Chicago

Last Friday, I drove the kids to Chicago for the weekend. I wanted to see the Giants play the Cubs. I've only been to Chicago once, and I think I was about Satchel's age at the time. It was kind of a big deal since it was the first time I drove them to a city I didn't really know, and we weren't going with anyone or meeting up with anyone.

Jiro, true to form, was excited about the trip and ready to do whatever. Satchel needed a little coaxing.

Our drive started off great. Both boys were chatty and I was able to get them talking about school, their teachers, and even girls! We decided to stop in Sikeston, Missouri for lunch. Warren and I took the boys to Lambert's Cafe on the way back from St. Louis four years ago, and it took Satchel about three years to shut up about it. There was a time that he wanted me to rent a pink Hummer limo and drive him and his friends there for his birthday.

So Satchel was excited to go, and it was funny to see him experience it as a 14 year old vs. a 10 year old. He started off by saying, "I'll have a hamburger." This was a joke since I usually get annoyed when we go somewhere new and (presumably) exciting and they both order hamburgers. But, I really didn't care what he ordered.

At one point he said, "This is the most red neck place ever." I replied, "You didn't used to think that." He then said, "I didn't know many stereotypes when I was younger."

Great! Ha!

Our food was fast and tasted fine. I really enjoyed the free fried okra. I forgot how expensive it was, but whatever. Too late. As we were packing up, Satchel said, "Everything's better when you are younger. Like garlic fries."

So mission accomplished--we never have to eat there again!



The rest of our drive was fairly smooth. I listened to baseball on the radio and the kids alternated between sleeping and staring at their personal screens. We arrived around 7:30pm.

We stayed in an AirBnB in Logan Square, and it ended up being a great spot. We were able to walk to lots of restaurants and whatnot and it was right by the train station. Jiro's first order of business was eating a Chicago style pizza. We located a Giordano's within a mile and a half and decided to order and then walk over. This helped us orient ourselves to the 'hood, and the pizza was ready when we arrived. It was everything we wanted it to be.



The only thing missing was beer.

We made it back to our abode and crashed.

Saturday was all about baseball and we were all excited. We walked over to the train station and with the help of a nice employee, we figured out what tickets to buy and where to get on and off and all that. The kids made fun of me because I didn't know which buttons to push on the ticket machine.



(Satchel also told me that a 44 year old woman should NOT be taking selfies.)

It was the monkeys' first time on a subway. Despite Satchel's expression in the photo below, they loved it.



When we switched trains, we met some Giants fans. On our second train, the closer we got to Wrigley, the more Cubs fans we met. The train was a sea of blue by the time we arrived.



We picked up our tickets at Will Call, snapped a few pics and then found our (amazing) seats.





For those of you not in the know--the Cubs have been having an incredible season. The best in 100 years. The Giants, three time World Series winners (2010, 2012, 2014) had a strong start to the season, but have been in a major slump since the All-Star break. Well, the Giants came through on Saturday and managed to win the game in a very exciting 3-2 squeaker. I couldn't have asked for a better game, and even the monkeys totally got into it.

I really wished I had bought tickets for Sunday, too, but I knew we should do other things while in town.

We took the train back to our apartment and had some much needed downtime.



Then we went out to a VEGAN dinner at the Chicago Diner and a movie.

On Sunday, our main objective was getting Satchel to Eggsperience for a Tommy Boy skillet. With the help of Uber, we accomplished that goal by 10am.



Next, we walked to Millennium Park to see Cloud Gate. The park was insanely crowded due to the holiday weekend and a jazz festival, so our pictures are less than inspired. It was cool to see it in person.



From there we sought refuge in the Chicago Athletic Association's game room. It features pool tables, foosball, shufflebaord, bocce and chess. All free! After smoking Jiro at foosball, I went for a beer and listened to baseball while they goofed off.



After an hour or so, we went down to the lobby to check out the famous Shake Shack.

Then Jiro's one request--to go to the top of the Willis Tower--needed fulfilling.



This proved to be a Hurculean effort--we were in line for about 4 hours. Thankfully I had the baseball game to keep me occupied and the boys managed to keep themselves entertained.



