A souvenir from the the north side of Chicago

On a positive note far fewer homeless people approach us at stop lights asking for change.

Winter Wonderland

Just back from New England for Shaun's interviews and were there during the biggest ice storm they've had in 30 years. It was one of the most beautiful things we have seen with everything covered in a thin layer of ice (apparently not a good thing for power lines).

There's No Wrong Way to Eat a Reese's

Man of My Dreams

I came home last Sunday evening to find the following scene: Shaun, in his traditional Thai shirt, making homemade chocolate chip cookies with our little girl. Pure Bliss.
p.s. The last (and only time) Shaun made cookies was when forced to in 7th grade.
p.p.s The only thing I have ever seen Shaun put in the oven is frozen pizza (burritos, lasagna, etc.)

Boeing 747s + fake penguins = Christmas at the Museum of Science and Industry

You haven't lived until you've tried the indoor snow. Genius.

Swagger Stick

Very Chic.

One sentence blog posts: all of the pictures without the boring stuff

First Snow!!!!

Oprah

I almost feel like Oprah is a member of our family by the way that I've been blogging about her lately.


My sister-in-law, Marissa, hooked me up with a ticket to go to Oprah with her and some friends from Milwaukee. Anyone who has ever tried to get Oprah tickets knows how difficult it can be so I felt pretty special when I got a message saying there was a ticket with my name on it. We went earlier this month and it was SO MUCH FUN. I didn't think that I was the type of person to get camera/celebrity crazy, but I was on an Oprah high for days after leaving the studio. The coolest part was that we were given seats on the VERY front row. When we initially walked into the studio, the usher directed us to the back of the studio in pretty undesirable seats. BUT, just as we were turning to go to our seats, another woman with a headset on asked us if we would be willing to sit at the front of the studio. The show was "The Biggest Loser" and we got to sit right next to one of the contestants from the previous season. The show is airing on this Thursday (Oct. 30th) so tune in if you want to see me in all my Oprah glory. I'm wearing a bright green sweater.

p.s. Marissa, please forgive me for stealing this Oprah picture off of your blog...I'm am not computer savvy enough to figure out how to get one myself. :)

Take a pitchure?!

Lately Maisy's favorite new phrase has been, "Take a picture?!", followed by, "Can I see?". She has also learned to say this when she thinks she is doing something cute, which is good for me because I'm not the best about remembering to take pictures. As a result, we have a lot of Maisy shots that beg to blogged about.






I think this one is hilarious because it catches Maisy's 'fake smile' that she tries to do when we tell her to smile.

Maisy's favorite question has recently evolved to, "take a breao?", which means 'take a video'. So we now do about 2 video's per day, every one of which starts with Maisy saying, "Can I see?". Anybody for some home videos?

September is now over but I still have some pictures to post

We did do other things in September, aside from Fantasy Baseball...despite what our last two posts may seem to imply.

Maisy started soccer classes. This is her official uniform. She is a "Lil Kicker" and her team name is "The Bunnies". It is an understatement when I say that Maisy loves her soccer classes. We too think they are pretty entertaining, although Shaun thinks they need to work on more hard-core soccer skills (apparantly chasing after bubbles and running under a parachute does not qualify as soccer skills in his book). They do stack up soccer cones and kick them over and play red-light, green-light which I think is a start in the right direction.



We also went downtown and watched the taping of Oprah as she hosted over 150 of the Olympic Athletes on her show. She taped it at Millennium Park which meant that we could sit on the lawn and watch (without having actual tickets to the show). We didn't get to hi-five any of the athletes, but it we felt pretty special being in the same vicinity as Michael Phelps, Nastia Lukin, Kobe Bryant, etc., etc.





Maisy has also taken up Longboarding. She thinks it's a much more swank way to get around than a stroller and she likes that she can pick up her pals on it too.

My Husband the Champion

I would like to announce that my husband is the champion of not only one, but TWO Fantasy Baseball Leagues this year. He says this is the best Fantasy Baseball season of his life. It does hurt a little to post this because I had desperately hoped to win our family Fantasy League. But, I guess if I couldn't, I'm glad that he did. Now he gets two little trophies beside his name. I'm so proud of my Man!

If I haven't mentioned it before, this is the last picture ever taken of Shaun's beautiful long locks which had to be cut off after taking heat from: his med school adviser, several of my friends who shall go unnamed (but who may or may not have used the term 'dirty hippy'), every doctor at the hospital, his career adviser, and others (you know who you are).

Toot your own horn

I figure since Shaun has turned the blog over to me (...dumped the blog on me), that I should have full privileges to write whatever I want on here. Today, I will use this opportunity to brag. Normally, I'm not the type of person to toot my own horn. But this accomplishment is so huge, that I can't help but tell the whole world (or at least the five people that still read this).


