Let the Fall Festivities Begin

I'm a person that really enjoys the change of seasons. I love snow. Throwing snowballs with the kids and building snowmen and snow forts can be some of the best moments you can ever spend with your children.

Spring offers flowers and wonderful weather and the mosquitos haven't had a chance to catch up with us. Spring BBQ's are the best.

Summer gives us a chance to take our vacations and forget about homework for a while.

But for me, Fall is the best time of year. The weather begins to cool off (giving us a break on our electricity bill), the leaves turn glorious colors, and....we get to go apple picking!

This year we went to Homestead Orchard in Woodstock, IL. They have great apples and the couple that owns the orchard is very nice.

Reigning the kids in can be difficult though. My daughter picks every apple she can get her hands on, regardless of it's size, color, smell, etc. Within minutes she has what feels like 500 lbs of apples. And if you have children you know what's coming next. That's right, she wants me to carry the bags.

My son on the other hand has his own technique. He won't be happy until he finds the perfect apple. Oh, wait! There it is at the very top of the tree. Dad, can you lift me up so I can grab it?

Great stuff. I love it and wouldn't have it any other way.

Another Week Under the Bridge

It's amazing how quickly time flies these days. When I was a child the summer break between school grades felt like it would never end. These days summer is just three or four paychecks. But, I must say that today's weather is absolutely splendid.

My father-in-law went in to the hospital this weekend for quadruple bypass surgery. He came through it like a champ and it made me think about the amazing things people can do that we just take for granted these days. I find it incredible that by-pass surgery has become "routine".

Tennis Anyone?

I, along with my family, live in Des Plaines, IL. It’s a lovely little hamlet situated just Northwest of Chicago. In fact, if you have ever flown out of O’Hare airport there is a strong possibility that you flew over my house. And please, next time don’t flush until you’re over Wisconsin.

There are many benefits of living in Des Plaines. For example, Ray Kroc’s first ever McDonalds restaurant is in our town and there are many social activities that families can participate in.

One of the biggest community activities is schedule every couple of years or so. The whole town gets together and we tear up our carpets, we throw out some of our most prized possessions, and we drain our basements. Sometimes this festival is called “just another freaking flood in Des Plaines”.

One of these festivities occurred last week when it rained for almost 4 days straight. After about 36 hours of this rain the Des Plaines river swelled and gave everyone in town a big ol’ hug. The picture above is an example. It’s my back yard under about 2 feet of water.

We love it here. We wouldn’t have it any other way.

Hey, maybe my insurance company knew something I didn't? See below...

There Were Flying Rats Everywhere!

What is it about children that they love to feed the various critters in the world? The video above was taken during a visit to the Smithsonian museum in Washington, DC. Our kids were completely uninterested in the various exhibits but they loved the pidgeons. Had I known this I would not have driven that far to see them. We've got pidgeons here in our own town!

Just FYI, the Air and Space Museum was very cool. More on that later...

I Love Taxes!

We got some nasty news the other day. Our flood insurance premium for our house went up $1,000/year. Our premium used to be $350/year, now it's over $1,300/year.

I'm so excited! I can't imagine anything better than being crushed by even more taxes and fees.

By the way, flood insurance is not optional. We can't opt out so we're stuck with paying the premium. Life is good!