Country Fest - June 30th

We went to another festival a few weeks ago.  We've been to quite a few festivals this summer, which we guess is how you should spend some of your summer if you move to Chicago!

Anyways, in the last week of June, Katie was in her last few days as a stay-at-home-mom, so she kept Brady out of daycare for a few days to have some quality time before heading back to "the real world". Brady got a chance to see his buddies Eli and Bobby again (on different days), so he had quite a bit of fun.

Katie & Kalli took Bobby and Brady to a park with swings.  Brady didn't seem in love with the idea of a swing.  We can report that he's gotten better in subsequent visits, however!

Anyways, back to Country Fest.  It's well-known that Katie is a big country music fan, and every now and then she's able to talk Charlie into an event like this.  Country Fest was held in Lincoln Park on the last weekend before Katie went back to work.  So we decided to go down that way to watch a band during the day and then eat dinner at a restaurant with Brady.  We stayed for a little over an hour and had a good time - Mom and son both enjoyed a "cold one" on the lawn watching the band!

After taking in the music scene, we walked over to a nearby restaurant.  Charlie saw the name Four Farthings and thought it sounded interesting, so we went there for what turned out to be an excellent meal!  We still haven't figured out whether the restaurant's name is a tribute to J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings (South Farthing is one of four corners of the Shire in his books) or the old British coin (a farthing was worth a quarter-penny) that was U.K. currency from 1707 to 1960.  Charlie prefers to think it's the Tolkien reference, but he's probably wrong!

The Beach!

We've lived in Chicago for close to a year now, and that whole time we've lived very close to Lake Shore drive and Lake Michigan.  We've often taken Griffey to a dog park near us, and while it's fairly nice, Griffey doesn't seem to enjoy it quite as much as we'd hoped.  Plus, we can't bring Brady in the dog park, so one of us has to go in there while the other just waits outside.  Usually this would start out being Charlie, but once Griffey realizes that his mom is not around, he just wants to leave.  So then we'd switch up.

About a month ago, we found a much better solution.  There's a very large section of the Lake Shore beach that is blocked off and there for dogs.  It's right off of Wilson Avenue, which is just two stops north of us and thus less than a 10 minute drive.  We tried it one day, and - success!  Griffey loved it!  It's a great place for us to take dog and baby.  Charlie can let Griffey off the leash and follow him around, and Griff doesn't seem so worried about where Katie is.  He's much more interested in what those big dogs are doing by the water, or what that other dachshund is chasing around, or what the beagle is digging up in the sand!

So we tend to go there once a weekend to be sure Griffey gets good exercise, and Brady seems to enjoy hanging out on a towel when we're there as well.

Baby's first restaurant meal

OK, so this definitely wasn't Brady's first time at a restaurant, but about a month ago we went to a place called Wishbone that is in nearby Roscoe Village.  It's a great place with Southern style cooking and both Charlie and Katie went home full and happy.  But it's notable because it's really the first time Brady also tried the establishment's fare!

We had been brining Brady's own food when we take him to a restaurant, and maybe getting him some bread.  But here we tried the kids portion of mac and cheese - and that kid's portion sure seemed like a lot!  However, nothing is too much for this kid - he is pretty much a black hole when it comes to eating and he finished most of the meal.  Here's a few pictures to commemorate the momentous occasion!

A Festival in Griffey's Honor - June 15th

Hello.  It's me Griffey. The dog.

I know I don't write many posts.  Most of the posts are about that new little person the stork dropped off in New Jersey.  He's OK, I guess.  He is more interesting now that he crawls around, but sometimes he pulls my tail!  I don't mind, though.  He is my little brother and I think I'm supposed to protect him.

I just wanted to tell everyone that I am having fun in Chicago.  I don't have a big yard like in Jersey, but Chicago is very dog friendly.  In fact, it seems that nearly everyone on our block has a dog. This makes for some VERY interesting smells along the sidewalk.  Last month on the weekend of June 15th, there was even a festival in my honor.  It was just a short walk from our house on Sheffield and Addison. It's right by this big Stadium that daddy seems to like a lot.  Anyways, this festival must have been for my honor, because every one was stopping to talk to me and I even had a few people want to take their picture with me. The festival was called Sausage Fest and everyone got a big kick seeing a Wiener Dog at a Sausage Fest. At first I was nervous with all the people, but then I didn't care because I love all the attention.  Usually Brady gets all the attention, but not at the festival in my honor!

OK, that is all.  It's time for Brady's bath.  I sit in with mommy and daddy when he gets his bath.  Providing moral support is a very important task.

Southport Grocery

We haven't done a restaurant post since we moved to Chicago, and doing Southport Grocery and Cafe seems like a good place to start.  We first went there with Charlie's mom and sister last fall when they visited.  We've gone there a few times since then, and when Abby and Leslie were up again in early June, we went back.