It was pretty cool once we made it up, but we all agreed it was NOT worth the waiting. We found out the hard way that you can get a City Pass ($98 each) and skip most of the waiting. The pass gets you into five attractions and is totally worth it if you plan to do them all.

From there we attempted to take an Uber to the Furious Spoon, a Ramen place by our apartment, but ended up at a different location. This was the part of the trip where Satchel decided his mother sucked so bad at directions that he had to take over. Fine by me! We did eventually get to dinner, and then back home. We crashed early, and then hit the road home at 8:30am.

Overall, it was a great trip. Maybe a bit on the quick side, but long enough for the monkeys to get a taste of the big city. We definitely made some memories and it was quite fun having the boys all to myself for a few days.

Long time, no post

Yikes, it's almost April and I haven't made a single post ALL YEAR! What's up with that? I guess we've all been a little busy. Not sure that there's been anything too out of the ordinary to post about.

Jiro is playing soccer for Liberty again.

Satchel actually tried out for Snowden and made the team. Due to rain and whatnot he's only had one game and I got no good pictures.

Jiro went to his first ever concert at the FedEx Forum: Fall Out Boy. Ha!

What else? We've made a couple of funny videos together--one for Lauren's surgery and one for my upcoming birthday.

Spring break was last week, and we did manage to take a little day trip to Oxford. I told the boys we were going to have a nice lunch, see an art exhibit, visit a bookstore and then go to Faulkner's house. Satchel said it sounded like the nerdiest trip ever. Then he did a really funny nerd voice, but refused to let me capture it on video.

Anyways, we had a really nice lunch at Boure. (More on that later.)



Then we walked across the Square and saw Maggie Russell's show at Southside Gallery.



The kids both really liked it, though they are too cool to make any pleasing facial expressions.



Our next stop was Square Books. Satchel actually asked me, "Why would we hang out in a bookstore?" Thankfully, he was able to answer his own question. And yes, he found a book to buy.



I quite enjoyed sitting on the upstairs balcony and drinking a coffee while people watching down below.



Next, Jiro insisted on getting a cookie from this place clearly created for stoners.



Then we hit Off Square Books and Square Books, Jr. where we found treasures such as the Handicorn. Oh and these little hands. Satchel said, "Do you know how many high fives I could give with these?"



After walking through the Square, the boys started to get a sense of how important Faulkner was to the town.



Rowan Oak was our last stop, and both boys were actually quite interested and enthusiastic about it.



It was a great little day trip.

I've actually got a travel assignment on Oxford so if any of y'all have some insider tips and other suggestions for things to do, I'm all ears. Email me: stacey at fertilegroundzine dot com. Thanks!

Soccer Lady Adventures

Last weekend was full of soccer lady adventures.

On Friday, Lauren, Jenn and I ran the Cooper-Young 4 Miler in our jerseys before joining the rest of the team for a ride on the Sprock-n-Roll.



Considering it was 900 degrees when we started, I was happy to have finished.

The Sprock-n-Roll was a great follow up adventure. Lots of people were out and about and we felt like celebrities rolling down Cooper.



Joanna served as bartender/DJ. I can't express how much freaking fun we had.



On Sunday, Lauren, Jiro and I drove to Birmingham to see the USWNT play a friendly against Haiti on their Victory tour. Paula, the boss lady of the Thursday night league, organized group tickets for about 20? 30? 40? of us, so it was super fun.

We had a quick bite at Flip Burger before going to the stadium.



There was a shuttle service to the stadium, and we had the best driver ever.



I think they said there were 35,000 people in attendance.



Look! The USWNT is right there! Abby and all! And my favorite, Julie Johnston, scored the first goal right in front of us.



It quickly became apparent that Haiti didn't stand a chance, so the game wasn't that exciting after the first 15 minutes. But it was still awesome. I mean, come on.



It was fun to sit with all of our buddies.




When it was all over, Jiro desperately tried to get an autograph from Abby, but was mistakenly directed to the Haiti side. He took it in stride.

Then we did a little tailgating before hitting the road back to Memphis.



Special thanks to Paula for making this happen. We all had a great time.

Road Trip! Part 3

After our super busy day on Saturday, we decided to take it easy. Kate and I lounged in the backyard while three of the boys watched TV and one of them, the amazing Santiago, made us breakfast! With only one good arm, I might add.



