Movie Matinee

Today the boys and I went to see Toy Story 3. If I had to sum up the story, I would describe it as the toys and Andy learning to adapt to changes in their lives. The toys learn what is important to hold on to as you go through life, which is, of course, each other. Andy learns that you can let go of some things (and people) as long as you hold on to the memories of the good times. I hope that the boys and I will be able to hold on to our memoris of Tim and the good times we had together as a family. But we are no longer the traditional family of four. We are now a family of three headed up by a single working mom. We have had to rebuild our sense of family to reflect our new reality, just as I have had to rebuild my sense of self. We are trying to move forward into our new lives. I just wish I was as hopeful about our future as Andy is when he heads off to college at the end of the movie.

Happy Independence Day

After a week of lovely dry weather, we have entered the hazy, hot and humid month of July. A big change from last year, when I wore a jacket and long pants to watch the fireworks. We decided to get some fireworks of our own this year, so on July 3, the boys and I went on a little road trip. If I'd planned ahead a little better, we would have done this road trip last weekend. There were three separate fireworks stands at this particular exit on the interstate and all three had lines out the door. Everybody was very nice about it, however, and the line moved right along. The boys and I made a quick trip through the store, trying to guess what everything did based on the cryptic descriptions on the packages. I wanted to stick to the smaller, quieter items, in order to avoid undue legal attention at home. We picked up a lot of sparklers, some smoke bombs and things that are supposed to spin and shoot sparks. We managed to get out of the store with an IKEA bag full of fireworks for just about $100. Not bad considering the store's top sale of the day was $1800.

We had timed our road trip to coincide with the supper hour, knowing we would pass both an A&W and a Culver's on the way home. Believe it or not, the A&W is the old-fashioned, orange-roofed restaurant complete with carhops! We decided to skip the A&W, though, since everyone else at the fireworks store had apparently stopped there for dinner. We drove one exit further south on the interstate to Culver's for burgers and frozen custard. That was when we got the hidden bonus of our trip. Just across the street from Culver's was a bakery that sold kringles! Kringles are a giant "O" shaped danish pastry filled with different kinds of fruit and covered in frosting. Yummy! I was very tempted by the key lime, but settled for the safer raspberry kringle.

Today was the first time in years that we didn't march in the Skokie Fourth of July parade. Our Cub Scout Pack marches in the parade, but the Boy Scout Troop doesn't. As we are no longer involved in Cub Scouts, we stayed out of the heat and skipped the parade completely. We had dinner at a friend's house and tested some of our purchases from yesterday. A couple of the items were a little noisier than I had hoped, but we had a great time none the less. It was sprinkling after dinner, so we decided not to head over to the high school for the fireworks. We'd gotten our fireworks fix the night before at the Wilmette fireworks, which are always on July 3. All in all, a very quiet Fourth, but pleasant just the same.