Here's a picture of Zach's class during Halloween. Zach is the fireman in the back. The pink fairy is Emme. The princess in the yellow wig is Julia. The black caterpillar is Lance. The cowboy next to Zach is Gary. The green Grinch is Josh. The scarecrow is Briar. Princess Leia is actually Riley. The purple fairy is Carly. Belle is Rachel. Batman is Anthony. The power ranger is Luke.

Here's the kids in the backyard with their Auntie Es and her dog Corey and me in the early Fall 2005.

Karate Zach

Okay, not really karate. It's taekwondo. Zach graduated today from the first belt - white - to orange belt! He had to earn 6 black stripes on his white belt and then test into the next level. Of course, that also meant forking over 50 dollars for the test fee and belt. I was told there is a certificate, but I didn't see that. Anyway, the main thing is that it's an outlet for Zach's energy. He's really enjoying it, getting to know some of the kids in his class. I think it's a confidence booster. But mainly, I enjoy seeing him stick with it over these past months and going to class with enthusiasm. The teachers are pretty good. They keep the little kids in this class interested. The class is called Tiny Tigers. I don't remember what the age limit is, but it's like 4 years to 7 or 8 or 6? There are some really little kids in it. They're so cute to watch. Some of them seem like they're not even tall enough to jump over some of the barricades the teachers put up for an obstacle course. All the kids get the white shirt and pants for free and those outifts are pretty much one size. So a lot of the little kids are swimming in these outfits. One mom hemmed the pants for her son and pointed out that she hemmed one leg shorter than the other. :) I keep forgetting to at least fold up Zach's sleeves. Today, I wanted to walk into the classroom to fix Zach's shirt. We were in a hurry, as usual, to get to class so he had his coat on before I had his belt on. I had him lift his coat up so I can tie on his belt. I didn't find out til he took off his coat and went to class that I had only tied in half of shirt in the back. The rest was hanging out all sloppy. When Zach was trying to do his test with his teacher, he kept having to pull his shirt down because it was falling off. Luckily he didn't care, he was having too much fun.

Back in Chicago

J, the kids and I am back in Chicago for the week. I'm teaching a training class in our downtown office in Merch. Mart. We're staying in the Holiday Inn connected to the Mart. The view is beautiful from the 21st floor. We can see the trains going by, all the cars and traffic going across the bridges, and where the two rivers intersect. I was walking to the training class in the morning and going past the train station turnstiles and elevators and it felt great to be with all these people going to work. It made me miss a big city environment. People well-dressed going to work. It just felt neat to be part of a big group like that.
Anyway, the kids seem to be having a ball seeing their old babysitters and cousins and whatnot. Ellen, Katie, Justin, Lizzy, Seth, Rron and his parents. I miss the restaurants here too! Great food at high prices. ha! So I don't miss the cost of everything, but the thing is that in most of the restaurants, you're not only paying for awesome food, but for awesome service and often great ambience.