City Crunchy

I packed up the car this morning with The Boy, The Girl, The Baby and the recycling. Then I drove to the North Park Village Nature Center to drop off my recyclables at the recycle center contained therein. I have been doing a version of this for about the past year. I feel good about this effort to save the environment, although I try not to think about whether driving around in a minivan in 90-degree heat negates whatever environmental impacts I've made in recycling paper, cardboard, glass, aluminum and 1 & 2 plastics. Still, I have more confidence that I actually am recycling than I did when I participated in Mayor Daley's Blue Bag program.

After dropping off the recycling, we headed to the nearby suburbs of Niles and Skokie to look for pajamas for The Boy at Land's End (strikeout) and buy paint cups and markers at U.S. Toys, a hidden gem that offers all kinds of interesting products for kids, parents and teachers alike. We hit Cubs traffic on the way home, and when I rolled up to my house at 1 p.m., all three of my passengers were asleep.