Southport is a North/South street about five blocks west of us.  It's a little more family oriented than where we currently live.  Wrigleyville seems more like dog oriented place, but Southport has dogs and baby strollers :)  D'agostino's, a pizza favorite of ours, is over on Southport, and so is Toon's - Charlie's favorite local watering hole & buffalo wings joint.  Southport Grocery & Cafe was our first dining over in that part of Lakeview.

We always go to Southport Grocery for Sunday brunch.  This usually means a long wait - because the place is good, it also happens to be very popular.  Cupcakes were apparently their first success, but the breakfast / brunch fare is as unique as any place we've been.  Charlie first got their griddled coffee cake, which was made with sour cream and was excellent.  He's also gotten the brisket and gravy, which is a dish with eggs that sounds more like dinner but was a great start to the day.  Leslie has had the chorizo omelet - also excellent.  Abby has gotten various types of pancakes (cupcake and bread pudding).  Katie found our favorite, though.  She got the sweet and savory french toast - which is french toast topped with ham and swiss cheese along with a side of maple-mustard syrup.  If you ever go there - that's our recommendation!

As you can tell by the name, it's not just a restaurant - it's a grocery.  So you can buy some of their famous cupcake mix or some of that unique maple-mustard syrup.  Or any number of other goodies!

Abby & Leslie visit Chicago - June 7th-9th

My sister Abby graduated from Medical School at Wright State earlier this Spring.  We're all very proud of the new Doctor in the Mowry family!

Abby has moved up to Akron where she's starting her residency.  Now, after spending 4 years post-graduate paying quite a bit of money, she gets to finally start earning a paycheck (though I understand it's fairly minimal until the residency is over).  Abby and my Mom came up to Chicago to visit while she had some time in between graduating and moving to Akron.

On Thursday, we went to Navy Pier downtown to Harry Caray's Tavern for dinner.  The restaurant used to be up near where we now live in Wrigleyville, but moved down to Navy Pier a few years ago.  There's a little sports museum inside the restaurant that has a bunch of things from Chicago sports history, including two famous baseballs from Cubs history:

• the "last out ball" from the 1945 World Series - which was the start of the famous "Billy Goat Curse" and the last time the Cubs made the World Series.  The ball is suspended in a ghostbuster-like case to keep the negative energy away.
• the remains of the "Bartman Ball" from the 2003 NLCS, which the restaurant purchased and exploded a few years ago.

I took Friday off and we all went to the Cubs game during the day.  It was a bit cold, and we'd gotten seats under cover in case of rain.  But Brady seemed fine and enjoyed the game.  Including the part where he took a nap in the middle of the game!

On Saturday I had my usual run with the Team in Training group, and Abby came with me to do part of the run.  We were up to 6 miles, which was a bit more than Abby wanted to do, so she ran the first couple of miles with me and then after I turned around I caught back up and we finished the last mile or so together.

After the tiring run, we went with Mom, Katie and Brady to one of our favorite restaurants - Southport Grocery.  Southport Grocery is just about the best place I've ever had for brunch - and we all left full and happy.

Abby & Mom watched Brady during the day while Katie and I went out with some friends to some bars nearby - and, more importantly, they put up some gates in the house to keep Brady safe!  Now that he's crawling around, our house was not the ideal setup.  Given his druthers, he'd crawl all over the place and probably try to eat Griffey's dog food or throw his water bottle across the room.  But Abby & Mom helped set up gates and make the TV set up more baby friendly!

It was great to see Mom and Abby while Abby had some free time - Brady and Griffey always enjoys all the attention!

*************

Baseball park info:

Park: Wrigley Field (3rd time for Brady)

Friday, June 7, 2013

Score: Pirates 2, Cubs 0

Winning Pitcher: Francisco Liriano

Brady's Home team record: 1-3

Memorial Day Weekend - White Sox game, May 26th

We're falling a bit further behind on the blog - a full holiday behind here - but this is our most recent attempt to catch up!

Over Memorial Day Weekend, we didn't do a whole lot.  Charlie had traveled a bunch for work in May, and we were just happy he got back on Thursday from his most recent trip!  Katie's parents were in town until Saturday morning, and after they left, we spent some quality family time with Brady and Griffey.  This included some time on Lake Shore Drive walking the dog and baby.

And on Sunday, we did make one trip - our first trip to U.S. Cellular Field since living in Chicago.  This is the "New Comiskey Park" (since renamed) that was built in the early 1990's for the White Sox.

We got to our seats in the first inning, and as soon as we'd sat down, Adam Dunn knocked a home run out of the park.  That's the former Red Adam Dunn.  Brady was very excited when everyone else stood up and cheered!

The White Sox' park was much more baby friendly than Wrigley.  I guess that's to be expected - it's 20 years old as opposed to 100+ years!  We had a great time, and the home team won.  The White Sox actually reached the .500 mark at this game, but they have since fallen completely off the map and are one of the worst teams in baseball!

Park: U.S. Cellular Field (2nd park)

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Score: White Sox 5, Marlins 3

Winning Pitcher: Dylan Axelrod

Home Runs: Adam Dunn

Brady's Home team record: 1-2