Now that I've got some downtime after being hit by a car while riding my bike (we'll save that story for later), I figured it would be a good time to look at some other things we did over the past few months.  It's another "Summertime Out and About" post!

Ticket to Ride at the Botnaic Gardens!

Just last weekend, we lugged a game of Ticket to Ride Switzerland up to our favorite Summer 2011 hotspot, the Chicago Botanic Garden, and actually played a few games on Evening Island in the beautiful weather.  10 years ago, Amy & I got engaged close to this very spot!

Sunset over the North Lake

I just really love the themed landscape design of this space.  Each area has a different look and feel, much like a theme park.  But with less overpriced junk.  And no timeshares.

New Orleans Voodoo vs. Chicago Rush

The Chicago Rush continued in their return of the Arena Football League (post-bankruptcy) and we caught a few games, including one with our friends Branden & Megan.

Megan, Amy, & Branden... and a lot of empty seats

Truthfully, given the rather amateurish way this new version of the AFL is being run, I've pretty much lost interest in Arena Football.  Just not worth my time and definitely not a value anymore.

Heading into a night game at Wrigley Field

A little later in the summer I got to catch a Cubs night game with Branden… and it was considerably warmer than the game I experienced back in April!

Anyone want to pee in a trough?

One thing that never changes… the Cubs still suck.

More jazz at Millennium Park

We experienced another installment of Made in Chicago: World Class Jazz down at Millennium Park as they summer wound down.

Amy (and Ubster) enjoys the summer evening

This time around we saw "Latin Inspiration: Howard Levy with Chevere, Trio Globo and special guests."  Frankly, it wasn't as Latin as I had hoped.

Millennium Park trash can

But on the plus side, we did get to check out another unique trash can.  Magical, it is not.

The Childs Family

While we did get together with our college friends like we do every summer (I'll cover that as part of our ongoing "Smoky Siesta" story), there were a few we missed.  Thankfully, we did get to see them on other occasions.

Visiting with the Folkerts

Our friends Eric & Kelli Childs, and their daughter Sarah, visited us here in Chicago for a few hours as they were passing through town. We were also able to catch up with Josh & Tina Folkerts recently, along with their kids Jacob, Jenna, and Kara.  Since they live pretty far away, we haven't seen them in years; it was nice to spend some time with them.

DJ at the block party!

Back here at home, we enjoyed the second block party on our street.  Last year, one of our neighbors spearheaded an effort to start block parties and this 2011 version surpassed that effort.

Woo hoo, a fire truck!

Heck, I got to sit in a firetruck — what, am I 12?

Amy makes s'mores in the street

Plus, there's nothing quite like sitting in the middle of a Chicago city street… and cooking s'mores over an open fire.  Now that's unique!

A mini golf rematch!

Back in July we went mini golfing with our friend Henry Zonio when he was in town.  At the end of that matchup, I won a free game!  So Amy and I recently returned to the course for a rematch!

Tough putt for Amy

We played at night shortly before the course closed, and I sort of think that the folks who ran it didn't really care what was going on.

River floods out the green... gross!

You see, the fake river in the middle of the course was overflowing and flooding out some of the greens!  It was quite gross.  (For the record, I won!)

Dad gets a new bike!

Oh, hey, I helped my Dad buy a bike!  He hasn't had a bike for quite a long time, so we headed over to Kozy's Cyclery and found him a great deal on a 21-speed Giant Cypress hybrid.  This bike shop is located in a really old building where the 3rd floor is wide open for "test rides" on bikes.  You can see Dad giving his new bike a try in the above shot!

Steve spends quality time in the ER

Speaking of bikes, on August 31 I was out riding, adding to the many miles I've been racking up this summer, when I was hit by a car.  Off to the ER we went!  I'm still recovering and am quite banged up, but thankfully no broken bones were detected.  It may be a while until I'm back on my bike, however.

It's been a busy summer and I'm sad to see it go.  But it's also been a lot of fun!