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- schneid
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Friday, December 11, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
Lucky To Be Alive
We were hit by a drunk driver on September 5. Only Suzette and I were in the car and we are both fine, just some minor cuts and bruises. We are very lucky. The red car is my car, the blue car was the other driver. We are thankful that the kids weren't in the car and lucky to be alive.
- schneid
Monday, June 01, 2009
Our new dog Capri
We finally got a dog! We picked up Capri on Memorial Day. She is a 10-month old purebred tri-color collie. She is small for a collie, about 40 lbs right now and won't get much bigger. She is very sweet and is adjusting to her new life as are we! Ben and Anna really like her as you can see from the photos.
- schneid
- schneid
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Thanksgiving 2008
I really need to catch up on the last 6 months, but maybe I should start with the most recent events since those are fresh in my mind.
Due to the bad economy, we decided to drive to North Carolina for Thanksgiving this year instead of flying. This was the first time we drove there with the kids. We gave Anna an early Christmas present, a Nintendo DS and some games.
The kids occupied themselves with their games, books, and DVDs. We spent some time sitting in the back with Anna and keeping her busy. The first day was an easy one, a 5 hour drive to Bloomington, Indiana to visit Kevin, Amy, Carter, and Archie. We hadn't seen them (I think) since our 20 year reunion in August 2006.
We arrived around 2:00 and stayed until after dinner. Ben and Carter were excited to see each other, almost as excited as Sweetness the attention-starved (or so he would have you believe) beagle was to see us. The kids (that sometimes includes Kevin) ran around and had fun while the adults (that sometimes includes Kevin) caught up. We had fun playing Wii Rock Band and hanging out. We had a great time - thanks Kevin and Amy!
We spent the night at a hotel in preparation for our 6:15 wakeup - because I didn't want to hit the mountains in the dark that night. We did wake up on time but didn't leave quickly due to a leisurely breakfast. It had been beautiful and sunny the previous day. This day it was dark and rainy.
We drove on some winding roads back to the freeway. It seems like Bloomington is up on a hill. This was the start of hilly driving which continued for the next 7 hours until we past Asheville, North Carolina. We did get some daylight in the mountains. And mostly is was drizzling, so the drive wasn't too bad. We arrived in Clemmons around 7:30 PM.
The kids were excited to see Nana and Zadie (and Tigger and Eeyore, their cats), and vice-versa except for the cats. After a day or two, an adult would be able to rub the cats into a purr-induced coma so that the kids could pet them. The cats referred to Anna (or at least we imagined they did) as the "Pink Thing". They would take off whenever the kids were moving.
We went to Sci Works in Winston-Salem with Zadie on Tuesday. It's a nice science museum for kids and we enjoyed it. On Wednesday, we went swimming at the YMCA with Nana. Debi and David arrived with Genevieve that day. On Thursday, we visited a couple of Zadie's homes for sale and had a big Thanksgiving dinner at home. Of course, that was not much different from every other night that we had a big dinner, except that Nana did all the work on Thursday. We ate and drank too much the entire week. On Friday, we went hiking at Pilot Mountain. It was a nice sunny day and maybe 50 degrees up there. In fact, it was sunny and warm the entire week. Near the end of the hike there was a lot of grumbling, but we had fun and needed the exercise.
Nana and Zadie were gracious hosts as always - it's not easy to have a houseful of people for a week. Nana's brother also came on Wednesday and left on Friday, so they had 8 guests! I think everyone had a great time. It was fun to add Genevieve to the mix. The kids liked having another kid around and Anna really liked doing things with her.
Now that we were leaving on Saturday, of course the clouds and rain came back, although it only rained for about 3 hours on the drive home. We left before noon and drove straight back home. We spent about 12 hours driving and 2.5 hours on stops. Anna fell asleep around 8:30, but Ben was so excited to go home that he didn't fall asleep until about 9:30. We took turns driving and it went fine until we hit the wall around 9:30. The next hour or two were excruciating until the caffeine set in. The last 4 hours were tough. We were really sick of being in the car and ready to get home. We arrived around 1:30 AM. We were all happy to be back in our own beds!
Airfare was about $425 each, plus we needed to rent a car, so it would've cost a minimum of $1900. With the price of gas as low as 1.54 (in Indiana) and an average of about 1.79, we only spent about $150 on gas. We spent one night at a hotel and had some meals. The whole trip cost less than $400. Good deal. I did have one splurge - I bought a Garmin Nuvi 650 GPS before the trip. It worked very well and I left my stack of maps at home.
- schneid
Due to the bad economy, we decided to drive to North Carolina for Thanksgiving this year instead of flying. This was the first time we drove there with the kids. We gave Anna an early Christmas present, a Nintendo DS and some games.
The kids occupied themselves with their games, books, and DVDs. We spent some time sitting in the back with Anna and keeping her busy. The first day was an easy one, a 5 hour drive to Bloomington, Indiana to visit Kevin, Amy, Carter, and Archie. We hadn't seen them (I think) since our 20 year reunion in August 2006.
We arrived around 2:00 and stayed until after dinner. Ben and Carter were excited to see each other, almost as excited as Sweetness the attention-starved (or so he would have you believe) beagle was to see us. The kids (that sometimes includes Kevin) ran around and had fun while the adults (that sometimes includes Kevin) caught up. We had fun playing Wii Rock Band and hanging out. We had a great time - thanks Kevin and Amy!
We spent the night at a hotel in preparation for our 6:15 wakeup - because I didn't want to hit the mountains in the dark that night. We did wake up on time but didn't leave quickly due to a leisurely breakfast. It had been beautiful and sunny the previous day. This day it was dark and rainy.
We drove on some winding roads back to the freeway. It seems like Bloomington is up on a hill. This was the start of hilly driving which continued for the next 7 hours until we past Asheville, North Carolina. We did get some daylight in the mountains. And mostly is was drizzling, so the drive wasn't too bad. We arrived in Clemmons around 7:30 PM.
The kids were excited to see Nana and Zadie (and Tigger and Eeyore, their cats), and vice-versa except for the cats. After a day or two, an adult would be able to rub the cats into a purr-induced coma so that the kids could pet them. The cats referred to Anna (or at least we imagined they did) as the "Pink Thing". They would take off whenever the kids were moving.
We went to Sci Works in Winston-Salem with Zadie on Tuesday. It's a nice science museum for kids and we enjoyed it. On Wednesday, we went swimming at the YMCA with Nana. Debi and David arrived with Genevieve that day. On Thursday, we visited a couple of Zadie's homes for sale and had a big Thanksgiving dinner at home. Of course, that was not much different from every other night that we had a big dinner, except that Nana did all the work on Thursday. We ate and drank too much the entire week. On Friday, we went hiking at Pilot Mountain. It was a nice sunny day and maybe 50 degrees up there. In fact, it was sunny and warm the entire week. Near the end of the hike there was a lot of grumbling, but we had fun and needed the exercise.
Nana and Zadie were gracious hosts as always - it's not easy to have a houseful of people for a week. Nana's brother also came on Wednesday and left on Friday, so they had 8 guests! I think everyone had a great time. It was fun to add Genevieve to the mix. The kids liked having another kid around and Anna really liked doing things with her.
