Geting Summer Started

June 11, 2025

The start of Summer has been largely a grind. It came roaring in faster than we could believe and has been non-stop activity.

The big news of course is that our youngest is now going to be a Senior in high school. That fact is not lost on us that we, like every other parents in the world find ourselves dumbfounded by the speed at which the first three years of high school went by.

This is of course mildly amusing to us given that we have already gone through this exact same thing with our oldest. Memories fade quicker and quicker it seems.

A Senior Trip to the City

With marching band about to start for the summer, our daughter and her friends decided that they needed to have an adventure. And the adventure they chose was to take the train to the city, ride the L to Lincoln park, and go to the zoo.

Sounds like a great time right? My wife and I were immediately worried about it. It is a funny thing to be one school year away from your kid going away to college, and be faced with a gut reaction to something as simple as a trip to the zoo with worry and conflicted opposition.

But we were experiencing it. It was a real feeling. Our first ask was to see if they could go down on Thursday, I am in the city usually on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s for work, and it would put one of us an hour and a half closer to them if they ran into trouble.

Thursday wasn’t possible. So I made the simple decision to just go into work on Wednesday. As it was their trip down and over to the Zoo was uneventful but colorful.

We had a good laugh at her describing the smells of the L and the interesting characters they encountered. Honestly this was a good thing for these kids who are so much more sheltered that our Gen X generation was.

And I was able to meet them for their trip back which was a nice bonus for me.

The Move that We Didn’t Have to Help With

At the start of June our oldest moved from Milwaukee to the Wicker Park neighborhood in Chicago with three of his friends from high school. This was a welcome change as it significantly reduced the daily commute he was doing from Milwaukee to Highland Park for his new internship.

After his accident at his previous job he had started to look for something that had more research aspects to the job. He accepted a full-time internship through the end of the year at the Chicago Botanic Gardens as a Horticulturalist and really likes the work.

And now he really loves the commute (30 minutes in the morning, 40 minutes coming home). So when it was time for him to move, we were all ready to head up to Milwaukee to help him pack.

To our surprise we were gently told that he had it covered and asked us to just meet him at his new apartment. I was, and my back was perfectly fine with this, Mom slightly less so but begrudgingly accepted it. Not needing your parents to move is one of this minor bridges you cross as your child moves further into full “Adult” status.

Oddly the landlord informed this group that they couldn’t get in until 3:00 PM. Strange for sure but it gave us an opportunity to get together with our friends Jim & Danielle who had just moved back to Chicago from Colorado and happened to live around three miles from our son’s new apartment.

One delicious brunch and some Goose Island beer tasting later we were saying our goodbyes and making our way over to meet our son.

It was then that we got a call from him, the previous tenants were pigs and the cleaning people wouldn’t be done until 8:30 PM! There was a possibility they would be able to get into one of the floors earlier, so we held our breath and headed over.

The first priority was to try and secure parking for his truck and car which his new girlfriend Delaney would be driving. Whom we were yet to meet I might add.

Delaney arrived first and attempted to parallel park in a spot we had found right in front of the apartment. I feel for her, trying to park in a small Chicago space in front of her boyfriend’s parents that she had never met. Rough.

And she was having a bit of a hard time of it at which point my wife gently offered to give it a shot which she gladly accepted. My wife still to this day retains her Chicago parking skills, and she nailed it right away.

Delaney was an absolute delight, and we immediately approved (as if our approval was needed). About ten minutes later our son pulled up in the U-Haul truck, and we vacated our parking spot for him.

I am happy to report all his time at his previous job driving a big F750 tanker truck paid off, and he parallel parked the truck like a pro.

At this point we decided to walk to an Asian fusion restaurant named Mott Street. Wow, I wish I had taken pictures of the food to say it was delicious really doesn’t do it justice. It was relaxed and gave us an opportunity to get to know Delaney a little more.

After lunch the cleaners were still cleaning, and since there was a large group of his high school friends there to help (and party), we said our goodbyes and gave him his house-warming gift (a candle and Goose Island beer) and made our way home.

We later heard from him that he couldn’t move in until 8:30 that night. But he was happy and excited about this new chapter of his life in Chicago, what more could we ask for.

Some Needed Time on the Water

Fitting some time in on the boat scratched a growing itch I had for some boat time. We managed to get out twice so far, once with my sister and brother-in-law for some cruising and fishing.

My sister was the big fisherman of the trip catching this 17” Walleye! Way to go sis!

On another weekend my wife and I got out for some time just the two of us, and she did some fishing too! We then had our friends park at the Antioch house and walk down to Captain’s Quarters to be picked up.

The boat always relaxes me, but with our daughter’s double jaw surgery coming up any diversion to take our minds off it is more than welcome.

This was also the first time that we have seen a full sized sailboat with sleeping quarters on the chain!

We have seen plenty of smaller sailboats on the chain, but this was our first time seeing something this big. It was really impressive.

That pretty much brings us up to date. This coming weekend is Father’s Day. Between my wife volunteering at Prairiefest and walking in the parade, my daughter taking the ACT and performing with the marching band in the parade, I’m not going to be able to get away.

But I will be going fly-fishing on the Fox on Saturday morning which should be fun. Until next time have a good one!