finally, life will be back to normal

we have been counting down the days until jessica came home from haiti since she left back in early may. hayden and grandma made a chain and hayden would rip one off every morning and get all excited about how few days were left.
jessica's flight got back to michigan at 10:05pm on sunday evening. we all had told jessica that jenn would be coming in from grand rapids on monday and i would come over to the house with the boys after hayden got done with school. instead, we all decided to surprise her and show up to the airport. mom and dad waited for her at the gate as we all hid around the corner. we had hayden run up behind her to give her a hug as we all followed behind him. i tried to take some pictures but they turned out pretty dark and grainy. i'll probably keep them forever for myself, but they just weren't worth posting. she was so surprised to see us all and we were all so happy to be able to just hug her once again.
hayden skipped school on monday and we all hung out at mom and dad's house with jessica all day long. we saw some of her many pictures and heard a few stories. it really is inspiring to see everything she did for those people. i know that they will all miss her, but we certainly are glad to have her back home.
i'm so excited to have life back to normal again. i can't wait for catan nites with jessica now involved and to see her once again just falling asleep on my couch when we have nothing to do. and i'm most excited that the boys have her back in their lives.
welcome home, jessica. you will never know just how much we really missed you.

minutes before running out to jump in jessica's arms. this is the card hayden made for jessica:
getting to see the babies for the first time since they were 1 and 4 months old:


this is more like it:

super bowl

friday nite ledco had a bowling nite to say goodbye to a fellow co-worker who was leaving. i brought the boys up so we could all get our bowl on again. i realized that i really wish hayden didn't have bumpers in the league that he's in on thursday's. it took him a little bit to warm up, but by the end he was bowling better than several of the adults. i'm putting him on the bowling circuit soon. talan just hung out and was passed back and forth between people and eventually he just fell asleep in his car seat.

what form:
and again i say, what form:
if the ball went in the gutter he'd turn around and yell "ahhh, come on!" it's scary how much like me he is:
when he'd knock a bunch of pins down he did this intimidation dance that i can't even describe. he stuck his lips out like in the picture, he did this crazy "come and get it" type gesture with his hands and he moved sideways in a circle like a crab. he had everyone laughing until he milked it a little too long like he usually does:
end of the nite scores. we prepaid till 8pm so we weren't able to finish out the game. had hayden closed one of his next frames he would have gotten over 100. i wasn't doing to shabby myself:

fun in the tub

tonite was bath nite in the skiver house. dave usually takes care of hayden and i take care of talan. the past several times i have said, yeah, we probably won't be able to bathe talan in the sink anymore, and tonite was definitely the last time for that. he likes to just put himself up with the help of the faucet and knobs and sprayer and at times it looks like he is about to pull himself completely out. not to mention the splashing this kid does. the kitchen was soaked. so i guess from now on he'll be in the little tub placed in the big tub, or perhaps he's even ready to move into the bath spinning seat. most of these pictures didn't come out so great because of the all splashing he was doing. so there were lots of unfocused ones. this is basically what he did the whole time:



while i was taking pictures of talan dave ran in and said "where's the camera? can i use it?" so i handed it off and he showed me what they were doing in the bathroom. please know that hayden did not pee in the water. it was simply a crayola color tablet. we limited him to one color tonite vs. the 7 colors he used the other week which made the water look black:

cotton pickin' apples

yes, it seems a little early for apple picking, but that's just what we did on friday. it was opening day for the honey crisp apples so that's the day we go. although, come to find out, mom doesn't really care about the honey crisp or the empire apples so she'll be going again in another couple of weeks. it was a family tradition growing up. we'd go to erwin's orchard, pick apples, get donuts, go home and eat high rise apple pancakes that my mom would make for dinner that nite. since hayden was born the tradition has continued. i've been with him every since he was 8 months old. this year myself, hayden, talan, jenn, rainah, mom and dad all went.
they open at 9am so we got there a little before 9. there was a huge line. i hope somebody told these people that honey crisp were apples, not the cereal. anyway. after standing in line for about 20 minutes we were told that the honey crisp crop was small this year and by the time we got out there, they might be gone. wonderful. we stood in line for probably a little over a half an hour and then took the tractor ride out the the orchard. we each probably got less than half a bag of the honey crisp and then we headed over to pick some empires. as we were finishing, dad looked up and said the rain was moving in. we waited for the tractor and shortly before it got to us the rain started coming. i had a plastic rain cover for the stroller talan was in and dad covered rainah the best he could. it pretty much started pouring and the driver decided to make every stop and wait for people to mosey on and off before taking off for the next stop. oh well. last year it was cold and rainy. what's a little rain ever hurt?
we make it back and then wait in another line for about a half hour to get our donuts. we get to the front and are then informed they sold out of the sugar ones. so we got to wait another 10 minutes until they were done. by that point, the rain had stopped and the people had all left.
rainah really enjoyed her apple and i wondered how in the world hayden ever ate his his first year since he didn't even have any teeth at that point. talan posed for a picture but he didn't really eat it. he just got to suck on the pesticides that were on it.