Now that we were leaving on Saturday, of course the clouds and rain came back, although it only rained for about 3 hours on the drive home. We left before noon and drove straight back home. We spent about 12 hours driving and 2.5 hours on stops. Anna fell asleep around 8:30, but Ben was so excited to go home that he didn't fall asleep until about 9:30. We took turns driving and it went fine until we hit the wall around 9:30. The next hour or two were excruciating until the caffeine set in. The last 4 hours were tough. We were really sick of being in the car and ready to get home. We arrived around 1:30 AM. We were all happy to be back in our own beds!
Airfare was about $425 each, plus we needed to rent a car, so it would've cost a minimum of $1900. With the price of gas as low as 1.54 (in Indiana) and an average of about 1.79, we only spent about $150 on gas. We spent one night at a hotel and had some meals. The whole trip cost less than $400. Good deal. I did have one splurge - I bought a Garmin Nuvi 650 GPS before the trip. It worked very well and I left my stack of maps at home.
- schneid
Monday, June 23, 2008
Blog Slacker
Sorry that I've been slacking badly on my blog. I need to catch up on Dark Lord Day (April), our Disney trip (April/May), geocaching (June?), my sprained ankle, cub scout stuff including family camp (June), my upcoming trip to my childhood summer camp, Camp Edwards, etc. Now that I'm off World of Warcrack, I might be able to get those blogged.
- schneid
- schneid
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Outrageous cost of college tuition
I just figured out that I need to save $1000 per month for the next 16 years to send my kids to college. Tuition has been rising at an 8.4% rate for the last 10 years, 8.2% for the last 20 years (reference: College Illinois). This means that if current annual tuition is $15,000 (e.g., at the University of Illinois), then in 11 years when Ben starts college, annual tuition will be $36,426. Four years of college tuition for Ben will cost $165,000. For Anna, the first year is $46,398 and all four years will cost $210,000.
These numbers are so outrageous, it might seem like they are made up. I assure you the calculations are correct. And that doesn't even include the cost of books, room, and board (currently another $10,000 per year). That adds on another 2/3 of the cost. So the cost of sending my kids to college could be $625,000. And that's if they graduate in four years or don't go to graduate school. The average student is taking more than 6 years to graduate from college, according to the article College Tuition Keeps Rising from US News.
Why is the cost of tuition rising? University officials said one reason they were raising sticker prices was to counterbalance reductions in the subsidies governments (in other words, taxpayers) provide for higher education. The Pennsylvania State University's main campus, for example, received the same state grant this year that it received five years ago, said spokesperson Bill Mahon. So the school raised tuition 5.6 percent this year to cover increased salaries, benefits, energy, and other operating costs, he said. according to the US News article.
And there's more. Finally, many colleges say they are raising tuition to generate more money to hand back to students as financial aid, in part to make up for the federal government's reductions in programs like the Pell grant. But the College Board said that even after subtracting financial aid, the net cost of college has risen at least 2 percentage points faster than inflation over the past decade.
Thank you, state and local governments. It's a pretty simple formula. Politicians make the decisions. They are (almost all) rich. They can afford college tuition regardless, and will probably send their kids to private schools. And they decide how much money will go to education. I can hear the thought process now. "Hmmm, we can give the rich a tax break, or we can give more money to the colleges. I vote for the tax break." The result? Fewer middle and lower class people will get a college education. And that's just what the rich elite want. If you're scared and uneducated, you'll just keep falling for their same old tricks.
The sad part is that we continue to vote for these politicians. They are supposed to represent us, but really they just represent themselves. They make every election about one or two issues. Ignore the man behind the curtain.
Personally, I think education benefits everyone, not just the person receiving the education. We would be a better country if people were more educated. I don't know the root of the problems in this country, but it wouldn't surprise me if poor education was one of them.
- schneid
These numbers are so outrageous, it might seem like they are made up. I assure you the calculations are correct. And that doesn't even include the cost of books, room, and board (currently another $10,000 per year). That adds on another 2/3 of the cost. So the cost of sending my kids to college could be $625,000. And that's if they graduate in four years or don't go to graduate school. The average student is taking more than 6 years to graduate from college, according to the article College Tuition Keeps Rising from US News.
Why is the cost of tuition rising? University officials said one reason they were raising sticker prices was to counterbalance reductions in the subsidies governments (in other words, taxpayers) provide for higher education. The Pennsylvania State University's main campus, for example, received the same state grant this year that it received five years ago, said spokesperson Bill Mahon. So the school raised tuition 5.6 percent this year to cover increased salaries, benefits, energy, and other operating costs, he said. according to the US News article.
And there's more. Finally, many colleges say they are raising tuition to generate more money to hand back to students as financial aid, in part to make up for the federal government's reductions in programs like the Pell grant. But the College Board said that even after subtracting financial aid, the net cost of college has risen at least 2 percentage points faster than inflation over the past decade.
Thank you, state and local governments. It's a pretty simple formula. Politicians make the decisions. They are (almost all) rich. They can afford college tuition regardless, and will probably send their kids to private schools. And they decide how much money will go to education. I can hear the thought process now. "Hmmm, we can give the rich a tax break, or we can give more money to the colleges. I vote for the tax break." The result? Fewer middle and lower class people will get a college education. And that's just what the rich elite want. If you're scared and uneducated, you'll just keep falling for their same old tricks.
The sad part is that we continue to vote for these politicians. They are supposed to represent us, but really they just represent themselves. They make every election about one or two issues. Ignore the man behind the curtain.
Personally, I think education benefits everyone, not just the person receiving the education. We would be a better country if people were more educated. I don't know the root of the problems in this country, but it wouldn't surprise me if poor education was one of them.
- schneid
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Swimming kids
Ben and Anna have been taking swimming lessons for a few years now. They are doing really well. Ben can swim freestyle the width of the pool. Anna can swim with some floaties or other aid. Both of the kids are moving up to the next level, but the best part is that they will have class at exactly the same time. For at least two months, our lives will be a little easier. And it's the same day as Suzette's class, so she can take them to swimming, I can pick them up, and she can drive directly from there to school. Two of our difficult weekday evenings will be combined into one.
- schneid
- schneid
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Jason and Erin's wedding
We went to Bloomington, IL for my cousin Jason's wedding this weekend. It was a mini-reunion of sorts for the Japanese side of my family, since my Aunt Carolyn, Uncle Terry, Uncle Denny, cousins Mika and Kenneth, and my sister Debi and her boyfriend David came from out of town, as well as Jason's sisters Dana and Kristen and their mom, Aunt Jill. It was certainly the first time that all of those people had been together since the last reunion in 2004.
We stayed at The Chateau which is a nice hotel. It's related to the Jumer's in Urbana where we had our rehearsal dinner in 1993. It was a really nice place with a French theme and decor.
The immediate family was at the rehearsal dinner, so I planned a dinner on Friday night for the rest of our family. Unfortunately, it was just a little too early for Debi and David due to their arrival time. The remaining 9 of us had dinner at Orient Gourmet Japanese and Chinese restaurant. It was a very small place but they were able to reserve a table of 9 for us. We ate great sushi and good Chinese food and had a great time.
Afterwards, we stopped by Terry and Carolyn's room so that Uncle Terry and I could trade some beer. He brought a six-pack of Dominion Oak Barrel Stout, and I brought a mixed six to trade. We tried the Stout and also a Dominion Octoberfest. I liked the stout, which good flavor but a lighter body for this type of beer. The Octoberfest was nice and malty.
Aunt Carolyn and Mika were entertaining Anna and she was roaring with laughter and this pillow-person that Aunt Carolyn made. I can remember how much I looked forward to seeing Aunt Carolyn when I was a little kid.
