Planet Stahl

Well, that was cool.  Pluto has been removed from our solar system as a “planet”, but at least its still a “known object”…  Whatever that means!  I think its neet that people are getting so outraged about this…  Its status quo or something.  “Pluto is a planet, that’s what we have believed for 90 years, so lets not change it”. 

Phooey!  Change with the times, we should celebrate that we know so much more about the solar system and our planets that we were able to come to this end.

Summer started school this week.  Its only a few hours a day since Wednesday, but she seems to like it.  Its harder for Mom & I to get into routine now!  Ang threw out some homework the other night, and I have forgotten her book bag one day.  BAD PARENTS!!!  I’m sure we are on the teachers radar at this moment.  I hope she does not call DCFS.

Aiden has been wishy washy about the whole thing.  We are not sure if he is digging Summer being gone or not.  He starts PreSchool this week.

The kids are going the Catholic School.  Kinda different to see them come home with colored pictures of Jesus…  But I still feel this is a great situation over what we would be doing if they were in public school.

I didn’t go the fair again this year…  I am a bad alumni!  I got a call from Leahy that morning, and I could tell he would have went if I did…  Ang gave me the look when he called, I could tell she had NO interest in going to Fairbury, or letting me go to Fairbury to drink at the beer tent.  I guess I have a bad track record?

Don is coming back to Illinois for a stop over next month.  That should be fun…  I have warned Ang already that this may be a bad time in our relationship…  We may be hanging out a lot.

Dan & I are going to San Diego early in September.  Its all part of our Beer Show we do.  We are flying in for the Stone Brewery 10th Annual Beer Fest.  Some friends from other shows are putting us up.  We have all laughed that they may be serial killers…  Lets hope not!  Speaking of Beer and Planes…  I cant take beer for my buddies out in the OC in my carry-on bags…  Osama strikes again!

I will get some pictures when we go out to Cali.

Oh, and our cruise, that’s in October.  Its a Mediterranean cruise with Royal Caribbean.  We start in Barcelona (It ends there too) and works its way to Naples before heading back.  We should see some cool things.  Barcelona, Marseilles, Florence, Pisa, Rome, Naples, The Pompeii ruins.  We are booking our excursions now.

Erin getting hitched!

Sorry for the delay..  (if I had a nickle for every time I wrote that!)

Picture above taken at the Tall Ships Festival in Chicago today.  We had a lot of fun…  But if you asked the kids the best part…  They would have said: “The train ride to the festival”.   We parked the car down my Midway Airport and took the Metra line.  I was scared that Lollapalooza would have overtaken the city, and did not want to get downtown only to be stuck in a quagmire.  $10.00 with parking for the round-trip tickets for the family.  Pretty cheap!  That may be the only way to do the Loop in the future.

The tall ships were fun, but by the time we got to the high profile ships, (The Nina) the kids were not about to stand in the longest lines they had seen all day.  Oh wait, the longest line we saw all day was at the Navy Pier Mens and Womens rooms….  No Lie!  I digress, instead we looked at the cool boats from a distance and then let the kids frolic in the fountain.  Believe it or not, they walked from the Metra station, to the Chicago River, all the way over to Navy Pier and back without being carried!  I love that!

By the time we got to the car, the whole family was ready to crash!  I yawned all the way to Joliet.

The Mockingbird…  What is the deal with Mocking birds?  I have one…  Ummmm…  4 actually that have taken up residence at my farm. 

If you read about them in the Wiki, they note that the birds are known for a wonderful chirping and song ability…  Well, I have not heard any of that.  These things “bark”.  Seriously.  When one of my cats comes out of the barn, or sits in the yard, the Mockingbirds swoop down at them and make all kinds of noise. 

In the morning, dawn…  They sit on the kids swing set and “bark” right outside my bedroom window.

So, I tell Ang of my idea to kill all of the birds…  She says its bad luck.  Huh?  How did this bird get on the protected status for Luck breakers?  Its an annoying animal!  They are still alive, but I am just waiting for the day they push me over the edge!

None of you have any idea how much these birds are bothering me.

Wait till you hear about the coyotes…  I dont like to have too many animal stories on one post.

Lastly…  Erin pointed out that I am a bad person to gleen news from.   Apparently I did not give enough information about Toms engagement…  Well, here is what I know:  They’re engaged.  Religious preference, wedding colors, time, location and other details were not forthcoming.  Oh wait, I heard it from the Groom-to-be…  None of the details are really important to the Groom.  We may fool you into thinking that we always had a dream wedding, but we dont really.  Just get it handled!  (Actually, Steele always said he would get married with a kilt on…  I guess that was not his wife’s dream!  See!  It doesnt matter what we think anyway!)

Oh, Angela’s cousin Lynn is also engaged to be married.  I am guessing that will take place before Tom’s.