I ♥ Faces Completely Candid

Autumn Joy

click on photo to enlarge

 

When I saw this week's theme for the I ♥ Faces photo contest, I knew which shot I wanted to enter.  This week they're looking for completely candid.   Autumn's face is a charming mix of joy and fear, after a stomach lurching plummet down the Kiddieland log flume.    She was thoroughly enjoying her alone time with Mama, without having to share with big sister, for once.  They had no idea we finished our ride in time to immortalize theirs.   I was snapping away from a bridge near the end of the ride.

RIP Kiddieland

Last Sunday, we had a last fling with Kiddieland, with 10 of our ChiHipFam friends.    Here's a Snapfish slideshow of the day's fun. 

Lucky Trevor got chosen again ........this time for an interview by CBS, Channel 2 news.   The interview didn't air, but there are prominent shots of Trev cheering to open and close the piece.   Sagezilla and I have a split second of our 10 minutes of fame as we can be seen standing next to him, and we're riding a green bumper car right after the opening cheer.   Here's the clip from the news.

We enjoyed The Little Dipper wooden coaster, log flume, Pirate Ship, Scrambler, and a wide assortment of rides.   There were just the right number of Mamas and kids, that we could split into smaller teams to ride different things then regroup easily.  
 

I was designated Scrambler adult, as the thought of spinning and flinging around made others ill.   Megg was go to girl for the Pirate ship--Galleon, and my kids both got their money's worth there, with multiple rides.   
 

 

It was a last blast.
 
We all hit the coaster, flume, and bumper cars.  
 

I was luck enough to catch our friends, Rebecca and her daughter Autumn (born in the Spring-a few days before Du-Jay--same year) as they came down the log flume.

 

 

 
Then we shared a pizza, curly fries, and cinnamon and powdered sugar elephant ears.
 
After dinner about half our our group was sensible and left. But we stayed with Nemo and his Mom and let the long haired kids have one last crack at their favorite rides.   The boys still got mistaken for girls when they hit the bathroom together.   But, they could tell people "We're long haired BOYS!" in unison, and laugh about it together.
 

 

 
We also tried the skill games, with the condition that each kid each get only 8 tokens--enough for one game.   Sagezilla won a tiny green dog by throwing a ball in a glass, and Du got 2 tickets, exchangable for goodies in the arcade, by not knocking down a fur rimmed clown.   Ah........it's a plot.   So, we resigned ourselves to going inside the arcade building with Du's 2 tickets which would only buy a tiny plastic bug.
 
The Moms agreed to one.......ONLY ONE........more round of 8 tokens each, so the kids could maybe get a little bag of Go Go's Crazy bones for 5 tickets.   Sagezilla hit the giant jackpot, rolling her tokens into tiny flatbed trucks, while the light was flashing--twice.   My kids pooled their tickets, and from those $4 of tokens, they ended up with a whopping giant pile of 275 tickets!  
 

 
They bought a case stuffed with Crazy Bones--something like 55 little packets, that each have 4 characters, 4 stickers and a game inside!!  
 

 
 I'm happy to say they shared with Nemo.  
 

 
So ends a chapter of childhood.   Thanks for the memories Kiddieland.   You made kids smile from 1929-2009!   RIP Kiddieland.
 

Look For ChiIL Mama This Weekend: Hawks, County Fair in the city and World Music

 Saturday morning, The Chicago Blackhawks are back, with an open practice and fun events for the whole family indoors and out.   Tickets are a very affordable $5.   The Training Camp event takes place from 8AM till noon.   So roll outta bed and get your red n black on, for some cold steel on ice action.   Here come the Hawks, the mighty Blaaaaa aa aack Hawks........

Then we're off to Garfield Conservatory for their annual County Fair

9th Annual County Fair

Saturday, September 19

Hours: 11 am – 4 pm
Where: Throughout the Conservatory Campus
Cost: Free admission (Some activities require a fee)

Join us for Chicago’s original urban hoedown and experience the excitement of a county fair in the middle of the city! Visitors to the fair will experience urban gardening at its best, agricultural traditions rarely found in the city today, and activities for children and adults alike. County Fair will be chock-full of family fun this year, including:

 

•	Hands-On Kids’ Activities
•	Petting Zoo
•	Pony Rides
•	Farmers’ Market
•	Food Preservation Demonstrations
•	Garden Harvest Showcase
•	Live Music
•	Beekeeping Demonstrations
•	Composting Demonstrations
•	Garden Tool Sharpening
•	Recipe Swap
•	Food Vendors

Finally, don't forget it's Chicago's World Music Festival.   

  

Check out their web site for locations and descriptions.

Chicago Character(s) or Locate Lee, Spot Shreddy Shirt Boy, and See Sagezilla N Du-Jay

     Chicago's got character......and characters. And anyone who goes to as many fests and outdoor concerts as we do, is bound to run into a good many of them.

     Our favorite used to be Lee Groban, a lanky, bearded dude, always spotted in a Jewish skull cap, often wearing robes. We still have occasional Groban sightings, but the man used to show up EVERYWHERE we went.