On Saturday morning, we swam at the hotel with the kids. They had a great time, but the pool was freezing! Then we made the mistake of going in the hot tub, which felt great, but then the pool was like ice. The kids jumped back in and I finally relented and let them push me in. Ben and Anna are really becoming excellent swimmers. Anna has a swim vest and really gets around. Ben doesn't need any aid and can swim the width of the pool. He is really improving his freestyle. The kids take swim lessons every week.
We had lunch, then headed to the wedding which was at 2:00. It was at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Bloomington. The church was amazing, designed in art-deco style with a soaring cathedral and beautiful stained glass. The ceremony was really nice and Jason and Erin looked very happy. Ben and Anna took turns leaning into the aisle to take photos. Anna was just running out of gas when the ceremony ended. Fortunately, Aunt Carolyn, as she always does (and always did when I was a kid too), brought some little notebooks and notepads for the kids, and that helped keep them busy.
We went back to the hotel briefly after the ceremony and had a drink at the bar with our family, then headed back to the reception - about 2 hours early - so that the kids could take a nap in the car.
Debi came up with the idea of a money tree for a wedding gift, so we did that together. Since the tree would fit better in the van, we took it with us. But I had to lean it over 45 degrees, and the decorative rocks in it were sliding out. Every time I stopped, started, or turned a corner, you could hear the rocks pouring out of the pot, and the kids cracked up every time. There were about 4 inches of rocks in the top of the pot and they had all fallen out by the time we arrived.
Ben and Anna were wiped out from staying up so late on Friday. They fell asleep pretty quickly and we ran some errands and drove around Bloomington. It reminded us a lot of Champaign-Urbana.
The reception was at a cool place called Central Station Cafe in downtown Bloomington. We sat with Debi, David, and Uncle Denny. Anna decided she was going to sit with Mika and her family. Mika and Kenneth really kept an eye on her and made sure she had dinner. Ben did a lot of reading to keep occupied.
Later, when the dancing commenced, Ben and Anna were a riot. Ben was dancing like a maniac - I don't know where he learned those moves, which you might call a fusion of disco/swing/karate. Anna enjoys dancing with other people, and she especially liked dancing with the bride, who she thought looked like a princess. Ben doesn't really need other people, just some music with a good beat...and some space...watch out for those spinning kicks! They also played with some other kids and kept busy, and our relatives were helping keep an eye on them, so we really enjoyed the reception.
I (re)met the woman who had been the flower girl at Aunt Jill's wedding where I was the ring bearer (31 years ago). I said I was sorry that I never called. :)
On Sunday morning, Aunt Jill had a brunch and we spent more time with family and had a nice breakfast.
I really enjoyed the time we spent with my aunt, uncles, and cousins over the weekend. We don't get to see the out-of-towners very often, and they are some of the genuinely nicest people I've ever met. We also have a lot of similar views of life. I wish that we could see them more often.
We packed up and headed back around 12:30. It's a pretty easy ride from Bloomington. We enjoyed the rest of our day and have some great memories. And we're looking forward to doing it again at Dana's wedding in May!
- schneid
Monday, August 20, 2007
Real World Mommy
Suzette will be going to Aurora University to get her certificate to be a school social worker. She already has a Masters of Social Work, so she only needs two classes and a school year internship. She will attend one class at night each semester. For the internship, she will work with a school social worker at a local elementary school one day per week. Suzette is going to have her hands full - just imagine the crying, fighting, whining, complaining...and that's just at our house! :)
She is excited but apprehensive, as you would expect after seven years as a stay-at-home mom. She is an excellent student and a very conscientious and caring worker. If she is half as good at being a school social worker as being a mom, she will be great! In a year, Anna will attend all-day kindergarten, so Suzette can work full time as a school social worker.
For now, it will take a little time to adjust to our schedule, not to mention the kids going back to school. We will all need to help out a little more around the house. But we are all very excited and proud of Mommy!
- schneid
Monday, July 30, 2007
Visiting the old farm
Things were a little, let's say, hectic around Ben's birthday. The previous Saturday, Ben's friend Larry had a pool party. The party was at 1:00, so I assumed there would be no lunch, and it would last a few hours. The kids had a terrific time splashing around in the pool, and I didn't know that Ben was such a good swimmer. He can swim around, take a breath, and swim some more. He's much more confident when he can touch the bottom, but he did really well. Anna swims well with her floaties. They rented a big moon walk bouncy thing and it amazes me how much time the kids can spend in there. There was a pinata and they served food around 5:00. I hadn't realized it was that late. Suzette arrived (she had been buying Ben's birthday presents) and I left to pick up our new babysitter. She is the 14-year old daughter of a friend of a good friend and doesn't live nearby. So I picked her up and brought her back. She was very friendly and could converse like an adult, which always surprises me with teenagers. I was glad to hear that she has 3 younger brothers. We've had good luck with babysitters who are the oldest.
We had dinner with Kim and Dennis at a restaurant in Aurora called Andrew's Open Pit, which had been Jimmy's Charhouse and still had the same management, I think. I guess Jimmy's was pricey, and this new incarnation was very inexpensive. There were things on the menu like 1 lb. of pork chops for 6.99. I had a sirloin steak for 9.99 and it was very good. We didn't have reservations, and I couldn't believe that a decent restaurant in the Naperville/Aurora area (it's just west of Route 59) was half empty on a Saturday night. At least 1/2 of the patrons were families with kids.
My sister was in town and we hadn't seen her yet, although we had just seen her the previous week in Boston. My mom was having us over for a BBQ, and Debi wanted to bring her boyfriend David to the farm where we grew up. Mom dropped Debi and David off at the farm, and we met them there. We have visited the farm about twice in the last 15 years. It's a horse farm with about 50-60 stalls; they have about 30 horses on the farm now. The owners raise reining horses and rent out 1/2 the stalls. It's neat to show the kids, pet the horses, and smell the smells. It's amazing how powerful memories can be triggered by scent. Memories came flooding in with the smells of the horses, wood shavings, manure, lime, hay, and leather. Some horses made funny faces while we tickled their noses. We also pet some cute Australian Cattle Dogs.
The best part is that we stopped by the house, and Gwendy, the owner, let us take a look around. We hadn't been in the house for 23 years. They built an addition on the back for a nice laundry/mud room, and did a terrific job remodeling the house and decorating everything in a very horsey theme. It was amazing to see what a small house it was. The kitchen and bedrooms were tiny. They knocked out the upper part of the walls between the kitchen and dining room and living room, which made it much more open. They replaced many of the doors with beautiful doors with images of horses carved in them. They really completely redid the house. It was probably built in 1970 but looked really new. It turns out that they are putting it up for sale and semi-retiring.
Then we drove around the hills of Bull Valley. As a kid, I rode my bike up and down these huge hills to go to friends' houses. Fortunately, those friends had swimming pools, which was a good incentive for the hard work. Then we went back and had dinner at Mom's, plus a birthday cake and presents for Ben (and Anna too - Mom and Debi are good about giving something to the sibling when it's someone's birthday).
- schneid
We had dinner with Kim and Dennis at a restaurant in Aurora called Andrew's Open Pit, which had been Jimmy's Charhouse and still had the same management, I think. I guess Jimmy's was pricey, and this new incarnation was very inexpensive. There were things on the menu like 1 lb. of pork chops for 6.99. I had a sirloin steak for 9.99 and it was very good. We didn't have reservations, and I couldn't believe that a decent restaurant in the Naperville/Aurora area (it's just west of Route 59) was half empty on a Saturday night. At least 1/2 of the patrons were families with kids.
