Grand Finale-Rockin' out the Summer

Ralph's World Concert

(Grayson's shirt says, "I'm in the Band" )

Over 3 yrs ago a students' mom gave me a copy of some Ralphs' World CDs. I had heard a few tunes in my own students' music class thanks to our music teacher but these CDs got me hooked. Such cute tunes that I started to incorporate them in my classroom and eventually here at home. Right after T was born we started playing the music in the background (along w/ Jim Gill tunes). One of the most catchy tunes for me back then was "Happy Lemons". I still remember dancing in front of T's bedroom mirror with him in my arms. It became our own little routine every morning before I went to work. As you can probably imagine, it was hard for me to leave him and that tune just happened to be on when I walked in the room to kiss him goodbye. I scooped him up and danced our little jig and we did it again and again for months on out. Well, the past yr T has really been into his own music, "Mommy, is it my turn to listen to my music?", is usually the request from the back of the car. He has memorized several CDs and I have even enjoyed singing along with him. It has continued to be our thing and I adore it. I really think G has become familiar with some of the songs, too. I hear him babbling and laughing at T during particular songs. Cute!

Eating the cheese sandwich he made himself for the "picnic"
Went w/ daddy to get a drink and T came back with the jackpot! Cotton Candy. The first time he indulged in this delightful fluff was at 1.5 yrs at his first Disney on Ice show-Nemo. It has been our special treat (in moderation of course...shhhh, don't tell our dentist) ever since.

Even Grayson got a taste. You should have seen how fast he devoured his cheese sandwich before attacking that bucket of cotton candy! The little guy has speed.

Well, imagine my excitement when I took a look at the Ravinia schedule months ago and saw Ralph himself would be performing AND lawn seats were only $5 a person!! I bought the tickets and wrote it on T's calendar. Days before the concert I kept thinking how wonderful the timing was. End of summer (8/29), family concert, rockin' it out to what have become our family tunes all summer long! I even prepared myself for the possibility of tears during T's fav song "Surfing in my Imagination" ( and yes, I cried but not as much as I did when " Happy Lemons" started up. I remembered my 'baby boy' when he was a baby and it tugged at me so hard).

On his surfboard

The concert was great! T , G and mommy n daddy danced our booties off! It was quite the moment to step back and see T pretending to surf on his surfboard (again, his all-time fav song!) and G swaying back and forth clapping. What a fabulous family day! Thanks, Ralph for a rock and roll moment I will not forget (and neither will Triston)! And I have plenty of videos of T dancing and singing to show off to him when he has his girlfriends over.

On Sunday, we continued the family festivities with a bike ride in Gallery Park. This park is gorgeous (it's Glenview, of course it is). They have paved pathways for walkers, bikers, bladers, whatever your sport of the day. We were first introduced to this park (cannot remember if I have told this story already) years ago when we attended Maria's (very dear childhood friend) little sister , Rosalba's, (little meaning 23 now) Light the Night Walk for Leukemia and Lymphoma. The whole night was endearing and memorable thus the park has always stood out in our minds. Well, this park ride allowed us to explore every nook and cranny of the fields. Charito and I figured it was the easiest next-step-up bike ride for T beyond the usual neighborhood jaunts (which are can seem tedious at times bc we stop at every intersection for "our bike safety rules". BTW-I am so proud of T and his awareness of these rules. It is hard not to laugh at how much independence he takes on, even when he has to remind daddy to follow the rules himself, like walk your bike across the street. Hee hee.) This way we can just keep on riding ( noticed this-I put 'just' in alot of my sentences, don't I? Moving on...) It was the perfect setup. Hills, ponds, turtles, some stork-like bird, grassland areas. It was as if we were nowhere near The Glen with busy streets on all sides of us. We even got the Kellers to go with us and that helped T push right along with Eileen and Aidan to follow (still mad at myself for not getting a pic of all the kiddos on their bikes). It was really a lot of fun and we kept telling T how proud we were of him while he rode ( at times you could see the burnin' and churnin' in his legs as he plowed up a hill only to sail his way down on the other end. He screamed, "Weeeee!" as he coasted down the hills. We were quite impressed at how long he rode, even though he told me by the end of it all, it was "the longest bike ride ever". Yup, it was for you, buddy. But check out the finish line-a park and ice cream truck. Playing w/ his shadow @ Gallery Park

What better way to end the day Triston style-one of his favorites-calamari!

The finish line for Charito and I-a great dinner at Mitchell's Fish Market in The Glen. I had a fantastic salmon with egglpant, zucchini, sun-dried tomato relish, ginger sauce and goat cheese. Charito had a Hoison Tuna. Dessert was the best carrot cake I have ever had! And I am not a huge fan of carrot cake bc I do not like nuts in my cakes. But this....ohhhh...this had no nuts, with seven layers and a spread of caramel and cream cheese between each layer. I am still munching on this stuff the slice was so huge.

There you have it. A fabulous family-style ending to our summer. Family-that's the way I like it! Now, let's see what Fall has to offer us. In my books Autumn is here as soon as school starts. The first family Fall event is Kiddie Land on Saturday. Let you know how that turns out next week (that's if going back to work doesn't cramp my blogging style).