Still more Fall pictures

This weekend the rain cleared for a day or two (it's back now) and the leaves were at about their peak color, or just after. We raked leaves for a second time, and I ground them up and spread them on the raspberry plants. We visited that pond where I shot pictures last week, the skies were not as blue, but the leaf colors were better. Sunday afternoon Kris and I played disc golf at Bradley Park - the leaf colors were good there, too. Today we went to a clinic to get shots to travel China. They did not have all the immunizations that they said they would (e.g. no typhoid) when we talked to them last week. We were unhappy about it, but Karen and I got our first round of hepatitis shots.

More fall pictures

I had a conference over in East Peoria today, so when it was over I stopped at the Terraqueous Gardens for a stroll in the woods. Kris and I were there on March 1 (see old blog) and saw skunk cabbage blossoms and evidence of beavers. I found more evidence of beavers, saw a couple deer, and got some pretty pictures of fall colors by the pond. Tonight Kris's soccer team had its party. Karen and I talked to a couple who had traveled a bit in China and we got some travel tips from them; the priest at our parish had some good tips, too. Heard on the news that tonight a small plane crashed and burned in Peoria at an intersection not far from Kris's orthodontist's office - the pilot walked away from the crash.

Fall Break trip, 2009

Karen and I had no school on Monday or today, so we drove up to Chicago to take care of some adoption paperwork. Kris stayed with friends since she had school. The meetings were scheduled for Tuesday, so on Monday we drove up to Schaumberg to do some shopping at IKEA and Woodfield Mall. I think sometimes that IKEA is Swedish for "strange" but we found some items. I thought this lamp that looks like a dandelion puff is neat, but we did not buy it. This Tuesday morning we visited our adoption social worker near Chicago. The office recently moved and the new location was not well-marked, but we found the place and the meeting went well. After that we drove into the city to visit the Chinese consulate for visa stuff. I had envisioned some big, black intimidating office building. Well, the building was big and black, but the as far as we could discern the consulate only occupied a portion of the fifth floor! It was sort of like a visit to the DMV, with a big waiting area. We got our number at 11, the place closes for lunch from noon to 1, and we were called after lunch at about 1:20 and were ready to leave by 1:30. I'm happy we got through as quickly as we did. For lunch we walked over to a Portillo's and I had a realization about Chicago style hot dogs: I am not fond of mustard, pickle relish, or tomatoes by themselves, but TOGETHER they were pretty good. We headed back to Peoria and had dinner with the family of one of Kris's school friends, who watched her this afternoon.

Family Pic

Here is a pic of the family. We don't seem to get these taken very much. First frost of the season today, but no snow around here. Bradley's Fall Break is this weekend, so on Monday and Tuesday Karen and I will be taking care of some paperwork in Chicago. I spent much of the morning doing clutter control around the house (mostly in "my" areas like the garage and the shed). Maybe I was just trying to avoid working on my proposal :*) Tonight we attended a wedding reception for one of the college students that I do demo shows with. It was kind of low-key and fun. Speaking of demos, I did a show yesterday with students at a local middle school - it was well received. Sunday school tomorrow.

October 1, 2009

Today was Founders Day at Bradley, commemorating the founding of the University 113 years ago. At a ceremony today I shook hands with Brad Cohen, who was the Bradley graduate with Tourette syndrome that became teacher of the year in Georgia. His life was sketched out in a Hallmark movie last year. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brad_Cohen. I got his autograph for Karen, who wanted to attend his lecture this afternoon, but was shuttling kids from PCS today. She has also been subbing quite a bit.

Kris had her second playoff soccer game this evening. It was about 58 and rainy and dark and they lost. Ah well, I don't think we mind not having the associated travel and schedule issues. Sorry, no pix - I had a lab to teach.

Rex the orb weaver has not been seen for days; maybe the cold drove it indoors.

We have been watching the six-movie series by Ken Burns about the National Park system. It is nice, and educational, but a bit slow-paced. Sometime I would like to make a list of all the National Parks we have been to, better yet, I'd like to add to the list! :*) The pic of the day is another one from five years ago, when Dace drove Karen, Kris (then in Kindergarten), and I through North Cascades National Park and elsewhere in Western Washington. This is Liberty Bell Mountain, near Washington Pass. I have a poster of this mountain in my office.