As you can see from his face, he was the first to fall asleep the night before. Boys!

Three of the Provencios' friends joined us and we all went to the neighborhood private beach. Santi finally got to relax!



The bay was pretty shallow, but there was a deep part for boats, so the boys spent a lot of time jumping into the deep part when not floating in the shallow part.




There was also a short lived attempt to keep a fish alive in a float.



Akuma had fun too.



After awhile we went back to the house, got a little food in us, and then headed over to Carlos' apartment for more swimming, but in a pool.



There was some pizza and even a little raquetball...or whatever game they were playing on the raquetball court.



Then it was back to the house. I went to bed and they were allowed to stay up as long as they want. In the morning it was time for goodbye (not photographed). It was sad, but certainly not their saddest goodbye. I think our trip help everyone realize that our friendship is strong enough to survive living in different cities. We'll see everyone again, hopefully sooner rather than later!

The ride home was uneventful. The boys ignored me in favor of summer reading, which was hard to complain about!




And they did a LOT of sleeping! They certainly had a lot of catching up to do! We spent an uneventful night in the outskirts of Knoxville then had a little hot chicken in Nashville before finding our way back home.



This was definitely the most ambitious trip I've done with the kids. (Keep in mind Warren once took them on a 5 week roadtrip!) They are really fun to be around and great in the car. I'm so happy we went!

Road Trip! Part 2

Once the boys had a chance to run around and get the lay of the land, we loaded up in the car and went into town for dinner. The Boys loved watching the boats.



And they were totally impressed by this kid making art on the street. (WE had to circle back after dinner & ice cream.)



Our dinner at Frontier House (?) was really delicious. Jiro and Enrique shared a huge steak dinner. It was really cute. We were all so busy catching up that I didn't take any pictures. My dinner was really pretty though--lump crab meat with bibb lettuce, lots of fresh fruit and avocado.

After dinner there was some ice cream, some more strolling, and then back to Kate's house to watch a movie. I went down to bed around 10:30pm I think. The boys continued to run around until about 3am when I begged them to go to sleep! They were about to set up a board game!

They did finally sleep and Carlos came over with donuts, eggs, and bacon around 10am. We had a nice breakfast and then headed into DC for the day. (Thankfully I did not have to drive!)

We started off at one of the art museums that was apparently famous for its cafeteria chicken tenders. It's true.



In the cafeteria, Satchel saw a replica of a Thibeaux painting he studied at Snowden. Carlos went to inquire as to whether there were any actual Thibeaux paintings we could see and we were directed to the National Portrait Museum. So after lunch we headed that way, but made a stop at the Air & Space Museum first.



The boys ran off to do their own thing for the most part, but insisted they check out the monkey (Abel?) who went to space, later died from an infection, and then was stuffed and put on display!

They all managed to get super thirsty while walking around, but refused to drink out of the water fountain because it was "gross." Really? So, we got them some bottled water outside, but they had to sit through another group photo.



Then we went to the National Portrait Museum, which was awesome. In addition to three Thibeaux paintings, we saw tons of other cool stuff.













The boys started losing steam after an hour or so, so we had to promise to feed them again. But not until I had one more group shot!



Now, I know we were in a city full of awesome restaurants, but we had six mouths to feed and still several hours worth of sight seeing to do. So, standing there outside the museum I spotted a Chipotle and the monkeys went wild! Ha!

Once sated we headed towards the monuments. First up, Lincoln. (Note Santi's photobomb.)



And I love this outtake with Enrique's photobomb.



I appreciate that Carlos made this day educational.



And that tourists did their part too. Want to guess what this group is doing?



I'll give you a hint.



Yes, the dude is laying on the grass so that it looks like the Washington Monument is his penis. Turns out it was actually two teens with their parents staging that photo! Ha! The boys were inspired to take pictures that looked like they were licking, punching and holding the monument.







Up close it is even more spectacular.




Next was the Jefferson monument. And then FDR. And then MLK! I had never been to any of them. It was dark by now and extra fun, I think. FDR's monument was my absolute favorite. It had tons of quotes that read like they could be spoken today.



We made it back to Annapolis around 10pm and no one had trouble sleeping, that's for sure!

One more day to go. Stay tuned.