MichaelandChrissy.com

Last summer, I was mowing the back yard when I noticed something big and green clinging to our wooden fence.  I stopped the mower to get a better look, and it was a praying mantis!  I don’t think that I had ever seen one up close before, so it was kinda cool.  I invited the neighbor kids to check him out, and the younger one named him “Bob”.  Bob hung out in the back yard for a day or two, but we didn’t hear from him much after that.  We figured that he went off to get his head eaten.

Today, Chrissy was heading out to the garage with the boys when she spotted Bob coming down our driveway.  He was making his way back to our yard, where lunch was plentiful.  He was pretty wary of Chrissy though.  She got the kids into the CR-V and then checked on Bob to make certain that she wouldn’t run him over, but he was already near the gate to the back yard.  Good ol’ Bob.  I’ll have to keep an eye out for him when I mow the lawn next weekend.

In honor of Aiden’s second birthday today and in retrospect of the hornet activity on the morning of last weekend’s birthday party, I wrote a fictional short story about a little boy who inadvertently causes an international honey shortage (among other things). It’s much longer than my usual blog post, so click “Read More” below to read the whole story.

Chrissy and I go to “Cirque Du Soleil” every time they come to Chicago.  They set up a Big Top Tent outside the United Center.  The last time we went, two summers ago, Chrissy was pregnant with Aiden.  This time, she’s pregnant with Gavin.  Luckily, we got VIP parking because we pointed out to the attendant that Chrissy was extraordinarily pregnant.  We parked literally twenty feet from the main entrance, but it cost us twenty bucks (well worth it, says the impaired mommy).

The ticket-takers are positioned strategically right in front of the concession and souvenir stands. Both were painfully overpriced, but we indulged anyway.  We get a refrigerator magnet and a Christmas ornament every time we see Cirque, but I don’t remember them being $45 before.  An additional $21 bought us a medium popcorn, two Cokes and a bag of M&Ms.  Sticker shock, considering that the tickets to get in were fairly pricey to begin with.

The show, “Kooza,” was worth the expenditures.  We had a very good time.  The seats, as usual, were way too small, but I understand the need to cram as many people under the tent as possible.  The music was awesome, and the acts were excellent.  A few of them we had already seen, like the juggler and the trapeze artist.  I’m sure that we’ve seen the contortionists before too, but the new costumes were outstanding, and you can never really get used to seeing people bend like that. The “Wheel of Death” was perhaps the best of the lot, perhaps because one performer almost fell off (scary!).

Chrissy got us excellent seats: positioned in front of the middle of the stage, towards the back so that we could see everything, even with the sound director’s pit, with no tent poles in the way, and along the main aisle (in case she had to get up).  Since our parking spot was so good, we were able to get out and into the street before the rush of people poured into the parking lot.  We talked about the show all the way home. Next time, we might try to bring Aiden, since he may be old enough to appreciate it by then.

Chrissy and I love to cook outside on our deck.  Once it gets warm enough, we use our grill at least twice a week.  We bought some flank steaks a few weeks ago, in anticipation of the start of “Grilling Season”, along with a huge rack of ribs.  We had a small setback this year, however. The grill bars were wearing through, so the old grill had to be put out to pasture.  It was the grill that couldn’t.

Carl first bought that grill back when we were roommates, almost ten years ago.  I inherited it when he moved to California, and have had it ever since.  I clean the inside of the grill with a wire brush after every use (while it’s still hot), but it’s an old grill and the many years of scrubbing were taking their toll.  I last saw the old grill on garbage night, when two old hispanic men rescued it from our trash, loaded it into the back of their truck and drove away.

We got a new Aussie grill for Christmas, of all things, three years ago from Chrissy’s sister.  It spent two years in the garage, still in the box, before I put it together last Spring.  We didn’t think that we would need it, so we only built it to sell at last Summer’s garage sale.  The grill was just too small, so no one wanted it.  But it’s Spring and we were without a grill, a grave injustice that could not be allowed to pass. The tiny grill was pressed into service. ”I think I can, I think I can…”

The Aussie pulled its weight and then some.  The flank steaks were awesome.  Chrissy put a garlic rub on them and served them with some spicy rice with little shrimp in it.  The meal was so good that I took some to work with me the next day for lunch.  I think that we’ll stick with the underdog grill this summer, but we’ll have our new deck done by the start of next year’s Grilling Season, so we’ll want a new grill by then too.