Today marks the end of Michael’s 17th revolution around the sun. So, to celebrate, we head back to last May, when we visited Brookfield Zoo and Michael posed in front of his friends, the bison. Not buffalo. Bison.
Tag / MDM
Spring Fever
As we kick off Michael’s birthday month, we look back at a collage of him sleeping in cars during the previous year. After contracting COVID late in 2020, his energy levels have been a bit off, and he has had a tendency to sleep way too many hours in the day. Including on our way to the Museum of Science and Industry, a tilt between the White Sox and the Red Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field, and Purdue/Northwestern football game at Wrigley Field.
Remember When There Was A 10,000 Step Club?
Things were a lot different two years ago, as I was finishing up my fifth year using a Fitbit. I had just added 45 new 10,000 step days, my 3rd best year to date, and, with upcoming trips to Boston and California already on the docket, things were looking good to add a good number more and add some new tales to this list of my top 25 step days. Then, the corona virus happened, and the world basically shut down for the next two years. I’ve worked from home since March of 2020, which gives me a lot more free time, but also significantly cut down on my natural daily step totals. All told, I managed only 5 10,000 step days for the just completed seventh year of Fitbit usage, which, granted, is better than last year and gives me a total of 270 since I started keeping track back in 2011. With that in mind, here’s the list of my top 25 step days, which has stayed static for two years now.
1: 4/14/2018 – 27,470 steps
My best single day total is from my April 2017 trip to New York to see Angelina. The day’s excursions included trips to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, the Museum of the City of New York, Central Park, the Guggenheim museum, and the Empire State Building.
2: 7/21/2018 – 27,278 steps
My July 2017 trip to Virginia, to hike up Catawba Mountain to McAfee Knob with Jeff and Val, fell just short of the top spot.
3: 6/6/2013 – 24,988 steps
2013’s trip to Disney World, which spent 5 years as my single day best, included excursions to both Epcot Center and the Magic Kingdom, and yes, falling 12 steps short of 25,000 still irks me.
4: 6/3/2019 – 24,665 steps
The first full day of 2019’s summer trip to Washington DC spent most of the day at the Smithsonian Zoo.
5: 8/8/2019 – 23,866 steps
Late in the summer of 2019, I spent two weeks in San Francisco for a work trip. On my last full day, I went out after work, walking to Pier 39 and then back the other direction to Oracle Park to see the Giants take on the Phillies. My totals would have been even higher, but I was dead tired and took an Uber back to the hotel after the game.
6: 3/18/2018 – 23,780 steps
My first day in Las Vegas for the 2017 IBM Think conference, the day’s totals include gallivanting around town, including a late night trip up to Caesar’s Palace from the MGM Grand to see Absinthe.
7: 10/24/2018 – 23,362 steps
My October 2018 trip to Boston to see Angelina for our birthday gives us our next entry. While she was in class, I took tours of Fenway Park and Harvard, before meeting up with her for a late lunch and then heading to the airport for the trip home.
8: 3/22/2016 – 22,493 steps
My one-time second highest day took place during the ill-fated trip to Disney World in March of 2016. The day’s excursion started at Hollywood Studios before heading over to Epcot Center with Jeff and Val.
9: 7/27/2013 – 20,592 steps
Still my highest total at home in the state of Illinois, the next entry comes thanks to the 2013 BTN 5K and a, for lack of a better word, misunderstanding about where I should be picked up after the race.
10: 12/29/2018 – 20,374 steps
We wrap up the top 10 with 2018’s trip to California and the trip to Disneyland to see Danny perform with the Lincoln-Way Marching Band.
11: 8/5/2017 – 20,218 steps
The next entry came in August of 2017 on the first day of my trip to Boston with Danny and Michael. After landing in town, we traipsed to the Science Museum, a breakfast joint, our hotel, and, finally, Fenway Park.
12: 7/14/2017 – 20,208 steps
Down to #12 is my 2017 trip to Disney World, a one day journey with Angelina to celebrate her high school graduation. Continue reading →
A Thawing (Hopefully) Heart
We start the second month of 2022 with a shot of Michael posing with an upside down Spider-Man from the Marvel exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry last August.
A Fresh Start
A new year is upon us, and, with it, hopefully, a fresh start after two straight pandemic-impacted years. We kick off 2022 with the first photo from this year’s calendar, featuring Angelina and Michael napping in the chair from last Christmas.
2022 Calendar
After a year of old pictures thanks to the corona virus murdering 2020, we are back in the game with next year’s calendar and, now that Christmas has come and gone, we can unveil the cover to this year’s calendar gift, given annually to my mom and sister, and made up of pictures I have taken throughout the year. Lack of travel made getting pictures of Angelina difficult, but between last Christmas and this Thanksgiving, we were able to make it work. As in year’s past. the calendar was produced by the good folks at Shutterfly and we will unveil each month’s photo(s) on the first day of the month throughout 2022.
This year’s cover features Angelina, Danny, and Michael masked up as we visited the primates from South America at Brookfield Zoo.
Yuletide Greetings
We wrap up the year with looks back to a four different trips to the Florida, the Sunshine State. Starting clockwise from the top left, we have sign to orient us as being in Florida, Angelina, Danny, and Michael posing with Phineas and Ferb from our 2013 trip to Disney World to celebrate Angelina’s 8th grade graduation, Angelina in front of the castle in Magic Kingdom from our one day jaunt to Disney World to celebrate her high school graduation, Danny and Michael trying to get their wands to trigger actions in Diagon Alley at Universal from our 2016 trip to celebrate Danny’s 8th grade graduation, Danny trying to get in to Disney World after breaking the scanning machine in 2013, Angelina, Danny, and Michael posing with the conductor of Hogwart’s Express from our 2010 Thanksgiving trip to Universal, and, finally, with Angelina, Danny, and Michael drying off after a ride or two on Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls.
Wake Me Up When September Ends
School is back in session and, as we head into fall, we visit our neighbors to the east in Indiana, with photos from three different trips, two Purdue football games and Danny’s marching band performance in Indianapolis in 2019. Clockwise from the top left corner, we have Danny and Michael posing with the Neil Armstrong statue outside the Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering, Danny kneeling in costume of the field at Lucas Oil Stadium, an Indiana state sign to indicate location, Danny and Michael in the stands at Ross-Ade Stadium, a younger Danny posing solo with the Neil Armstrong statue, Michael cheering Danny on, and, finally, me with Angelina, Danny, and Michael at the Engineering Fountain.
The DC Days Of Summer
We head into August with a plethora of photos from our family trip to Washington DC back in June of 2019. Clockwise from the top left, we have Michael and our tour guide from our tour of the Capitol Building, Angelina resting by a reflecting pool, Danny and Michael at a fountain at the World War II memorial, Danny photobombing by the Capitol Building, Angelina resting (again) in Michael’s lap, the kids with the Abraham Lincoln racer at National’s Park, the three of them posing at the Smithsonian Zoo and resting on a curb, Angelina and Michael at the Capitol, and, finally, Danny, Angelina, and a photobombing squirrel resting by a tree.
Show Me Some Good Times
We start the second half of 2020 by looking west to the state of Missouri. These pictures come from a single trip, for Danny’s band competition in 2018, starting with Angelina posing in front of a statue, the Gateway Arch to indicate where the pictures are from, Danny performing on the field, Angelina and Michael cheering in the stands, Danny and Michael standing in front of a giant chess piece at the World Chess Hall of Fame, and, finally, another shot of Danny during the performance.