My sister was in town and we hadn't seen her yet, although we had just seen her the previous week in Boston. My mom was having us over for a BBQ, and Debi wanted to bring her boyfriend David to the farm where we grew up. Mom dropped Debi and David off at the farm, and we met them there. We have visited the farm about twice in the last 15 years. It's a horse farm with about 50-60 stalls; they have about 30 horses on the farm now. The owners raise reining horses and rent out 1/2 the stalls. It's neat to show the kids, pet the horses, and smell the smells. It's amazing how powerful memories can be triggered by scent. Memories came flooding in with the smells of the horses, wood shavings, manure, lime, hay, and leather. Some horses made funny faces while we tickled their noses. We also pet some cute Australian Cattle Dogs.
The best part is that we stopped by the house, and Gwendy, the owner, let us take a look around. We hadn't been in the house for 23 years. They built an addition on the back for a nice laundry/mud room, and did a terrific job remodeling the house and decorating everything in a very horsey theme. It was amazing to see what a small house it was. The kitchen and bedrooms were tiny. They knocked out the upper part of the walls between the kitchen and dining room and living room, which made it much more open. They replaced many of the doors with beautiful doors with images of horses carved in them. They really completely redid the house. It was probably built in 1970 but looked really new. It turns out that they are putting it up for sale and semi-retiring.
Then we drove around the hills of Bull Valley. As a kid, I rode my bike up and down these huge hills to go to friends' houses. Fortunately, those friends had swimming pools, which was a good incentive for the hard work. Then we went back and had dinner at Mom's, plus a birthday cake and presents for Ben (and Anna too - Mom and Debi are good about giving something to the sibling when it's someone's birthday).
- schneid
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Florida Keys
From June 7-13, 2007, we visited the Florida Keys. There was a celebration for Hank's 75th birthday and 50th anniversary of being ordained as a minister.
We took a limo to O'Hare and flew to Miami. At one point, the flight was very bumpy and Ben was scared but Anna loved it. Despite chewing gum and other things, Ben had a lot of trouble with the pressure and was in a lot of pain for a few minutes. We learned after the trip that he had an ear infection. When we arrived, we picked up the rental car and drove to Key Largo. We had rented a townhouse there at Kawama Yacht Club, which was a really good deal and we enjoyed it.
We arrived pretty late and it was dark. There was a lockbox and we had the number code, but you couldn't see the numbers. It took a few minutes to figure out how the numbers were laid out and to get the box open.
The townhouse was nice and we would rent there again. The bedrooms were a little small which didn't really matter. There was a pool just steps from our door, which the kids enjoyed a couple of times. There were also a couple of dozen feral cats living there. You can't get close enough to pet (and don't, yuck) but they are always hanging around looking for food.
We had breakfast at Mrs. Mac's Kitchen which was a cute little place. I would describe their decor as early license plate. The walls were plastered with them. They had great food, and plenty of it, at reasonable prices. After breakfast, we drove to Hank and Grandma's church to help with some preparations. Then we came back and had lunch at Mrs. Mac's again!
Friday night was a dinner that had been arranged by Hank's daughter Debbie. It was held at a restaurant where she had worked, I think. Beckie and Scott had arrived, and we hung out with them at dinner, and met Hank's family and friends. One of the guests was a special visitor. I guess we know where Santa goes during the summer now.
We went to the Theater of the Sea, which is an animal park/show. We saw a parrot show, a seal show, and a dolphin show. We also saw some alligators, fish, and birds. The kids really enjoyed it.
On Sunday, we went to church and enjoyed a nice service and then Hank's celebration. The church was packed, about 100 people. Normally they have less than 20 people at a service during the summer. Every family took turns introducing themselves, and explaining how they knew Hank. Then there was a nice lunch and a roast of Hank, which I mostly missed because we were entertaining all the kids.
We visited the Miami Zoo and I have never seen a zoo so deserted. Grandma, Hank, and Debbie's kids, Erica and Jonathan, came with too. It was about 95 degrees and a weekday, which is why no one was there. The kids were only able to last for about 2 hours, but everyone enjoyed it.
We took a glass bottom boat tour and it was great, but seemed kind of short. The trip was to a live coral reef. The view at the bottom of the boat was great. We saw a lot of neat fish and coral. I expected that when we arrived at the reef, we would hang out awhile, but we were only there for a very short time and then came back.
- schneid
We took a limo to O'Hare and flew to Miami. At one point, the flight was very bumpy and Ben was scared but Anna loved it. Despite chewing gum and other things, Ben had a lot of trouble with the pressure and was in a lot of pain for a few minutes. We learned after the trip that he had an ear infection. When we arrived, we picked up the rental car and drove to Key Largo. We had rented a townhouse there at Kawama Yacht Club, which was a really good deal and we enjoyed it.
We arrived pretty late and it was dark. There was a lockbox and we had the number code, but you couldn't see the numbers. It took a few minutes to figure out how the numbers were laid out and to get the box open.
The townhouse was nice and we would rent there again. The bedrooms were a little small which didn't really matter. There was a pool just steps from our door, which the kids enjoyed a couple of times. There were also a couple of dozen feral cats living there. You can't get close enough to pet (and don't, yuck) but they are always hanging around looking for food.
We had breakfast at Mrs. Mac's Kitchen which was a cute little place. I would describe their decor as early license plate. The walls were plastered with them. They had great food, and plenty of it, at reasonable prices. After breakfast, we drove to Hank and Grandma's church to help with some preparations. Then we came back and had lunch at Mrs. Mac's again!
Friday night was a dinner that had been arranged by Hank's daughter Debbie. It was held at a restaurant where she had worked, I think. Beckie and Scott had arrived, and we hung out with them at dinner, and met Hank's family and friends. One of the guests was a special visitor. I guess we know where Santa goes during the summer now.
We went to the Theater of the Sea, which is an animal park/show. We saw a parrot show, a seal show, and a dolphin show. We also saw some alligators, fish, and birds. The kids really enjoyed it.
On Sunday, we went to church and enjoyed a nice service and then Hank's celebration. The church was packed, about 100 people. Normally they have less than 20 people at a service during the summer. Every family took turns introducing themselves, and explaining how they knew Hank. Then there was a nice lunch and a roast of Hank, which I mostly missed because we were entertaining all the kids.
We visited the Miami Zoo and I have never seen a zoo so deserted. Grandma, Hank, and Debbie's kids, Erica and Jonathan, came with too. It was about 95 degrees and a weekday, which is why no one was there. The kids were only able to last for about 2 hours, but everyone enjoyed it.
We took a glass bottom boat tour and it was great, but seemed kind of short. The trip was to a live coral reef. The view at the bottom of the boat was great. We saw a lot of neat fish and coral. I expected that when we arrived at the reef, we would hang out awhile, but we were only there for a very short time and then came back.
- schneid
Monday, May 28, 2007
Crazy Summer
It's going to be a crazy summer. My dad and his wife were just in town for a cousin's bat mitzvah. Those events lasted all weekend. Here's our crazy schedule for this summer:
The kids also have a lot of activities scheduled all summer long which should keep them happy. As for the long car trip, we'll make frequent stops, try to stop at Children's Museums or something fun, and swim in the pool at the hotel at night.
