some summernesses.

ILLINOISE! corn. humidity like none other. it makes you feel like you're floating around in a hot, buzzing, sticky dream. the skies are much more dramatic there, with all of the moisture. clouds and lightning for a lot of the time. the night we got there we got drenched in seconds by the fattest, warmest downpour ever. it was bliss.

uncle jon can't resist the rusting silo ladder. tom's family is surely one of industriousness, perhaps being of sturdy german farming descent. one day teddy and i sat around as the whole family gathered to take down a stubborn tree. chain saws, chains and tractors, hand saws; the women watched and i asked if this was a typical activity for a family reunion. yes.

sexy chicago. and lake michigan, so beautiful.

lightning bugs and cardinals and forlorn train whistles. this is illinois. teddy got to meet tom's (and his) wonderful family, and meet his great grandparents and his great great grandma. his great grandpa hicks has a room filled with quite literally 12,000 plus hotwheels. strangely enough it was overwhelming and emotional for me to see it. mind boggling. we definetely had some great adventures.

watching 'confessions of a shopaholic.' we screen our viewing materials very thorougly. teddy was a good sport. during takeoff to chicago our plane basically blew up and we were stranded in sactown for a good 8-9 hours. we made friends with fellow displaced lost souls of the airport kind. we drifted about and wondered why in the heck we would ever get back onto that abomination of the great metal bird? (but we did.)

teddy got his cast off. halleluja. he went to the beach for the first time. this is the 'after' shot. he's content and a little wind burned.

the gang at fallen leaf. surely a spectacle. teddy and i had fun fun gobbling green beans and s'mores. i felt like quite the p-i-m-p pushing teddy in his wheelchair/stroller up to angora lakes. it was a wonderful gathering place where we met heather, adrian, art, dan, uncle jon, and grandpa tom.

a ham, for sure. he loves his grandpa tom.

overcast on the drive, and cold rushing fog. but over stinson beach there was a crescent of sunshine and blue sky. uncle lefty in the background attracted a gaggle of three year olds asking him to play, so he gave them a sound 'big rock candy mountains.' (back in arcata already, as of sat. night. do some good, jon!) we then hit up frisco and santa cruz over the next night and day. a celebration for the removal of the plaster cage and a farewell/hurrah for jonny.

that horrid oderous burdensome thing is in some dumpster somewhere. teddy experienced a slight baby depression with that thing on, as did i.

thank goodness for perspective. life is much easier now. we should always appreciate good health! things can get worse.