We celebrated all four February birthdays - Paul, Kristin, Sasha, and Jason - at Benihana's last Sunday evening. Great chance to all be together. It's not a bad picture - if only we could have taken one without the glare.
A Little January Fun The best way to spend a week in January is not in the Chicago area. We took a 10 day trip south driving to Destin, FL and New Orleans, LA. We drove through Birmingham and Montgomery, AL on the way and stopped at some of the civil rights memorials. One of the most meaningful one was the National Memorial for Peace and Justice which highlights the many lynchings (4400) that took place in this country between the years of 1877 and 1950. We spent 2 1/2 days in Destin, enjoying walking on the beach and using the pool at the resort as well as trying different restaurants. Drove to New Orleans, stopping in Biloxi, MS to visit the last home of Jefferson Davis. Activities in New Orleans included exploring the French Quarter, taking a 2 hour cruise on the Natchez steam boat, and sipping coffee and eating beignets at Cafe Du Mond. The next day we visited a few plantations along Plantation Row - the Whitney Planta...
Old Main behind the leaves Tredway Library Enjoyed a great day wandering around Augie's campus and a few other Rock Island places. The weather was cool, the sun was bright and there was a fall feeling in the air. We walked down by the slough path - there was a lull in the regatta slough races so we wandered up the other side of the slough. Walked to the top of the path and discovered new residence halls - Parkander North and Parkander South. Walked back down the path, wandered into Old Main and Denkmann Library - both buildings we spent lots of time in while we were students at Augie. Had lunch at Brew by the Slough - the coffee bar located in the library building. Continued our walk on the other side of slough - from down campus to up campus - wandered past Westerlin Hall and walked by Ryden House which was Ruthven House when I lived there my senior year of college. Drove around Rock Island a little bit afterwards - by Sunset ...
We have probably spent more time so far this summer sitting on our patio or the deck and enjoying our backyard than we have in previous summers. The biggest reason for this is that we have been home much more with nowhere to go. Both Paul and I have been enjoying watching the different birds that come to feed at the bird feeders. We have also watched a couple of rabbits and lots of squirrels. We have added more flowers to the yard and flowering bushes. It has changed quite a bit in the seven years we have lived in the house. Backyard Photos