- schneid
- Memorial Day - bat mitzvah weekend
- June - Key Largo for a week's vacation with the kids (flying to Miami, it was really cheap)
- July - we're going to drive to Boston with the kids (yes, we are insane) to visit my sister, and we will also visit my Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Terry in Virginia and possibly our friends Bob and Aili in New Jersey. It will take 2 days to drive out, we'll spend Monday-Friday on the east coast, and it will take 2 days to drive back. Whew! (Did I mention that our longest drive so far is 5 hours? Did I mention that we're insane? Can you say "DVD player"?)
- August - I'm going to the Great Taste of the Midwest in Madison for a day with Westy and maybe some other friends.
- Labor Day - driving to Minneapolis for another Bar Mitzvah.
- September - driving to Bloomington, IL for my cousin Jason's wedding
- Thanksgiving - fly to North Carolina to visit my dad and his wife
The kids also have a lot of activities scheduled all summer long which should keep them happy. As for the long car trip, we'll make frequent stops, try to stop at Children's Museums or something fun, and swim in the pool at the hotel at night.
- schneid
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Great children's books
Ben has started reading The Magician's Nephew, from the Chronicles of Narnia. Ben has been devouring books at a rapid rate. I was an avid reader as a kid, butI don't think I tackled a book like that until I was about 10 (Ben is 6). His reading skills are opening the door to a whole world of amazing books. I can't wait to share some cool books with him. I looked around and found some lists of great books for kids:
- Agate Books
- Teachers Top 100 Books for Children (from the National Education Association)
- Kids' Top 100 Favorite Books
In these lists are a lot of great books that you will remember from your childhood. Some of my favorites include The Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, A Wrinkle in Time, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Harriet the Spy, and Charlotte's Web. The list goes on and on.
- schneid
Thursday, February 22, 2007
What the kids have been doing lately
Some actual personal content! How about that!
The kids started taking swimming lessons again after a 9 month hiatus. They swim after school once a week at a great new place that we found. It's an older facility, but it has a heated pool and small class sizes - only 4 kids per class and sometimes there are 2 instructors. Ben and Anna are both enjoying it. I learned how to swim at an early age and would like the kids to swim confidently too.
Anna takes a dance class once a week. Half the time they do tap dancing, and the other half is ballet. I think Anna prefers the ballet so far. They have a recital planned in a couple of months.
Ben continues to do well in first grade. He's really thriving in math and reading. They do a math quiz every day(!), just like when I was in high school! And, just like when I was in high school algebra, when they get a high enough score, they move up to the next quiz. He's already on G, I think. Hopefully he can make it to the double letter just like Daddy. :) Ben is an excellent reader and does a lot of reading on his own, albeit always about Bionicles. And we've been reading at bedtime since he was a baby.
Ben is in Cub Scouts and I'm the den leader. It's an interesting experience since I was never a scout myself. We have great families in our den and we're having a good time. We recently visited the Elgin Public Museum which has a lot of Indian and early historic artifacts, plus a lot of (dead) animals on display. They also have some (live) bison. We also visited a radio station and the fire department, and it is neat to see how they work. Most of this stuff is more interesting for the parents than for first graders. We live near FermiLab and personally I can't wait to visit there.
Anna is in her first year of Montessori preschool. She's doing fine and has made friends. I no longer need to peel her off my leg when I drop her off. She has some good friends in our neighborhood too. We feel that she should be learning more at school than she is, but I have a vague feeling that we felt the same way about Ben, and he really did most of his learning (how to read, for example) in his second year of preschool. Anna went to a friend's birthday party, which was a dress-up tea party and a lot of fun. Anna's birthday is coming up and we may do the same thing.
We had quite a bit of snow on the ground but it was about zero degrees, so couldn't spend much time out there. But it finally warmed up, and we had a great time sledding at a nearby park. Ben even tried Nick's snowboard, and I was amazed that he could stay on it for about 20-30 feet. I stepped onto the snowboard to try it, but the damn thing was so slippery...I could just see the headline "Local man bowls over 12 kids before breaking every bone in his body" and changed my mind. Maybe on a very small hill...
- schneid
The kids started taking swimming lessons again after a 9 month hiatus. They swim after school once a week at a great new place that we found. It's an older facility, but it has a heated pool and small class sizes - only 4 kids per class and sometimes there are 2 instructors. Ben and Anna are both enjoying it. I learned how to swim at an early age and would like the kids to swim confidently too.
Anna takes a dance class once a week. Half the time they do tap dancing, and the other half is ballet. I think Anna prefers the ballet so far. They have a recital planned in a couple of months.
Ben continues to do well in first grade. He's really thriving in math and reading. They do a math quiz every day(!), just like when I was in high school! And, just like when I was in high school algebra, when they get a high enough score, they move up to the next quiz. He's already on G, I think. Hopefully he can make it to the double letter just like Daddy. :) Ben is an excellent reader and does a lot of reading on his own, albeit always about Bionicles. And we've been reading at bedtime since he was a baby.
Ben is in Cub Scouts and I'm the den leader. It's an interesting experience since I was never a scout myself. We have great families in our den and we're having a good time. We recently visited the Elgin Public Museum which has a lot of Indian and early historic artifacts, plus a lot of (dead) animals on display. They also have some (live) bison. We also visited a radio station and the fire department, and it is neat to see how they work. Most of this stuff is more interesting for the parents than for first graders. We live near FermiLab and personally I can't wait to visit there.
Anna is in her first year of Montessori preschool. She's doing fine and has made friends. I no longer need to peel her off my leg when I drop her off. She has some good friends in our neighborhood too. We feel that she should be learning more at school than she is, but I have a vague feeling that we felt the same way about Ben, and he really did most of his learning (how to read, for example) in his second year of preschool. Anna went to a friend's birthday party, which was a dress-up tea party and a lot of fun. Anna's birthday is coming up and we may do the same thing.
We had quite a bit of snow on the ground but it was about zero degrees, so couldn't spend much time out there. But it finally warmed up, and we had a great time sledding at a nearby park. Ben even tried Nick's snowboard, and I was amazed that he could stay on it for about 20-30 feet. I stepped onto the snowboard to try it, but the damn thing was so slippery...I could just see the headline "Local man bowls over 12 kids before breaking every bone in his body" and changed my mind. Maybe on a very small hill...
- schneid
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Fun games
The last post was actually going to be this post but turned into a rant about education. The point was (going to be) that with our new schedule, Ben catches the bus at 8:30 and gets home at 4:00. I swear that we finished school at 2:00 when I was in elementary school. It's been a hard adjustment since Ben was still napping until school started. He is tired and usually a little cranky when he gets home. Anna still needs a nap since she's only 3 1/2, but if she naps, then she'll be up until 10:00 and Ben needs to go to bed at 8:00. Ben needs to get to bed this early because he wakes at 6:30 come hell or high water. The new plan was that we get the kids into bed at 8:00. For the first month or so, that happened one time. It was hard to get dinner ready by 6:00 and then finish by 7:00. That leaves no time for fun since if they need a bath and we start reading at 7:30. There was a lot of fussing and whining and gnashing of teeth while we made the adjustment. But at this point, the kids are almost always in bed by 8:00, which is nice, because then my wife and I can spend some time together.
