CBA

Yesterday, I had a craving for a really good, but somewhat inexpensive, lunch. I also had a bunch of little errands to run at destinations within close proximity of each other, but nowhere near our neighborhood. I picked up The Girl from preschool, and we headed southeast to Lincoln Park. The Tot fell asleep in the car on the way to pick up The Girl, so I was able to run a quick in-and-out errand on the way to lunch.

We had lunch at CBA on Armitage. This is probably not a destination for anyone not immediately in the neighborhood or as a post-class lunch spot after Wiggleworms class, but the pull of The Wrigley Fielder draws me in a couple of times each year. The Girl wanted something with salami on it (she's a weird kid), so she got the E-Town Express, which she loved. The Tot commandeered half my Wrigley Fielder. Total for 2 bagel sandwiches, 2 chips and a bottle of Nantucket Nectar was about $15.

After lunch, we ran errands: Gap Kids for returns, next door to the busiest CVS I've ever seen for postage stamps, back into the car to the Carter's Outlet off Clybourn and next door to Sur la Table for Mother's Day treats. We got back home about 2 p.m. and left the TV off, making chocolate chip-M&M cookies instead.

The ballet-soccer Monday Mania wasn't as bad as it has been, although I made the mistake of walking to ARCC, over to school to watch The Boy's soccer practice, and then back home again, so The Boy and The Girl were pretty much exhausted.

Green City, Playdate

This morning, I got up early and took The Boy with me to one of the City's green events, a drop-off harmful substances and pick-up a rain barrel and/or compost bin thing. It was held in one of Comiskey Park's parking lots, just north of the 35th Street entrance to the park. We got there around 9 a.m., about an hour after it started, and we were in and out quite fast. We dropped off old paint, Pine-sol, and about 8 pounds of used batteries. I also picked up a subsidized compost bin from the City for $30. Fortunately, I brought my checkbook, because they only took checks. Not everyone was so lucky, so I wrote a check for the guy behind me, who like a few people only had cash.

When we got home, I traded kids with The Dad, and took The Girl to her ballet class. For the first time, I spent the whole class period in the waiting room, and I'm happy that I did not hear Ms. Jen reminding The Girl of good class behavior -- nor did I see her sneak out of class into the waiting room. After class, I brought The Girl and Peri over to Starbucks, to meet Peri's mother and brothers. This is when the giant (very fun!) playdate that was our afternoon began.

Peri, Enver, and The Girl walked home with me. We stopped at Walgreen's to pick up diaper-rash cream and sliced bread, and ran into Beth T. and her kids. A. is in ballet class with Peri and The Girl, and S. is just a few months younger than The Baby. I invited them to come over as well. When we got home, The Boy and D., our neighbor, were already in their swimsuits to go on D.'s slip-n-slide. I found suits to lend all of our guests, and everyone ran back and forth between D.'s slip-n-slide and the sprinkler that The Dad set up and ran for a bit in our front yard. It was nice to talk further with Beth T. and the kids all had a great time running around and, later, playing inside and in the backyard.