hayden actually helped quite a bit this year. he would pick the apples:
and place them in the bag if they were good:
or do this if they were bad:
everybody loves to eat apples:


talan and papa before the rain started to fall:
the sky isn't looking so good:
showing off what we picked before the rain came down and the cameras were put away:

cousins

this was an interesting photo shoot. again, thank goodness for digital cameras. the babies were actually the most cooperative of the 3. it's the 4 year old that never looks at the camera. or at least doesn't look at it long enough to get a good shot. anyway. here they are. rainah is just about 8 months old, talan is 4 1/2 months and hayden is 4 1/2 years.

lollapalooza 2007

about a week and a half ago, dave and i took our annual trip to chicago for lollapalooza. i had every intention of getting this post up much earlier, but due to technical difficulties (the fact that i once again took video on my digital camera vertically and then could not figure out how to turn the video so that you didn't have to watch it sideways) i wasn't able to post until now. luckily, dave knows some people that know some things and we were able to get everything all worked out. i know many people have been waiting for this post because of all the talk surrounding one of the videos. believe me, it's well worth the wait. here's a photo album to show just how much fun you missed out on.

we dropped the boys off to grandma and papa's house on thursday nite and headed of to chicago on friday morning. we left a little later then planned but we still got there in time to see most of the set from the polyphonic spree. i enjoyed it thoroughly, even though the sound on the stage wasn't too great for their set. the weather was close to perfect all weekend, especially considering two years ago it was 105 degrees on the second day. i did quite well with my whole anxiety around too many people considering there were so many of them. i only wanted to fight a handful a people. that's pretty remarkable since we were there for 3 days. and it wasn't until the 2nd to last band on day 3 that i had my near panic attack and had to just get away from the masses. not too shabby.



shortly after the polyphonic spree, we went to see the silversun pickups which was one of the bands i was most excited to see. the set was great and about 3 or 4 songs before the end, dave looked down and realized his wristband had fallen off. we left the show a little early to go talk to security and figure out what we needed to do. at first we were told "it's not looking good for those losing wristbands." but after talking to several people and them noticing how my band was doubled over we touch my wristband and then mine fell off. the girl putting them on was doing it wrong and they eventually gave dave a new one. good thing, cuz i was planning out where we were going to hide and camp out each nite in the park so we didn't have to leave. here's some shots of the silversun pickups before our stomachs sank at the site of dave's naked wrist:


we ended meeting up with jimmy morski (i think he goes by jim now, but he'll always be jimmy to me) and his girlfriend, lorraine. turns out jimmy is a "middle of the mass" kind of guy so we ended up far closer to the stage then we ever would have been without him. this picture was taken while we were waiting for lcd soundsystem to come on. another highlight of the fest. dave describes the singer as the damien jurado of electronic rock. they were great.

last year i got an order of guacamole at one of the food stands. it turned out to be the best guacamole in the world. dave isn't a big fan of the stuff, but the second he tried he, he told me to get another order. on top of all the bands we were excited to see, we couldn't wait to eat at least one order of this guacamole every day. if you are ever in chicago, go to adobo grill and get their guacamole. it's no joke:

day two brought us more good weather and more great bands. this was the day that we tell everyone about. we headed over to see the sam roberts band. a band i didn't think i knew. turned out, i did know them, and i liked them a lot. the won me over even more with their set. no, that's not bruce springsteen, that's sam roberts:

while enjoying some sam roberts band, 2 guys in front of us were enjoying them even more. they had some mad dancing skills and we decided to get some on tape (due to more technical difficulties, i could not get the videos to embed right on the blog. just click on the rectangle thing and it will take you right to the video on youtube)



each year we take our self portrait. here is this years:

this is while we were sitting at a table eating, probably some chicken satay and guacamole. i just dig this picture:

after many people tried telling me i just HAD to go see the yeah yeah yeahs i stuck to my gut and went to see snow patrol. one of hayden's favorite songs is actually chasing cars. so i video taped a little bit of that just for him. the snow patrol set was the most memorable of the weekend, for several reasons, but mostly for the videos below. the videos you all have been waiting for. we had a couple in front of us that honestly was about to make a baby right then and there. every song that snow patrol started playing these two would freak out and start singing to each other and practically miming the song. it was too absurd to video. and not nearly as good as the video we did take. one of the last songs of the snow patrol set, they brought out niki from the silversun pickups to sing a duet. she sounded far better on this song then she did at her own set.