So, last year Shaun rallied various members of his family, including myself to take part in a fantasy baseball league. There were 8 teams and I was Shaun's little protege. In the beginning he taught me how to drop and add players, taught me about the difference between OBP and SLG, ERA and WHIP. He even dropped a few hints about who would and would not be a solid player to add in my line up. But then he let me test out my skills. I started checking my fantasy team stats way more than I would like to admit and was referring to all my players on last name basis during dinner conversations. It was a little weird. My efforts, however dramatic they may have been, paid off as I am proud to announce that I took first place in our Fantasy League during the regular season.

The team entitle

I would probably still be in fourth place, but luckily both Shaun and Dan (his brother) started medical school during the last week of the season. I have to put this post in ASAP because the playoffs have just begun, so I likely have only one more week to brag about being in first place.

One of our first ball games together, Comiskey Park 2003


First Game at Fenway Park together, 2005


Maisy's First ball game, Camden Yards 2007

Sweet Home Chicago

"Oh Baby don't you wanna go
Back to that same old place
Sweet Home Chicago"
--Blues Brothers

Yeah, we do miss Thailand. But we have to say, there is no place quite like Chicago...especially during the Summer.

Here's a few of our favorite spots and activities:

Millennium Park hosts free concerts in the Park every weekend during the summer. It is one of our favorite summer traditions. We pack a picnic dinner and jump on the train...

Shaun and Maisy hit the fountains while I go stake out our place on the lawn...


While Shaun and I are eating and listening to the music, Maisy will usually begin making her rounds by running around to all the nearby groups and scoring all kinds of treats, toys, and sweet chairs.



And no visit downtown is complete without a stop at the Bean...on Maisy's insistence:



We also love all the other free and random things they have going on downtown, like Australian performers on stilts...


or this children's play...


Or this gymnastics Olympic preliminary event...


We love the Museums, especially the Museum of Science and Industry and the Aquarium, of which we visits at least once a week.


We love living so close to Lake Michigan..."the beach", the running/bike paths along the shore, the Point...


We love that we now have family that lives within a couple hour drive of Chicago...


We love the baseball games (and other sporting events), the shopping, the restaurants, the parks, and more. And when we get bored with all of those things, we LOVE unravelling the toilet paper...

The passing of the torch

Every time Shaun finishes a blog post, he turns to me and says "this is the LAST post I am doing...I'm turning it over to you". I agree to do the next one, but know that if I wait long enough, Shaun will pull through and post another one. This time however, I think he was serious. He started school the first of July which symbolizes an end to a lot of things...free evenings, lunches together, weekends, and sadly, hilarious blog posts. And so, this is a warning that from here on out, this blog will likely go drastically downhill and possibly dwindle to nothing.


The first piece of evidence of the downward trend of this blog is the fact that I'm posting pictures from over a month ago. These are pictures from our stay in Utah just after we got back from Thailand. Maisy had a great time with all her Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins...and all her cousins' toys.

Maisy, Eliza and Eliza's pretty Mom


Maisy and Eliza cruising in their wagon at Gram and Poppy Odells


Maisy and William in Alpine



Maisy and "Ewie"...(Ellie)


This isn't actually one of Maisy's cousins, but after meeting so many new cousins Maisy thought just about everyone was her cousin. We are so glad that she has SO many cousins and so many that are close in age to her.

Back Home....

It's been a wild month for the three of us and as a result I'm not sure where to begin this entry . As a quick recap my parents arrived in Thailand for two weeks leading up to our departure, allowing us to play tour guides and show them some of our favorite spots. It was a bittersweet trip for us as we re-experienced some of the highlights from our year and got to hang out with my folks. On the flip side we also had to come to grips with the fact that it might be a long time before we had the chance to return.

In no particular order then some of the highlights of our last few weeks in Thailand.

Visiting the palaces in and around Bangkok

Over the last few months Maisy has become increasingly appreciative of other little people her size, often giving children who are perfect strangers an impromptu hug or full on kiss. This new affinity for short people apparently also applies to statues of cupid.

Foot massages (my parents were quick converts to this joy of Thai living)

The beach (near Krabi)

Sunset over Krabi

Dinner at the Four Seasons (complete with view of operating rice paddy)

Watching a cloudburst pass while eating

Making sure the giraffes had enough hand fed green beans to keep them nourished until some other crazed Americans with an affection for feeding random animals came along


Pondering on the wisdom of not only riding on the highway on a scooter, but also doing it side-saddle.

Hanging out at the elephant farm

Hiking around Doi Inthanon National Park

Hanging out at the Buddhist stupas on top of Doi Inthanon (the tallest peak in Thailand)

My parents left about a week before we did giving us just enough time to pack up and say our good-byes.

We're already missing these guys....

and these guys like crazy

Our final departure from Chiang Mai. Over the course of the next two days we flew through Bangkok, Taipei, Los Angeles and finally into Salt Lake City. After a brief stay to see family we headed on to Chicago, where we arrived earlier this week. It's been a whirlwind trip, and we were really sad to leave Thailand, but it has been fun seeing family and friends again after a year away.

In recognition that this is one of our lamest (and latest) blog entries to date I am including these last pictures to attempt to make amends:

Remember Tito and Jermaine?

Pictorial proof that we finally go to meet Tito!