I was going through some old photos to get some quick inspiration when I found the pictures from Kate and “Bean’s” visit to Chicago in the summer of 2010. For those of you who haven’t been here long, Kate is my close friend from high school and Bean is her daughter. I have spent lots of quality time with Bean and her family over the years. I went to Europe with them for a week when Bean was a toddler. I spent a week at their house shortly after Bean’s little brother (formerly known here as Squeaks) was born. (Dinner conversation with five-year-old Bean is here, Kate.) That visit to…
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You Spell Shagogo, I Spell Chicago
I received the best thank you note the other day. It was from now six-year-old Bean, who, even after returning home still remembered that we Chicagoans are spelling it wrong. I’m keeping this forever. ©2010 Suburban Scrawl
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Still Too Young To Be Fearful.
As we squeezed into the crowded elevator that would take us up 103 floors to the Skydeck of the Sears “I’ll never call it Willis” Tower, Kate looked at me and said, “I’ve had anxiety about this all week.” I had no idea. I told her that the gift shop is away from the windows, in the center of the floor, so if she wanted to hang out there, I’d take Bean over by the windows so we could look outside. Oh, and to the Ledge. Remember how I said that you’d never, in a million years, get me to go out on that thing? Well, here’s the thing. I…
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Bean’s Chicago Tour 2010
I just returned home from a jam-packed weekend in the city with Kate and Bean. You would think, being downtown with a girl of almost-six, that we wouldn’t see very much. Well, you’d be wrong! It’s actually faster to see certain things with a young kid, if you just relax and let them “drive”. In two days, we went to Millennium Park, the Adler Planetarium, the Shedd Aquarium, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Field Museum, and the Sears “I’ll never call it Willis” Tower. We also spent a bunch of time watching scenes from “Transformers 3” being shot right outside our hotel. One of the things that was…
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A Different Lens
This weekend I’m in the city, which you know I’m giddy about. I took the train. Naturally, I brought the camera that Olympus was kind enough to loan me, and I’m experimenting with some of the art lenses. I’m with two of my favorite people in the whole wide world, Kate and Bean. Seeing Chicago through the eyes of a child is an exciting experience. I have already pointed out Marina City as the “corn cob buildings”, and she shouts it out each time she looks at it. (“Corn in the cob buildings!!!) She’s at the age where she’ll probably be able to remember things like this when she grows…
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Introducing Chicago To a Five (Nearly Six!) Year Old
As if my summer plans couldn’t get any better, what with the Blogher conference in New York City and our trip to Munich, oh, and my evening with Michelle and the B-52s which is coming up soon…Kate and Bean are coming to Chicago for a visit! Spending time in the city with a youngster such as the smart, spunky, and adorable Bean is a much different experience from time in the city with teenagers (though just as fun!), and Kate and I have been e-mailing back and forth, trying to figure out how much we can pack in. Bean has her own idea, though, and you can read about it…elsewhere.…
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Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow
Saying goodbye to Kate and her family was super tough, especially since Bean started saying goodbye to me on Monday evening. (I had arrived at their house on Saturday and wasn’t due to leave there until Wednesday evening!) Bean summoned me to her room–though her mom–so I could say goodnight to her up there. I walked into her mostly dark room and knelt down next to her bed. She said, “Melisa, I have something to tell you. I wanted my mom to tell you, but I am going to tell you myself, okay?” Wow, that sounded important. I said, “Sure! Go ahead; I’m listening.” She pulled the sheet up over…
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Dinner With A Five Year Old
I took Bean to dinner at Red Robin last night, and although I had an extremely awesome list of interview questions for her to answer while we ate, the freestyle conversation was, as you might expect, way better. First of all, I have to tell you that Bean brought a weighted clip to Red Robin, so that when she got balloons from the hostess they wouldn’t make their way up to the ceiling, out of our reach. Is that preparation, or what??? We asked for her balloons on the way to the table (she wanted one for herself and one for her baby brother), promptly ordered our hamburgers and fries,…
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Life With A Five-Year-Old
It’s been a while since I’ve enjoyed the extended company of a five-year-old; to be exact, it’s been just about ten years (the younger boy turns fifteen next month!). I always enjoyed my kids at five, because they were such little people by that point. They were smart, they were talkative, and they were funny. I only arrived at Kate and Scott’s yesterday, but Bean has had me LOLing and ROFLing and LMAOing many times already. I asked Kate what time they are up in the morning usually, with Bean and the new baby, who has yet to get a nickname in real life (as far as I know) and…
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Who Knew An Empty Bag Could Contain So Much Bad Ju-Ju??
When my parents came up from Tennessee for Thanksgiving, they brought a big bag to me from Kate, which contained a few Yankee Candles I purchased from Bean during a preschool fundraiser (they’re getting those kids out earlier and earlier!). As I was taking the candles out of the bag, I noticed something in there that I didn’t expect: it was a quilted bag/purse that I had given to Kate two years ago. This bag is awesome. My aunt, who is a phenomenal quilter, gave me a couple of them and when I saw this particular one I knew I would have to give it to Kate because of the…