OK, I'm getting to the point. What can we do for fun in 30 minutes? We have found some new games, and the kids love them. The current favorite is Sleeping Queens (by Gamewright). The kids are crazy about this game and we've played it every night since we got it (2 weeks ago?). Anna can handle this game even though she's only 3 1/2.
We also like Castle Keep, where you build a 3x3 castle. This game is just a little too hard for Anna, although she will play and we help her.
Ben likes Clue Jr. and Anna will tolerate it. Both kids like Cranium Hullabaloo which involved a lot of movement.
I've enjoyed playing games with the kids so much that I've ordered a mess of new games for Christmas:
The first seven should be easy enough for Anna. Rush Hour, Jr. Brain Teaser is a cool puzzle where you have to slide a car out of a traffic jam. Enchanted Forest and the a-MAZE-ing Labyrinth Game are board games that I think Ben will really like.
I'll report on all of these games after Christmas.
- schneid
OK, I'm getting to the point. What can we do for fun in 30 minutes? We have found some new games, and the kids love them. The current favorite is Sleeping Queens (by Gamewright). The kids are crazy about this game and we've played it every night since we got it (2 weeks ago?). Anna can handle this game even though she's only 3 1/2.
We also like Castle Keep, where you build a 3x3 castle. This game is just a little too hard for Anna, although she will play and we help her.
Ben likes Clue Jr. and Anna will tolerate it. Both kids like Cranium Hullabaloo which involved a lot of movement.
I've enjoyed playing games with the kids so much that I've ordered a mess of new games for Christmas:
- Rat-a-Tat Cat
- Hisss
- Thing-a-ma-Bots
- Wig Out
- Chomp!
- Slamwich
- There's a Moose in the House
- Rush Hour, Jr. Brain Teaser
- Enchanted Forest
- The a-MAZE-ing Labyrinth Game
The first seven should be easy enough for Anna. Rush Hour, Jr. Brain Teaser is a cool puzzle where you have to slide a car out of a traffic jam. Enchanted Forest and the a-MAZE-ing Labyrinth Game are board games that I think Ben will really like.
I'll report on all of these games after Christmas.
- schneid
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
The state of education
The biggest adjustment we've made lately hasn't been moving to our new house, but rather adjusting to our son's new schedule at school. Last year, kindergarten was only 2.5 hours every morning. He learned an amazing amount that year in a short amount of time, in no small part due to his terrific kindergarten teacher.
Let me pause for a moment to give kudos to elementary school teacher, particularly those that teach kindergarten, first grade, and second grade. Some days I have trouble handling my own two kids, much less 22 kids (or, god forbid, in some schools, 32 kids). A teacher that teaches well at the elementary level is a special person. Watching my son with his kindergarten and first grade teacher reminds me of how much I love my own elementary school teachers. They really are like having a second mom.
Most of the teachers I know are doing a terrific job with the resources that they are given. My complaint is with the apparent lack of those resources.
When I was in elementary school (in the 1970s), schools didn't lack for funding. I assume that this is because the government gave enough money to the schools. But lately, it seems like every time the doorbell rings, it's a kid selling something for his school. Have we really resorted to having our children begging so that they can be properly educated? The schools have Market Day, which I'm sure is a huge windfall for the company that created it and not a huge profit for the school. Kids sell wrapping paper, candy, and other miscellanea.
In large part, I assume this is due to lack of government funding. And that, I believe, is due to a huge problem that we have with our political system. The senators and congressman making decisions about our education live in upscale towns with the best schools or send kids to private school. They make decisions about national health care, meanwhile they have their own terrific health care plan. They decide about social security when they receive pensions, honoraria for speeches, book deals, and who knows what else from their constituents. They send our children into war when few of their own children are in the military. I would really like to see our legislative branch populated with the common man who wants to contribute to the greater good, rather than a bunch of greedy rich lawyers who want to make a career of taking legal bribes from lobbyists. There should be reasonable salaries and term limits, and some restriction on donations and lobbying. This myth that is takes years just to learn the system is a crock. I learned most of the legislative system watching "I'm Just a Bill" on SchoolHouse Rock on Saturday morning when I was 7.
Another problem is the growing tutoring industry. Of course, if your child needs extra help, you have plenty of money, and you don't have time or the ability to provide it yourself, you will send them to a tutoring company. That's what will benefit your child and who can blame you. But your child can only get tutoring if you can afford it. I assume a larger percentage of lower income children need help, but they can't afford it.
The worst part is that the government is now paying for the tutoring! If children are underperforming according to the standards of the No Child Left Behind Act, the school can pay a private tutoring company to tutor them! That is outrageous! Why doesn't the government just give that money to the schools for more teachers and resources? Because then big business wouldn't be getting its cut. And that cut is estimated to be in the billions.
And don't get me started on No Child Left Behind. This is probably the worst education initiative in our lifetime. The teachers are now "teaching the test" to their students. They spend too much time preparing the students to perform well on the test, and too little time teaching them things like, oh I don't know, reading, writing, math, science, history, etc. Teachers are penalized or reprimanded if their students aren't up to par. The economist Steven Levitt proved that teachers in the Chicago Public School system were cheating for their students on the standardized tests. When the teachers inflate the test results of underperforming children, then those children won't get the help that they need. And let's not forget that No Child Left Behind is underfunded by anywhere from $6 to $27 billion.
You may argue that with donations and selling items for schools, the people who want to support the school get the opportunity, and those that don't want to can just pass. But education benefits everyone and therefore everyone should bear the burden. Who do you think will be running this country when you are old? Who do you think will take care of you when you are in a nursing home? Would you rather have educated or ignorant people making the decisions that affect your life? Life in an educated society is better for everyone in that society, not just the educated people.
The nearby town of Huntley is very fast growing. They grew from 6,000 in 2000, to 12,000 in 2003, to 18,000 in 2005. Almost 10,000 of those residents are retirees that live in Sun City. They banded together to fail a school referendum in early 2004 almost 10 to 1, partially due to low voter turnout among people with school-aged children. Later that same year, another referendum passed with a higher voter turnout. The Sun City residents complained that they couldn't afford the tax increase due to their fixed income. Hey, they chose to move into one of the fastest growing cities in Illinois! The lesson learned by the children of Huntley is "look out for #1". It will be amusing in 24 years when those kids have grown up, outnumber the retirees by 4 to 1, and decide "Hey, let's burn down Sun City and throw those old people in the street."
Another part of this problem is how Illinois funds their schools. The school gets its funding for the current school year based on how many children were enrolled at the start of the previous school year. Not the end, mind you, and not a projection. This means that in a town with a constantly growing population, the school is always underfunded.
It doesn't help that maximum impact fees are rarely charged to home developers. Impact fees are those paid by developers for each house built, as a stopgap for the year in which no property taxes will be paid on the new home. In Oswego, the population doubled from 2000 to 2005. In 2003, it was reported that no developer had ever paid the maximum impact fee. Deals were always made to entice the developers to build. Frankly, the developers don't need any enticement to build, since they're falling all over each other to get into growing towns like this. And the difference between the maximum and the average is probably $1000 to $2000, which a developer can certainly afford; but more than that, they can just pass that cost directly onto the buyer! Someone that will buy a house for $249,000 will certainly buy it for $251,000. Once again, big business gets a break while the people of the community get screwed.
So back to the topic at hand, lack of school funds. In addition to sending the students out begging, the school is constantly barraging us with requests for volunteers in the classrooms and library. While my wife does volunteer at the school, I feel that we are already paying for the school (in the form of property taxes) and shouldn't need to contribute more. But since we believe in the greater good, my wife does volunteer.
