Wildlife in The City

The end of another month. School is out, the weather is hot and today there was a vulture in my backyard. Yep! You read that correctly. There was an actual Turkey Vulture sitting on a cell phone tower outside my back window. Even though, I had never seen one outside of our local zoo, there was no mistaking that huge, black, kinda hump-backed bird. He sat up there at the top of that cell-phone tower surveying the land. It was a bit unnerving. Knowing that this creature with what looked like an 8 foot wingspan, was right there looking for something that had died for him to eat. Recently, we have had an influx of animals that have decided to reclaim their territory. Hawks, Eagles, foxes, Deer,coyotes and now the Vultures have all recently been spotted in my very urban neighborhood. It is really an amazing thing to see. In fact, I have actually seen more "wild" animals in the city than I ever saw on our road trips to the country. All we need are a few cows and horses and I'm all set.

104 days of Summer Vacation huh?

Whew! These past couple of weeks have been crazy! The school my two youngest boys were attending decided to have a million different programs the last week of school. Then right before that was my birthday, my sister's birthday, my mom went on vacation and countless other things that had me pulled in more directions than usual. Anyway, we made it to Summer break and now it is time for my youngest son's birthday! I can't believe that my baby is turning 8. Just the mention of how quickly they are growing up makes my husband's eyes well up with tears. I must admit the thought of my last two boys growing up gets me a bit "verklempt". But, I won't dwell. The Sunny Season has definitely started off hot here in Chicago! 13 days of 90 degree weather so far and today is officially the 1st day of Summer. I have all these places to go with the boys lined up in my head, but if the weather stays like this, we will be putting some tents down in our basement and camping out down there. Even though there are no shortage of places to go and things to do here in the city, it is still hard to find the time to do them. The biggest hurdle is getting my boys up dressed, teeth brushed, hair combed and out the door. That alone can make me want to take a nap. On top of that, they have gotten to the age where unless we are going to the zoo, Navy Pier, Six Flags or somewhere that has Laser Tag and video games, they don't want to go. What happened to my little guys who used to get excited about going to the market to look at all the cool fruits and vegetables? Yeah I know, I was lucky they ever did that in the first place! It's just that, now it takes planning. Because they want to be dressed certain way and they want to do something that's not "boring". But sitting downstairs in front of a tv with a game controller in your hands for 6 hours isn't boring right? Oh well, we will see what adventures we will have over the break. I'll keep you posted!

Time Flies

I was reminded yesterday that I am indeed getting older. I mean I know I am but, sometimes it just hits me in the face. I went to see the daughter of one of my oldest friends ( who is really more like a sister)go to prom. It felt so weird. I remember holding her in my arms and burping her over my shoulder. And there she was, all dressed up and looking so beautiful. Her mom and I shared a hug as she drove off and I had to choke back tears. Not so easy to do this morning as I type this and realize that, WOW! I really am a " grown up". My brother and I had a conversation recently about how we actually forget just how old we are. We feel so much younger inside. We sound like we did when we were younger, we laugh at the same things, but we are not the same. We are older, grayer, wider and hopefully wiser. Looking at photos of my boys can invoke this feeling of "who am I?" also. These can't be my children standing as tall or taller than me. I was just making you bottles and searching for your favorite binky in the middle of the night. As I approach another birthday next week, God willing. I hope I never lose that young feeling I have inside. But I really need for these kids of ours to slow down a bit. Plus, I just got invited to go play laser tag without my children. And I plan to have fun!