when we first sat down on the grass at the snow patrol set i noticed this guy with these jean shorts that were rolled up and his pockets were hanging out. so i immediately point him out to dave. at first i think it's totally serious. you have NO IDEA the kind of outfits we saw through the weekend, so we just figure this was another one. i couldn't wait to share this photo with my whole 3 blog readers:
and now for the videos you've all been waiting for. i'm usually directly in front or behind the biggest idiots at any concert, but not at snow patrol. turns out, rolled up jean shorts dude had a buddy and the two of them were the main show at the snow patrol set. they were the most entertaining people i've ever seen and i wish they lived next door to me. after the set, we had to go up and thank them for the most enjoyable time we've had in a long time. we were told they were going to visit my blog, but who knows if they'll remember the site or if they gave up trying since it took me so long to post this. anyway. i hope you enjoy this half as much as we did. and this is only a tiny bit of it. these guys were in character the entire set. (the shirt says "same dance moves since '97) (again...i'm a retard and couldn't get the actual videos to embed on the blog. click on the rectangle thingys and it will take you to the videos)




dave, nick and jimmy watching a bit of interpol on nite 2 just before it started raining:

we have never gotten to the park in time for the first band. most of the early bands just aren't that important to us. but on day 3, basically the first band to go on was juliette and the licks. and i had to be there. juliette of juliette and the licks is juliette lewis. and i love juliette lewis. i have since found out there are many of my friends that do not like juliette lewis at all. but i lover her. and her set rocked harder than any other set we saw all weekend. we were pretty close to the stage so i was able to get some great pictures. i put my camera away and at the end of the set she started crowd surfing and got right up to us. she then stood on top of the crowd directly in front of me. the whole time i was thinking "man i wish i had kept my camera out" there really was no way i could have gotten to it in time, especially since the whole crowd had packed in to get as close to her as possible. but if you want to see it, there are pictures up on her myspace page. we just missed being in the picture of her standing up. we were that close. so yeah. juliette and the licks rock and i suggest going to see them if they come through your parts:

after juliette and the licks, we met back up with jimmy and rachel varty. i did not tell them to stand in descending order:


a bit later we headed over to see a band that dave had heard good things about called "dios." well, when we got to the stage dave realized it was the same band that we had seen the other year open for the twilight singers. we liked the band, but we LOVED their drummer. he honestly is the most entertaining person you will ever see. my theory is, he desperately wanted to be a front man but just didn't have the voice, so he sits behind the drums and is the front man from there. another band you should check out if you can:

the most entertaining drummer ever:

beatle bob is a well-known figure in the st. louis music scene. He has been seen doing his characteristic dancing at concerts both in the crowd and onstage with the performers. He is known for his arrhythmic dance moves and beatle-inspired "mop top" hairstyle and 60's attire. His constant presence and dancing is welcomed by some concertgoers and an aggravation to others, but even his detractors admit that his presence signals that one is seeing the best music event in town on that particular night. He has allegedly been to at least one live show every night since Christmas Eve 1996, and seen over 10,000 bands over the last decade.
According to a 2000 article in the riverfront times, Beatle Bob's real name is Robert Matonis. The article reports that he has been banned from some local record stores due to allegations of shoplifting, and that he has used falsified credentials to gain press access to music events. thank you, wikipedia for this copy and paste job. and thank you beatle bob for entertaining us last year and this year:

while waiting for my morning jacket to take the stage it looked like it was going to start pouring. it never did, and my morning jacket put on a great show. they had the chicago youth symphony orchestra come out and play with with and asked the crowd to take out all recording devices (which were on the prohibited list, mind you) and record a song and then upload it to their site as they will be editing all of the fan footage to make their new video. i took a few pictures, but not video. we were a bit too far back:

pearl jam was the last band to play. they were the only band playing at that time which meant everyone attending was at that stage. that means A LOT of people. we sat on the curb and enjoyed the music far away from all the people. we got up once to take a few pictures and to actually be able to say "i SAW pearl jam" vs. just "i HEARD pearl jam." jimmy went and got us a bargain on a pizza which they were selling for $10 and he managed to get for $5. i got myself a delicious iced tea for $1 and we stayed till the bitter end. this is way too many people:

this pizza was a bargain and delicious (no, dave cannot ever take a serious picture):
so. as you can see, a great time was had by all. my dad insists that we're too old to go to concerts, especially 3 day concerts, but the lollapalooza generation is older than me. there was one 19 year old girl, however, that started talking to me and this other guy who made us feel quite old. she tried giving us the history of lollapalooza and when we corrected her and told her we were at lollapalooza '93, she said "you were?! how old are you?!" but on the other end, we met the raddest couple and the guy had seen the velvet underground back in '69. so see, dad, i wasn't even close the the oldest person there. there is even "kidzapalooza," an entire area for kids with bands just for them, punk rock hairdo's, a rock and roll petting zoo, the works. and if i thought i would have as good as a time with my children there as i do without them, i'd love to bring them. but until that day comes, we'll just hope that grandma and grandpa don't mind having them for a few days each year.
i want to give props to matt and amy hader for allowing us to crash at their place for the third year in a row. for not caring that we leave shortly after waking up and don't get back in until after they are in bed. i usually can't sleep in any bed but my own, but yours is so ridiculously comfortable i didn't want to leave. thanks for having us, yet again, and for telling us you want us back next year too! you guys are the best and we love you.
and of course i must once again thank the snow patrol dancers. you seriously have no idea how much better you made our entire trip, just from that one set. if you do ever read this, please get in touch with me so that i might get your contact information and try to book you for a party or something.
and to perry farrell and any other people involved in booking bands. you should seriously contact me, cuz i've got some ideas.
until next year, chicago. stay sexy. (since california already took classy)