I hope that with the recent changes in Congress, we'll see some improvement in educational funding. But since big business donates billions of dollars to elect our politicians and spend billions more on lobbying, who is more likely to benefit from new legislation - big business or me and you?
- schneid
Let me pause for a moment to give kudos to elementary school teacher, particularly those that teach kindergarten, first grade, and second grade. Some days I have trouble handling my own two kids, much less 22 kids (or, god forbid, in some schools, 32 kids). A teacher that teaches well at the elementary level is a special person. Watching my son with his kindergarten and first grade teacher reminds me of how much I love my own elementary school teachers. They really are like having a second mom.
Most of the teachers I know are doing a terrific job with the resources that they are given. My complaint is with the apparent lack of those resources.
When I was in elementary school (in the 1970s), schools didn't lack for funding. I assume that this is because the government gave enough money to the schools. But lately, it seems like every time the doorbell rings, it's a kid selling something for his school. Have we really resorted to having our children begging so that they can be properly educated? The schools have Market Day, which I'm sure is a huge windfall for the company that created it and not a huge profit for the school. Kids sell wrapping paper, candy, and other miscellanea.
In large part, I assume this is due to lack of government funding. And that, I believe, is due to a huge problem that we have with our political system. The senators and congressman making decisions about our education live in upscale towns with the best schools or send kids to private school. They make decisions about national health care, meanwhile they have their own terrific health care plan. They decide about social security when they receive pensions, honoraria for speeches, book deals, and who knows what else from their constituents. They send our children into war when few of their own children are in the military. I would really like to see our legislative branch populated with the common man who wants to contribute to the greater good, rather than a bunch of greedy rich lawyers who want to make a career of taking legal bribes from lobbyists. There should be reasonable salaries and term limits, and some restriction on donations and lobbying. This myth that is takes years just to learn the system is a crock. I learned most of the legislative system watching "I'm Just a Bill" on SchoolHouse Rock on Saturday morning when I was 7.
Another problem is the growing tutoring industry. Of course, if your child needs extra help, you have plenty of money, and you don't have time or the ability to provide it yourself, you will send them to a tutoring company. That's what will benefit your child and who can blame you. But your child can only get tutoring if you can afford it. I assume a larger percentage of lower income children need help, but they can't afford it.
The worst part is that the government is now paying for the tutoring! If children are underperforming according to the standards of the No Child Left Behind Act, the school can pay a private tutoring company to tutor them! That is outrageous! Why doesn't the government just give that money to the schools for more teachers and resources? Because then big business wouldn't be getting its cut. And that cut is estimated to be in the billions.
And don't get me started on No Child Left Behind. This is probably the worst education initiative in our lifetime. The teachers are now "teaching the test" to their students. They spend too much time preparing the students to perform well on the test, and too little time teaching them things like, oh I don't know, reading, writing, math, science, history, etc. Teachers are penalized or reprimanded if their students aren't up to par. The economist Steven Levitt proved that teachers in the Chicago Public School system were cheating for their students on the standardized tests. When the teachers inflate the test results of underperforming children, then those children won't get the help that they need. And let's not forget that No Child Left Behind is underfunded by anywhere from $6 to $27 billion.
You may argue that with donations and selling items for schools, the people who want to support the school get the opportunity, and those that don't want to can just pass. But education benefits everyone and therefore everyone should bear the burden. Who do you think will be running this country when you are old? Who do you think will take care of you when you are in a nursing home? Would you rather have educated or ignorant people making the decisions that affect your life? Life in an educated society is better for everyone in that society, not just the educated people.
The nearby town of Huntley is very fast growing. They grew from 6,000 in 2000, to 12,000 in 2003, to 18,000 in 2005. Almost 10,000 of those residents are retirees that live in Sun City. They banded together to fail a school referendum in early 2004 almost 10 to 1, partially due to low voter turnout among people with school-aged children. Later that same year, another referendum passed with a higher voter turnout. The Sun City residents complained that they couldn't afford the tax increase due to their fixed income. Hey, they chose to move into one of the fastest growing cities in Illinois! The lesson learned by the children of Huntley is "look out for #1". It will be amusing in 24 years when those kids have grown up, outnumber the retirees by 4 to 1, and decide "Hey, let's burn down Sun City and throw those old people in the street."
Another part of this problem is how Illinois funds their schools. The school gets its funding for the current school year based on how many children were enrolled at the start of the previous school year. Not the end, mind you, and not a projection. This means that in a town with a constantly growing population, the school is always underfunded.
It doesn't help that maximum impact fees are rarely charged to home developers. Impact fees are those paid by developers for each house built, as a stopgap for the year in which no property taxes will be paid on the new home. In Oswego, the population doubled from 2000 to 2005. In 2003, it was reported that no developer had ever paid the maximum impact fee. Deals were always made to entice the developers to build. Frankly, the developers don't need any enticement to build, since they're falling all over each other to get into growing towns like this. And the difference between the maximum and the average is probably $1000 to $2000, which a developer can certainly afford; but more than that, they can just pass that cost directly onto the buyer! Someone that will buy a house for $249,000 will certainly buy it for $251,000. Once again, big business gets a break while the people of the community get screwed.
So back to the topic at hand, lack of school funds. In addition to sending the students out begging, the school is constantly barraging us with requests for volunteers in the classrooms and library. While my wife does volunteer at the school, I feel that we are already paying for the school (in the form of property taxes) and shouldn't need to contribute more. But since we believe in the greater good, my wife does volunteer.
I hope that with the recent changes in Congress, we'll see some improvement in educational funding. But since big business donates billions of dollars to elect our politicians and spend billions more on lobbying, who is more likely to benefit from new legislation - big business or me and you?
- schneid
Monday, August 14, 2006
We have finally moved
We finally moved on Sunday, August 13. It was a long day, in particular because U-Haul decided to give me a round-trip rental instead of a one-way, where I could've dropped the truck off 1 mile from our new house. Thanks to Greg T, Pete, Petey, Bill, and Kevin for their help. We're in the new house and if anyone needs my new address or phone, contact me.
- schneid
- schneid
Friday, July 21, 2006
My family meets presidents...
I check my personal email for the first time in 3 weeks, and there are messages about two different family members meeting US presidents!
My Great Uncle Ben and Aunt Shig Kuroki were invited to dinner at the White House when the Japanese Prime Minister was visiting the US. Ben was a US war hero during World War II. My Uncle Denny has a page with a lot of links to information about Ben Kuroki.
My cousin Bob Levin is a doctor and has spent most of his career participating in Doctors without Borders in impoverished nations, mostly in Africa. Currently he is in Rwanda, where he was fortunate to meet Bill Clinton and Bill Gates.
- schneid
My Great Uncle Ben and Aunt Shig Kuroki were invited to dinner at the White House when the Japanese Prime Minister was visiting the US. Ben was a US war hero during World War II. My Uncle Denny has a page with a lot of links to information about Ben Kuroki.
My cousin Bob Levin is a doctor and has spent most of his career participating in Doctors without Borders in impoverished nations, mostly in Africa. Currently he is in Rwanda, where he was fortunate to meet Bill Clinton and Bill Gates.
- schneid
Thursday, March 16, 2006
We Are Moving!
