mason and I scanned and uploaded more photos from our past this evening. Feel free to take a look.



~ Max

Remembering Jenny

Well, the scanning project continues. I finally found the album that contained the pictures of our wedding. They bring back a lot of really great memories. At this pace, I'll be finished with the major event photos in about 3 months. Just click the picture to see what else I've managed to get uploaded to flickr.



~ Max

Done For The Night

I've scanned a bunch of photos and film - not so easy, pretty tedious actually. I'm living an exciting Saturday night - party across the street, invited but didn't feel like going. Instead, I'm going to pour a glass of something to drink and head to bed, look at photos on Flickr and try to get some sleep (I don't do that very well these days, but gotta keep trying, right?)

Besides the many photos of Jenny (oh how I miss her), I captured this one - Mason is so pretty.



Good night.

~ Max

I Really Miss Her Smile

Well, we put the xmas money to use (thanks Mom) and finally purchased a scanner. It's going to take the rest of the winter to scan and label all of these photos we have around here (but who cares, if the weather stays like this).


This is the first photo I scanned - it's probably my favorite picture of Jenny. We had just started dating. I'll be posting most of them on Flickr - but I won't be making all of them available to the public, so to see all of them, you'll need to get a Flickr account and I will lable you as "Friends and Family".

~ Max

A Lighter Topic

Daisy and I went for a walk today in the Forest Preserve. It hasn't been any warmer than 15 degrees in the past week - that was today. The lowest it got was zero, with windchill it was minus 25 (how does that work exactly? something to do with evaporation I think). Tomorrow is Saturday, so we'll take a long walk in the morning - it's snowing right now, so the forest should be pristine when we're out there. I'll try to take some new photos, it's serene.


~ Max & Mason

Another Milestone

On January 23, 1943, Jenny's parents were married. Yep, that's right 65 years ago, Robert and Viola VanVuren made a commitment to spend the rest of their lives together. Here they are, still together - he's 90 and she's 83, still happily married.

Mason and I went over to their place for dinner this evening. Viola cooked of course (too snowy to go anywhere, and she likes cooking!). We had a very yummy mid western meal of roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, green beans and fruit salad. For dessert we had brownies and a delicious cheese cake - all made by Vi.

Jenny would have loved to be here to share this day with them. I remember, shortly after Jenny and I were married, we (Jenny mainly) organized a surprise 50th party for them back in their hometown of Fulton, IL. Jenny contacted and gathered about 100 of their friends and family and we rented a banquet room at the Ramada Inn. You should have seen the looks on Bob and Vi's faces when they saw the marquee of the hotel - "Happy 50th Anniversary, Robert and Viola". They had no idea, it was quite a surprise.

~ Max & Mason

90 Years Old Today

Bob, Jenny's dad, celebrated his 90th birthday today. As amazing as that is, I'd lay odds that he makes it to 100 (and probably longer). We ate dinner and talked. Without question, he wished for three things when he blew out the candles (although, he couldn't tell us, because then they don't come true, right?) 1. To have Jenny sitting there with us. 2. For his son Rob to fully recover and get healthy. 3. For the Cubs to win the World Series. I know we can't have number 1 (although, I wish for this everyday - and would trade places if I could), but I sure hope he gets the other two.

We didn't do anything too exciting, that's not Bob's style. Mason and I took Bob and Viola to dinner at Francesca's Fiore in Forest Park - a little more upscale than Grandma Sally's or Blueberry Hill (their normal haunts). I've posted pictures of the grand event on flickr.

Today is also Jenny's half-birthday. It's still painful to do things like this without having her here with us. I often wish that I could trade places with her, she should be spending these special times with her mom and dad - we all miss her so much.

~ Max

Phew, Holidays Over!

Mason had a successful first week being back at school. With 17 consecutive days off, it's hard to think of things to do and still be productive. Then, once it's over, it's hard to get back into the groove. Luckily, I have Jenny's dad calling me at 6:30 every morning to make sure that I'm up. Three out of five days, I went back under the covers, but we managed to make it to school on time - today was easiest, because I didn't have to make a lunch, the kids get "Fun Lunch" on Fridays - believe me, it's worth every penny!

I posted some pictures of our Christmas and a few others since our last post (none from Thanksgiving, because I forgot the camera, but we had a great meal with Bob and Vi). We are doing our best to keep with the traditions that Jenny and our friends (Susan & Chris, Bill & Elizabeth) established way before I entered the picture over 18 years ago. We spent Christmas Eve with our great friends the Elsey's (and their four beautiful and fun children) and the McNeill's (and their two very funny and beautiful kids). As usual, a great time was had by all - but Jenny was sorely missed.

A few (about 25) of our holiday letters came back, so I guess I will be able to shorten the list for next year. If you didn't get one, email us your new address and we'll be sure to make the changes so that you get one next year - with great hopefulness, next year will be a picture so that you can see how much Mason has grown and have something nice to hang on the fridge ;-)

Other than that, we keep getting by. Thank you for your thoughts, letters, cards, emails and prayers - they do help. Thank you.

~ Max and Mason

Long Time No Post

Not really a lot to write - just counting the hours until the holidays are over. I should finally get the Christmas letters in the mail tomorrow, so, knowing Chicago's famous postal service, you should be getting it before 2008.

Happy Birthday Viola

Today is Viola's birthday. Mason spent the evening with her while I went to the Open House at Mason's school. It's sad that Jenny can't be here to celebrate this day.

We love you Grandma.

Max & Mason