Family Notes
October 10, 2003
Graham: Went for my Tae Kwan Do senior blue belt test. Passed, but was not very proficient.
October 14, 2003
Graham: I bought a rowing machine near the end of September and have decided to motivate myself by keeping track of how far I have rowed in total and how far down the US I can get. I'd like to get to a fairly steady 20 kilometers a week. Here's the first map of my progress so far:
October 15, 2003
Suzanne & Graham: The Cubs lost. Very depressing.
October 20, 2003
The new addition to the house is coming along well; We got the trim on it stained over the weekend; miles of tape and a quart each of pre-stain conditioner and pecan polyurethane stain. Looks good. The dog did not walk in the stain and tread it all over the house. Neither did the kids. Joshua had his last soccer game and Aisling continued with her ballet class. Jim ran the superhero game we've been playing for a while; it was a long, long fight which we didn't finish so I guess we'll see the villains again in a few weeks for round two.
Cal and Tedford came to town; they were in Galena most of the time and dropped in on us for the On-Center service. We had dinner at Front Street Cantina afterwards; Suzanne was off to her Acapellago rehearsal, so just the three others went. Good to see them, as always.
November 14, 2003
Graham: I had volunteered to do some cooking for a meeting at our church to plan support for the United Methodist Church in Senegal. When I volunteered, I was asked to cook for about 50, but two days before the number has swelled to 80. I cooked a traditional fish and rice stew -- Thiebou Dienn, but there wasn't much fish as fish for 80 would have blown the budget!
November 16, 2003
Graham: Had the first meeting of the Pinafore crew; I have nearly everyone I need in place, only missing a rehearsal pianist and my musical director is all over that. I had my assistant director, producer, set designer, costumer, choerographer and musical director over and we went through all that is to be done. I set up a web site for the Pinafore calendar and all looks in great shape.
Graham: I've also been busy this week setting up lights for Quilters, the current CUMC show, which is a musical comprising a set of small scenes about pioneer women, their troubles, joys and quilts.
November 22, 2003
Aisling had her Birthday party this Saturday, with seven other girls of a similar age running around the house, shouting, dancing, playing, trying to break glass with high-pitched wails and the like. Actually it wasn't too bad, although playing "freeze dance" in the addition with the bare walls and wood floors lead to extremely loud echos. Also on or around this date, Aisling read the word "Mom" unprompted from a sign on the TV. We think that's the first time she's read without help or suggestions.
November 27, 2003
Thanksgiving! And we did. The break from work was much appreciated and we had a relaxing, fun time. A turkey was grilled outside, with a spicy rubbing mixed by Ailing and applied by Joshua. The latter also ate both turkey legs, down to the bone, and regretted the fact that turkeys are only bipedal.
October 14, 2003
Graham: Updated progress on rowing; I have joined the Illinois river and am now heading down to St. Louis
December 25, 2003
Graham's parents were with the family this year for Christmas. As usual, Graham played second shepherd at the kid's Christmas eve service, but also was able to play Joseph at the OnCenter service later on, where Suzanne was one of the singers. The Buffingtons came over for Christmas day and we had a traditional dinner, but before that we opened presents -- a fun time for all; Joshua enjoyed getting Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4 ...
December 27, 2003
Our next door neighbors, Dan and Renee, invited us to Dan's birthday party, which included ride around Naperville on a tram to see all the lights. It gave Graham a chance to try out his new Rebel EOS digital
December 31, 2003
Graham:Not exactly on target for 20k/week, the new revised target is 10k/week. I'm close to that at the moment
2004, The whole year
Well, I guess we did a lot this year, but adding to this page wasn't one of those things. The whole family started playing soccer and Aisling and Suzanne joined Josh and Graham at Tae Kwan Do, Graham managed a little more rowing, but not a lot, as you can see from the image below.
We took a couple of wonderful vacations this year, with our friends, the Hollanders, at Starved Rock, a nearby state park; and with Graham's family (and a brief visit to Suzanne's in Edinburgh) at Christmas. Here's a picture of the warmer visit ...
