chranko.com
Life and times of the Chranko family
Last Day of School 2009
Jun 12th
First things first. Sorry Detroit about being bested by the Penguins. Cubs fans in Chicago are good at saying there’s always next year (which usually happens in June), but c’mon Penguins? Waddling Tuxedo wearers? Pittsburgh!?!?!
Aidan and Elise spend their last day, well technically the last day was just an hour, of class at a luau. After saying goodbyes and receiving their report cards, they partied down Hawaiian style with limbo, leis, ho-ho’s, chips and soda…You know all the traditional Hawaiian stuff.
On a different school related note, both kids and their classes recently joined the rest of the school and the Chicago Artists community to creat artistic birdhouses that would be auctioned off. The auction ended up raising $10,000 for a new school playground. You can see the finished products at the Friends of Pritzker website. Aidan’s class project was displayed @ Red Hen Bread and Elise’s was @ Psychobaby.
-
- Elise’s birdhouse
-
- Aidan’s Birdhouse
We’re proud – very proud – that Aidan finished First Grade with straight A’s which means that Grandpa Joe owes him $13 ($1 for each). He’s really enjoyed school and we look forward to watching him continue to flourish in 2nd grade.
Elise, while not receiving grades, also got a stellar progress report. She too has enjoyed school and is sad when she is sick and cannot go. Her teachers comments said that she was helpful, considerate and a good friend and helps the younger kids when they need it…independent and curious about her environment… In her mind she too got straight A’s and we couldn’t agree more.
We’re looking forward to summer and seeing many of you soon. We’re also looking forward to doing a better job using this site to communicate with you. Lazy Chris. Bad, lazy Chris!
Happy Birthday Elise
Sep 2nd
Our little girl is getting so big (actually who doesn’t already know that because she is HUGE!), but I’m talking about her growing up as in maturing, aging etc. She’s sweet as ever an had a blast on her birthday. Thankfully, there was no American Girl paraphanalia in the loot.
Photos are over by there…
Home Run!
Jul 12th
Last weekend Aidan hit a home run. It was his 5th game of baseball ever!
Ok so the real story is hit hit a grounder along the 3rd base line. The third baseman, fielded the ball and heaved it to first. The kid was at 3rd for a reason, that being he could throw the ball the distance from 3rd to first … and beyond which is what happened in this case. The coaches waved Aidan on to second. At this point the first baseman was just fielding the ball so the coaches waved him on to third. Not liking what happened to him earlier, the firstbaseman recipricated and flung the ball wildly over the 3rd baseman’s head. Strolling into home plate was easy as pie at this point. It wasn’t pretty, but a run is a run, right?
Happy Birthday America!
Jul 5th
Today on the recognized birth of our country, Aidan learned to ride his bike sans training wheels. Minor squawking, limited requests to put the back on, but dagnabit, he did it on his first try out. That’s true American gumption, now, isn’t it?
Elise, meanwhile, occassionally looks on from her perch on the playground.
Summer begins!
Jul 2nd
Ah Summer, time for street fairs, t-ball (sort of, more later), outdoor dining and beaches/surprise parties (in NY).
As countless of previous Americans with limited entertainment options, Aidan began his journey in to the snoozefest that is baseball/tball…Park District T-Ball no less. He is on the Cubs and seems to enjoy hitting the ball and catching the occassional pop fly during warm ups. But I guarantee I will be writing again before the end of the summer about how Aidan caught one in the chest or lower playing shortstop while looking up at the sky or down at the ground whle kicking dirt completely ignoring the speeding ball hit off of the tee by a burly 11 year old.
The highlight of June surely was our trip to the Finger Lakes of New York to “surprise” my Uncle Bill and Aunt Kathy on their 40th wedding anniversary. While everyone was able to keep the secret, it was their own children who slipped up with such amature behavior as forwarding email threads and leaving photo albums out on the couch. Better luck next time Carrie and Kevin! Despite that, the party was a great time with relatives and friends coming to Lake Canadaigua from Rochester; Tulsa; Denver; Chicago; Indianapolis; Saginaw, and Baltimore. After the weekend, we squeezed a quick jaunt over the border to the great white north to Niagara, Ontario. Some photos of the falls and the drenching we received on the Maid of the Mist have been posted along other June events.
Kindergarten graduation, really? Well no.
Jun 13th
Today Aidan was told that he met all of the “requirements” to be promoted from Kindergarden into 1st grade @ pritzker. In a brief 10 minute “ceremony” multiple certificates were distributed, including good citizenship and perfect attendance. Here marks the official start of summer in the eyes of a child. We’ll try to make the best of things having two permanent adults, two resident children and a full time babysitter in very close quarters. I guess the light at the end of the tunnel is that Elise was accepted at Pre-K at the same school as Aidan and will begin her academic journey in September…on her birthday no less!
Happy Birthday Aidan
May 5th
Today our little boy turned 6. We celebrated it as any 6 year old would … with lots and lots of reptiles. First was the cobra snake shirt he selected to wear to school, then came the cobra cake that Nadiya brought over. To top it off we surpised him at school with a visit from the Travelling World of Reptiles (http://www.travelingworldofreptiles.com/). Check out the photos. He actually had a tarantula spin a web on his head.
[Gallery not found]
Going back to Cali, to Cali, to Cali…
Mar 16th
Well tomorrow we are indeed returning to the sandy plots of Palm Springs, California for our annual pilgramage to see our snowbird relatives. Did you know that Palm Springs which was recently referred to as the nation’s gayest city full of aging men (Article: Palm Springs’ image in book creates uproar). While we won’t be partaking in any of that, our days will be chocked full of early morning walks, naps, magazine reading pool side and early bird prime rib specials followed by a nice slice of pie (or cake) from the carousel. Despite all that, we’re looking forward to it all and are in desparate need of an escape from the dreary late winter grayness that Chicago can be counted on to provide. Have a good week and we’l talk to you when we return!
Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose
Feb 14th
Happy Valentines Day everyone. We’ve been busy for the past few weeks but picked today to let you know that we are still thinking about you. We’ll have some new photos up over the weekend (we know everyone loves photos). We’ll be in touch on that. In the meantime, enjoy the flowers and chocolate we sent. We trust they arrived safely.
PS Work travel is for the birds.
Happy New Year
Jan 8th
Well – we survived Christmas and our headaches have now subsided from NYE. Late, late night, Brad decided it would be a good idea to pull out the Absinthe for a nightcap…did I say late night? When oh when will we stop listening to his silliness? Let’s make that our collective resolutions, shall we? We’ll meet you back here in one year to see how we did.
Now on to the business > we’ve gone and updated our december photo album with xmas and NYE related photos. Check ‘em out (Click the preceding link to access directly)!
