Monday Night Football

Monday night football. Bear vs. Vikings. Soldier field on December 28. Wasn't really cold. Beer didn't even freeze. Greg was in town. We had a blast. Everyone was happy. Bears WIN 36-30 to put a happy touch on a disappointing season.

Merry Christmas

Its Christmas morning. Bart and Alex are very excited about their presents.



This year we have upgraded to LED Xmas lights. They are very bright and energy efficient. The tree was nice this year.

Happy Holidays!

Hear is the annual picture of the Hope Boys. Compare this one to the 2008 version. Wow. Bart is growing up fast! Alex looks pretty much the same. We hope to have a restful and fun holiday season (hopefully with a couple of outings).

Bears WIN!

Well we were so excited about the Bears this year See the post for the preseason game August 16. Its amazing how quickly excitement and optimism can turn to disappointment. Cutler our new quarterback leads the NFL in interceptions, not TDs like we hoped, Anyway, only had tickets for one real game this year, Bears vs St Louis Rams. At least they won against one of the worst teams in Football. No playoffs this year. At least we still have Illini B-ball. They have two great freshman guards.

Another Great Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day is always a big event at the hope household. This year we has 28 family members (if you count little children). We couldn't find a turkey more than 19 pounds. So I roasted two 13 pounders. Yum! Yum!

A LONG WAY FROM HOME - Tom in Moscow

Yes, that is Tom in Red Square. The former center of the USSR and the communist empire. That is Lenin's Mausoleum over his left shoulder and the large wall is the Kremlin. To his right is St Basil's Cathederal. It was amazing seeing Lenin who was embalmed (essentially mummified) after his death in 1924. He looks great for someone who died 80+ years ago. Behind the mausoleum are the graves of other famous Soviet era leaders including Stalin. It was so interesting to be there considering they were America's mortal enemy not that long ago. Remember the Cold War? Tom was in Moscow for a US-Russia HIV Workshop. More politics than science. Even had a reception in the US Ambassador's residence. Overall, the food was pretty good. The cyrillic alphabet was very confusing. The weather was miserable (rained the whole time). In the end Moscow was a very interesting place to visit.

King of the Neighborhood

There has been a big buck hanging around the neighborhood this fall. Nice rack on one side. If complete it would have been an eight pointer. This picture was taken in the next door neighbor's front yard. Hope I see his cousin in November in Shawnee National Forest down south.