     He's in the Guiness Book of World Records for creating the longest film and longest poem ever, the 85 hour long, "Cure for Insomnia".   He carries a bag of his poetry around, which is still a work in progress. At a gallery opening in the early 90's he asked me to read his poetry, which consisted of pages and pages of "....by the beard of...." listings.

     When I finally made a break for it, he handed me a torn scrap of paper, mysteriously whispering, "Here's where to reach me, since I don't know how to locate you." The paper had his name and number on it and said RETIRED BEACH COMBER.  I thought that was so amusing, I kept it to this day.
 

     We made up a game,we played throughout the 90's.  It was loosely based on the children's book series, Where's Waldo, where kids have to find the little dude in the red and white striped shirt, hiding on each page.  Ours was called LOCATE LEE.

     Our Lee Groban for the new millennium seems to be Matthew, AKA:  Shreddy Shirt Boy.   We've been running into him for the last 20 years, as well.   He makes his own shredded shirts and seems to make it to every outdoor fest and many concerts.

 

     We saw him at Lollapalooza last year, where he wanted me to read his poetry, just like Lee had.  (I have somewhat of a freak magnet effect on people--especially poets--evidently).
   

     His poem was more interesting than Lee's, and involved an incident at a Naked Raygun punk show, where he stage dived and nobody caught him.   He fell into the crowd and got pinned upside down.  Everyone was so densely packed in, by the stage, that it took him a long time to get his feet back to the ground to flip over!

     He's gained recent internet infamy after his moves were captured on video at Lolla this year.   So, if you want to play the CHICAGO CHARACTERS version of WHERE'S WALDO, post to the comments section of this ChiIL Mama Post with which character you saw and the fest/concert/event, location, & date, along with any quirky details of your encounter.  Xtra bonus points if characters are spotted at the same event.

  

Locate Lee

Spot Shreddy Shirt Boy

See Sagezilla N Du-Jay 

     On that note, the latter three were spotted playing hacky sack at The Bloodshot BBQ last Saturday.

   

Matthew very patiently taught a rapt circle of kids his moves, then encouraged the parents to go on line and look up hacky sack tutorials. 

 

He rightly claimed the game helps the littles with coordination and socialization. 

  

And it's good early training for bustin' a move at giant music fests............

The. Best. Dancer. Ever. (Lollapalooza 09)  

Bloodshot BBQ At Hideout, Where Punk Rock and Alt-Country Play It Old School

Saturday was sunny and warm, just right for a barbecue with a few hundred friends.   Hideout's usual multi day Block Party extravaganza, like so many fests in this economic climate, wasn't going to happen at all.   Then Bloodshot Records stepped up and the BBQ was on.   Here's a Snapfish slideshow of all the fun.


What's not to love about decked out belt sander races,

geological digs in the dust,

The kids excavated ALL of these buried rocks by chisleing away the dirt around them with other rocks--an impressive feat that took hours!

and kickin' Bloody Marys and ice cold lemonade...not to mention quality tunes.

Though this year's event was only one day and was greatly scaled down from similar fall undertakings of years past, it was a day packed with excellent music.   

The kids saw their old favs, Jon Langford and Sally Timms (Mekons, Wee Hairy Beasties and Hideout's annual holiday Pantos) and we were introduced to some new bands we really loved, like The Blacks, Moonshine Willy, 

and especially Scotland Yard Gospel Choir (with the girl with the anime mullet on guitar).

The kids literally spent hours intricately decorating Day of the Dead Skulls in the art tent run by charity, Rock For Kids. We saw Hideout owners' kids Jessica and Wilson, who are school friends of ours, creating art, running amok with their cousins,and having a blast.

We won 2 frisbees and a cloth tote from fest regular, The Reader, and got our button fix from XRT, The Reader, Chirp and 826CHI.

We were thrilled to see some of the kids' teachers from 826CHI, our favorite creative writing center behind secret spy shop, The Boring Store.  Rock for Kids and 826CHI were the two non profits to profit from the BBQ.

A booth selling locally made, hand crafted, one of a kind, Mexican wrestler masks, added to the crazy carnival ambiance of pierced and tattooed masses in cowboy boots and thrift store clothes.

The kids even got an impromptu hacky sack lesson from Chicago fest regular, Matthew (AKA:  Shreddy Shirt Boy).

 

I'll devote an entire post to Chicago Character(s) tomorrow.

On our way out, we saw another reoccuring character, in the sitcom that is our lives.  It took a little talking into, but cameraman Anthony braved swine flu and leaded Chicago soil, for a photo with my grubby monkeys, after I told him one of the booths was passing out free hand sanitizer! 
 

 The kids went home and directly into the bathtub.

We dug all the devoted eco-conscious people, who chose to bike to The Hideout.   It was like a mini Amsterdam, out by the front gates, and gave me real hope for a less polluted, healthier, traffic jam free future.

All in all, it was a dusty, funky, fun, eclectic music filled day...and exactly the kind of reason we stay in the city and raise Urban kids.