In case you didn't already know it, I left GE Healthcare and returned to working at Tellabs in November, 2005. It's without a doubt the best (and easiest) decision I ever made. Except for marrying my wife, of course. And having kids. So it's the third best decision that I ever made. The drive from our current home to Naperville is 65-75 minutes each way, and I've never cared much for a long commute. I would much prefer to spend the time with my family or even pouring lemon juice on my paper cuts. But I digress...
Based on our criteria of nearness to work, great schools, and reasonably affordable houses, we narrowed down our search to Batavia and Geneva. Naperville is out because most of it is not affordable, and the traffic is ridiculous where it is affordable. Oswego (where we used to live) is too far, Aurora and North Aurora have poor schools, etc. etc. So we found a house in North Aurora. But wait, you said North Aurora had poor schools. Well, there is a small pocket of North Aurora, 75 houses to be exact, that butts up against Batavia and is in the Batavia school district. The houses on the opposite side of our own street are in the North Aurora school district (Schneider Elementary School, to be specific). My friend Greg T. lives three houses over and has about 12 kids and a pony (or is it a Great Dane?), so it will be fun for our families to get to know each other. They built their house and really like the neighborhood.
We actually signed the contract on the new house before putting our current house on the market. We obtained a bridge loan and were prepared to move quickly in case something good came up. Well, something good came up. For the first time in three months, a home was available in our preferred neighborhood, and it was listed about $30,000 under market price. In fact, we bought it for $60,000 less than a house we had looked a week before. So the answer to our question of "Should we buy a cheap house or a nice house?" was "Both!". There were three offers on the house within three days of going on the market, and we just barely won with our offer over the asking price, no contingency, and closing by the end of the month. We take possession on March 27, and our own house just went on the market. We hope to close on our new house in a couple of months and complete our move to the new house in early June when the school year ends.
I can't even begin to list all the great features of our new house. OK, I'll try. It's in a great location next to a country club, a large wooded cemetary, Marmion Academy, and the Fox River. So it's not in the middle of a sea of houses like our current house. There are two parks within two blocks. We live about 1/4 mile from the Prairie Path, which also rans almost right by my office, so I could ride my bike to work. It's a 15 minute drive from my office.
We are 5 minutes from downtown Batavia, 10 minutes from downtown Geneva, 7 minutes from I-88 (the house is north of Butterfield and just east of IL-25 if you want to see it on a map), 20 minutes from the Fox Valley mall, 10 minutes from the grocery store, and only 10 minutes from my weekly poker game. Heck, I can host the game myself now that I live near the other guys.
Our lot is 180 feet long, so we have a huge back yard. The house has a pretty large front porch, a large paver patio, and two swingsets, one of which is big and has a tornado slide. There is a three-car garage, and in the house, running the entire length of that garage, a huge 20x7 laundry room with an exterior door. The family room is pretty big and the kitchen is decent. The kids' bedrooms are large and both have walk-in closets. The master bedroom is a huge T-shape, 20x14 and 15x9, with a tray ceiling in the master and a cathedral ceiling in the sitting room. The master bath is large and has a separate tub and shower, actually a separate room for the shower and the toilet, a dressing table, plus a 8x11 walk-in closet.
The basement is huge and very open, since the stairs and mechanicals are next to walls. We plan to finish it with (approximately) a 13x10 bedroom, 12x10 full bathroom, a large storage area, and a 30x25 (maybe 35x25) rec room.
The previous owners have dogs, rabbits, and birds, so we're going to remove every bit of carpeting from the house and replace it, as well as repainting everything, and getting some of the floors redone before we move in. That's going to take some time. I will drop off a box or two most mornings on my way to work, so when we finish the actual move, we will just have movers take care of all the furniture.
We're very excited and can't wait to get in there and start working.
- schneid
Based on our criteria of nearness to work, great schools, and reasonably affordable houses, we narrowed down our search to Batavia and Geneva. Naperville is out because most of it is not affordable, and the traffic is ridiculous where it is affordable. Oswego (where we used to live) is too far, Aurora and North Aurora have poor schools, etc. etc. So we found a house in North Aurora. But wait, you said North Aurora had poor schools. Well, there is a small pocket of North Aurora, 75 houses to be exact, that butts up against Batavia and is in the Batavia school district. The houses on the opposite side of our own street are in the North Aurora school district (Schneider Elementary School, to be specific). My friend Greg T. lives three houses over and has about 12 kids and a pony (or is it a Great Dane?), so it will be fun for our families to get to know each other. They built their house and really like the neighborhood.
We actually signed the contract on the new house before putting our current house on the market. We obtained a bridge loan and were prepared to move quickly in case something good came up. Well, something good came up. For the first time in three months, a home was available in our preferred neighborhood, and it was listed about $30,000 under market price. In fact, we bought it for $60,000 less than a house we had looked a week before. So the answer to our question of "Should we buy a cheap house or a nice house?" was "Both!". There were three offers on the house within three days of going on the market, and we just barely won with our offer over the asking price, no contingency, and closing by the end of the month. We take possession on March 27, and our own house just went on the market. We hope to close on our new house in a couple of months and complete our move to the new house in early June when the school year ends.
I can't even begin to list all the great features of our new house. OK, I'll try. It's in a great location next to a country club, a large wooded cemetary, Marmion Academy, and the Fox River. So it's not in the middle of a sea of houses like our current house. There are two parks within two blocks. We live about 1/4 mile from the Prairie Path, which also rans almost right by my office, so I could ride my bike to work. It's a 15 minute drive from my office.
We are 5 minutes from downtown Batavia, 10 minutes from downtown Geneva, 7 minutes from I-88 (the house is north of Butterfield and just east of IL-25 if you want to see it on a map), 20 minutes from the Fox Valley mall, 10 minutes from the grocery store, and only 10 minutes from my weekly poker game. Heck, I can host the game myself now that I live near the other guys.
Our lot is 180 feet long, so we have a huge back yard. The house has a pretty large front porch, a large paver patio, and two swingsets, one of which is big and has a tornado slide. There is a three-car garage, and in the house, running the entire length of that garage, a huge 20x7 laundry room with an exterior door. The family room is pretty big and the kitchen is decent. The kids' bedrooms are large and both have walk-in closets. The master bedroom is a huge T-shape, 20x14 and 15x9, with a tray ceiling in the master and a cathedral ceiling in the sitting room. The master bath is large and has a separate tub and shower, actually a separate room for the shower and the toilet, a dressing table, plus a 8x11 walk-in closet.
The basement is huge and very open, since the stairs and mechanicals are next to walls. We plan to finish it with (approximately) a 13x10 bedroom, 12x10 full bathroom, a large storage area, and a 30x25 (maybe 35x25) rec room.
The previous owners have dogs, rabbits, and birds, so we're going to remove every bit of carpeting from the house and replace it, as well as repainting everything, and getting some of the floors redone before we move in. That's going to take some time. I will drop off a box or two most mornings on my way to work, so when we finish the actual move, we will just have movers take care of all the furniture.
We're very excited and can't wait to get in there and start working.
- schneid
Vow to Write More Personal Stuff
This does seem like a pretty convenient way to keep up to date with friends and family. I'm going to be spending a lot less time in the car and thus there will be fewer spontaneous calls from me.
So for those of you who don't give a damn about poker, please check in occasionally and I promise to post what's going on in the life of the Schneider family.
- schneid
So for those of you who don't give a damn about poker, please check in occasionally and I promise to post what's going on in the life of the Schneider family.
- schneid
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