Memorial Weekend

Our original plan for this weekend was to head up to Wisconsin for the weekend - which I was really looking forward to doing. Alas, our van developed issues that prevented us from going. Our mechanic spent a Friday night and most of Saturday fixing up the engine, but it is fixed now. Not content to just sit around in Peoria, we have found things to keep us occupied. Yesterday I bought a pruning hook/saw and hopefully made the big walnut tree in our yard look a bit more presentable. I also bought some asphalt patch and filled in some spots in the driveway. Karen did laundry and later went to a farm with Kris and picked 5 pounds of strawberries. They had fun but it was hot. We made them into two batches of jam today. Every so often we make strawberry jam - often on Father's Day weekends. As noted in previous entries, things seem to be growing ahead of schedule. I wonder what this means for late summer?

After church we went to a Peoria Chiefs game. They are a farm team for the Chicago Cubs; every once in a while the Cubs send a player here while he is on physical rehab. I have not been to a Chiefs game in a long time, in part because the team built a new stadium and I was annoyed that it seemed to be a big waste of money at the time - and after that the timing was just not there. Anyway, the stadium is pretty nice. We sat on the lawn behind left field because the tickets were cheaper and Katie had more room to move around. Karen and Kris tried to teach Katie the dance to "YMCA". Not long after we got there the ball hit the wall right in front of us, and later, after we had to move because fireworks had to positioned near there, the one home run hit of the game landed pretty close to where we had been sitting. When we moved we sat in the seats; better view, but unfortunately too close to some vocal drunks who heckled both the team and people in the stands. Later, as they were leaving I got hit on the shoulder with a full soda can - Karen and I think it was a pretty random act. Fortunately an usher saw it happen and stepped in (and therefore kept me from doing anything stupid). She felt so bad about the incident that she gave Kris and Katie each a baseball. The game went on, and the Chiefs eventually lost 2-3 to the Beloit Snappers in the 12th inning. Afterwards there was fireworks, and though Kris is not fond of the noise she plugged her ears and did OK. Katie said it was loud but clearly enjoyed it. All in all it was a productive, enjoyable, and hot couple days and evenings.

On Sunday evening, Kris's friend Lydia came over for hot dogs on the campfire. We also made candles by melting wax over the campfire and pouring it into molds made in mud under the swingset. She and Kris slept overnight in our big tent in the back yard. This morning I managed to get Kris and her friend out of the tent and the tent down and inside with the sound of approaching thunder - and then the little cell missed us. The rest of the front arrived later in the morning. It was quite a thundery downpour - one rain gauge read 3 inches and the other read 4. The airport registered 1.9 inches - the wettest Memorial Day in Peoria history. A little creek formed in out front yard leading from a downspout to the street. I had placed an asphalt patch under another downspout on Saturday and the water can down with such force that it pushed a hole into the asphalt (I tamped it back into place). We were thinking of hiking in some sandstone canyons this afternoon in Matthiessen State Park (see an entry from last June about this place), but we did not want to hike in flash-flooded creeks. We mostly hung out this afternoon at home, but this evening we attended a fun cookout at the Bosmas.